Fiasco Italian

Was perfect for a casual date night on a Saturday night. The ambiance, the food and the waiters all screamed casual, yum and happy. We started out with a glass of Rose for me and a Shiraz for him and the salt and pepper squid to share. We gobbled it up, the waitress even commented how fast we were. Hungry and delicious!!!
I ordered the Ortolana pasta — vegetarian tomato based. Was tasty and filling. I wanted to eat all of it but I also don’t need to expand my stomach even more than what it is. My partner ordered the meatbAlls fettuccini. Was a big serving which suited him completely. He loved every mouthful of it. We finished it off with another glass of wine each. Quick service and friendly. The waitstaff didn’t hang around us which suited us and were there when we needed.
Perfect way to end an easy going Saturday!

We had lunch here. Just mostly fish and chips type of quick lunch. Overall the food was OK and nothing special.
Before the main dishes, they brought out two dishes of garlic bread and we started eating the garlic bread, then the waitress came out and said something about that’s not our bread and quickly walked away. We thought that they just served us some bread while we were waiting. When we got the check, they charged us for one order of garlic bread. I would be OK if they have discussed that with us *BEFORE* they charge us for something that we have not ordered. But since they were sneaky, my wife and I disputed the charge. I just wish that they politely talked to us before charging us and I would have agreed to pay. I hate people being dishonest or at least a bit sneaky.
FOOD = 3 or 4
SERVICE = 3 or 4
UNHAPPY FACTOR = 1
OVERALL = 2
There are many restaurants in Manly, why go there. I hate to see surprises on the bills.

Continuing our tradition of hitting hearty Italian restaurants after a long day spent drinking and playing Two-​up at the Harbord Hilton, this year we tottered pie-​eyed into Fiasco. We had no booking. Hell, we had no sobriety, but the staff here put us up at the big ol’ marquis 10-​seater, despite our disheveled appearance and our inability to form complex sentences. Fine, any sentences.
Wine, my good fellows, and lots of it. Bam, here it was, chilled and tart and refreshingly alocoholic.
And food, my fine chaps, a table full.
The more, shall we say, conventional among us (snoring!) got pizza — which I love, btw, don’t think I’m anti-‘za, I just crave something a little more eclectic when I’m shitfaced, that’s all — and here was some penne — good, solid, safe — but then my end of the table (buggered if can remember who was actually at my end) then cranked it up a notch and got the seafood platter, and I ordered something with chili before a wonderful epiphany where my eyes focused just enough to read the Specials Board, and there I saw a classic San Francisco-​style Cioppino and hastily change my order, which it turns out I’d given ten minutes prior, having lost all sense of time by this point. But the kitchen were more than happy — ecstatic, even — to switch it up and farrrrrr outttttt the Cioppino was glorious, jammed fulla seafood and thick, rich and spicy dip-​your-​whole-​head-​in goodness. Hands, dozens of them, appeared from all over the table and all of a sudden there were 9 people dipping and dunking and spooning and just generally raping and pillaging my innocent meal, defiling it with their lecherous food envy. Off, vile fiends! Away! Leave me to my food and drunken mutterings.
Someone jagged an incredible affogato too, creamy strong coffee served in a martini glass with a ton of vanilla bean ice cream, man it looked good.
A riotous 4 stars.