Nino’s is a bit of an institution in Victor Harbour, dating back over 40 years. As their name suggests, their offerings are Italian with a good selection of pizzas, pastas, mains and foccacias. The pizzas comes in two sizes, 10 inch and 12 inch and are available with a classic style or gluten free crust.

Located metres away from the entrance of the Granite Island bridge, the cafe is set amongst the popular pubs and eateries in the area. Seating is plentiful both inside and out, and there is a good amount of natural light that flows through its frontage.

For lunch, I ordered the Nino’s pizza which contains ham, salami, mushrooms, olives, capsicum and anchovies. The pizza arrived 20 minutes after ordering and was nicely presented on a wooden board. The amount of toppings was generous and were of a good quality. The sweetness of the red capsicum complemented the saltiness of the olives and anchovies. The base was of a nice thin consistency, and had perfect level of crisp. I could find very little to fault with this pizza and I wasn’t surprised they had won awards.

These are the dishes that the others in the group ordered.

The Nino Big Burger came with a 250g Wagyu beef patty, cheddar cheese, pickles, salad, tomato relish and mayonnaise.

The Salt and Pepper Calamari came with fresh salad greens, aioli and lemon.

The Mediteranio consisted of baby spinach, Italian sausage, mushrooms, feta cheese, kalamata olives and sundried tomatoes.

The Margherita came with freshed diced tomato, garlic, olive oil, basil pesto and cracked pepper.

The Yiros came with chargrilled marinated lamb, Spanish onion, fresh tomato, baby spinach, feta, garlic sauce and herbs.

Even before my friend started eating this pizza, she found what looked like a hair embedded in the crust. The staff indicated that it was a hair from the pizza brush, and the meal was promptly remade. An additional 20 minutes was required to make a new pizza, at which time, everybody had finished their meals.

The Tandoori Chicken came with chicken fillet pieces, Spanish onion, roast capsicum, sour cream, mango chutney and fresh coriander.

While I had no issues with my pizza, the people that ordered pizzas with gluten free bases were not satisfied. The top layer of the base was soft and spongy, while the bottom was very hard. In each case, the base was not finished and thrown away. Some people also commented on how salty their toppings were.

The staff were friendly, however, we found the service to be slow and inattentive. I also didn’t like the fact that our meals had arrived at different times. The atmosphere was relaxed and the pricing was higher than average. My large pizza set me back $23 which wasn’t too bad considering I enjoyed my meal.

While I’m usually the one who orders the worst meal that a place has to offer, it wasn’t the case on this occasion. From what I’ve been told, steer clear of the gluten free pizza bases.

WHERE: 17 Albert Place, Victor Harbour