For those who remember, there used to be a third Starbucks in the CBD, on the corner of Creek and Queen Street. It closed down quite a while ago and since then a little Italian restaurant, Storia has opened on the corner and with my companion's deep affection for Italian, we headed there for a quick lunch (and when I say quick, this was probably the most attentive and efficient meals I've had in the CBD).
We headed there early (as is my usual preference), to find there to be only a couple of tables present. It filled up quite quickly after we arrived.
There were an assortment of sandwiches and pastries on their cabinet, but we opted for the menu selections.
As alluded to, we were seated super quickly and menus were provided. I like how they have a very large selection of foods, capturing Italian, grills, mains, salads and they even do all day breakfast (which I regret not ordering after seeing the neighboring tables meals).
Chilled water was also provided really promptly, and on a hot summers day this was really appreciated.
After ordering, our food came within 10 minutes which really impressed me. To start us off, we ordered a share of the Arancini balls. Having recently tried the ones at Il Centro, this was nowhere near as good, but it definitely did the trick with creamy deep fried risotto. I would have preferred if the peas inside were pureed to ensure the consistency of the dish, and I would have liked it if the batter were a little thinner, but overall it wasn't too bad.
My companion had the Spaghetti Marinara, it contained prawns, mussels, calamari and scallops. The sauce was a delightful cheesy tomato concoction and the seafood was fresh and generous. He considered the pasta itself to be a slight letdown as it did not have that chewy al dente feel to it.
I ordered the lasagna and it came covered with a delicious tomato sauce. The lasagna was definitely very meaty, just the way I like it, and the pasta was soft and had just the right amount of herbs and spices. I was a little surprised that it came out barely lukewarm though, suggesting that it didn't come straight out of the oven. However, to their credit, it did mean that I didn't need to wait for it to cool down, before eating it and getting back to work, but under any other circumstance, it would have been a bit of a cause for concern. Overall though, from the moment we sat down to the moment we left the restaurant, the meal took under 30 minutes to wrap up, which was by far the most fastest sit down meal I've had in the CBD, would definitely go back for another quick meal (and try out the all day breakfast).
Taste: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 9/10
Environment: 6/10 (would be so much better if they had aircon)
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