A playful new pizzeria restaurant has hit the scene in Crows Nest, with al fresco seating out the front, a long bar that takes you from the entrance through to the back room which has some cosy tables.

The funky neon pink lighting on the wall tells you that the there’s a bar upstairs, which serves similar food as the restaurant (but with more cocktails of course).

The menu is extensive, with Italian signatures scattered throughout in the appetiser, pasta and pizza (white and tomato based) sections. We tried a bit from each section, starting off with the Mushroom and Mozzarella Arancini which were firmer than usual but still had some gooey mozzarella cheese tendrils showing when you cut each ball apart.

Mushroom and Mozzarella Arancini, $13 

Next up, we had their Veal and Pork Ragu pasta with potato gnocchi, which was hearty and comforting with the rich flavours of the two meat and plenty of little chewy gnocchi coated in the sauce.

Veal and Pork Ragu Potato Gnocchi, $22

Of course, we had to try one of their pizzas and we went for the cheekily named Nemo Pizza from the white based pizza selection. It had more of a fiery kick to it than we were expecting, thanks to the generous drizzling of chilli oil among the garlic prawns and calamari, tempered by the parmesan and mozzarella cheeses as well as the juicy cherry tomatoes.

Nemo Pizza, $24

Chachi’s motto is “cutting carbs” and we definitely ended up with too many carbs being cut (with our knives) for our dinner – so much that we couldn’t fit in any dessert. All in all, this newcomer serves up fairly solid Italian fare for a reasonable price point for the lower North Shore, considering the decent serving sizes (and an amazing half price deal for 1.5L magnums of rose wine for $49 on the weekends too!)

Excuse Me Waiter dined as guests of Chachi’s

Chachi’s Bar & Restaurant
49 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest NSW 2065
Phone: (02) 94399786