Universal Restaurant

Location: 141 Lygon Street
Link: http://www.universalrestaurant.com.au/indexflsh.html
Cuisine: Italian
Previous Reviews: Universal Pizza, Pasta and Ribs

Large capricciosa pizza

Good old Italian pizza, the base was thin and crispy, and there was plenty of topping. Flavours balanced perfectly! A word of warning... 'large' means LARGE! We over ordered.

Seafood marinara penne (main size)

One of the few tomato-based sauces on the menu that were not spicy (all the meat ones were cream-based, and most of the other tomato-based ones were spicy). There was a fair bit of seafood (you can see the mussells in the picture) but it would have been better with more fresh prawns and maybe some scallops. The napoli sauce was just strong enough to coat the penne and the seafood without overpowering the dish. Very satisfying dish.

BBQ meat platter for 2

And yes, the highlight of the night. Four of us shared the three dishes and was it a feast!! The meat platter came overloaded with steak, ribs, chicken wings, chicken tenders, meatballs, wedges and salad. The mushroom sauce was excellent, and the perfect accompaniment for the steak and wedges (and for me, also every other meat on the platter!). The ribs and wings were coated in a sweet and tangy sauce which may have been a honey glaze. The meatballs tasted just like the kofta meatballs from BearBrass and seemed a little out of place on the platter but were pretty good nevertheless.

The service was pretty decent, especially since they were dealing with about 15 people, and prices weren't too bad. The three dishes averaged out to $17.50 per person. Drinks extra.

Overall Impression: 10/10