La Casalinga - Alice Springs

After enjoying another Italian restaurant in town that was quite good, we decided to give this one a try.

We are from Melbourne so I guess we feel we are blessed by having some of the best Italian restaurants and Pizza houses in the country. Well, lets face it, we have! Especially our pizza houses. Well , now I have to concede that my parochial beliefs have just been challenged. Please dont think this is arrogance, but who would have thought that one of the best Pizzas in Australia could be found in Alice Springs. We arrived at a busy time and without a reservation, our host went out of his way to make a table up for us and actually asked one diner to move to another table so that my Celiac son was seated away from the pizza prep area & not near the flour dust (thank you anonymous female diner for moving for us). Our host then went to a lot of effort to prepare a GF pizza in a seperate area and to make a truly delicious pizza. I had a more traditional "normal" base pizza with a few extras and it was equally delicious. Our pizzas were cooked perfectly, the bases were delicious, there was no excess oil and the ingredients were all fresh. This was not fine dining and therefore we did not expect the service to be as such, but we were given a bottle of water and glasses the moment we sat down, the the drink service was a bit slow but our scottish bartender was pleasant ( I share his love of LAPHROAIG) and the house wine was very drinkable. The staff were all having a great time in the prep are, singing along with the Italian classical music that was playing in the background.Our experience was wonderful, we had great pizzas, good enough wine, very good service and met some very nice and passionate young Italians, all with accents that I haven't heard in a Melbourne pizza house in years, we did not meet the owner, but if we did we would have told him that his business, at least from the quality of the pizzas, is in good hands :-)

Got two takeaways late evening after a long day of travel. Nice crust and tasty toppings but when your pizza box gets soaked in oil it's a bit greasy for me. Not that cheap either $18 for a med which is a small is fairly pricey.

We came to La Casalinga after being very disappointed with our visit to another Italian restaurant (Spaghetti House). We wish we had come here first. The fact that Italian people actually make the pizzas by hand, including the dough, made La Casalinga a wonderful experience. We will definitely be visiting again soon!

Wow! We were soooo tired of the pub grub options and on our last night in town decided to try the Italian option - if only for a pizza. What a surprise this place is and you really feel like you are walking in to a little piece of Italy when you enter. Relaxed atmosphere with excellent service. Pizza, pasta and protein options available. All our meals (pastas & veal dishes) amazingly good. BYO alcohol.