Newly renovated. They have taken over the shop space next door and extended the inside room.
This means triple the amount of seating as previously, in a much more spacious environment. There is also a large window facing the street - sunlight streaming in - great atmosphere.
Menu wise, Briscola serves great, affordable, quality lunch options.
Salads, sandwiches, paninis, soups, cakes, all around the $5 mark.
Service is efficient and done with a smile.
Coffee is not bad either.
It's good to see some formidable cafe competition that is not as pricey/hip as Seven Seeds, but better than the Brunetti chains that dominate the Melbourne University area.

Love this place! I have been elsewhere to test the waters (Porta Via) but will never go there again. The service at Briscola is fantastic, it is well run and the staff are always friendly and helpful. The coffee is great and food even better and made on site, unlike Porta Via who order in all of the food and should probably order in professional staff who actually know what a smile good customer service is!

Agree with the below review on being a bit pricey - but the food I have had there I liked (the egg and bacon muffin and the lasagna come to mind!). And everything looks reeeally good. It's a good change from the usual University cafes.

It's also nice coffee for the area - I certainly prefer it to 7 seeds. Another friend of mine also prefers this coffee over the other local places.

This cafe is owned by the same people who own Tre Sette, round the corner in Bouverie St, and Bar Scopa, round the other corner in Leicester St. I've never eaten at Bar Scopa, but I've eaten at Briscola and Tre Sette countless times. They share the same menu, so a review of one is virtually a review of the other. To see what I think of the food, go have a look at my review of Tre Sette; I won't repeat it all here.

Briscola is a lot smaller than Tre Sette. The area where you order and wait for your takeaway food gets very crowded, and if you're eating in, you may have trouble finding a table at lunchtime.

Reviewer @rosep1 from Doncaster East says that Briscola is owned by the same people who own Brunetti's. Are you sure? Where did you hear that? Certainly there are, or have been, a number of Brunetti's clones or offshoots in the Carlton area (Porta Via, Blueprint, and others I've now forgotten the names of) but I've never heard that the Briscola/TreSette/BarScopa trio was under Brunetti's ownership as well. The menus have nothing in common, and there's nothing on Briscola's website that hints at common ownership.

Owned by the same people as the Brunetti business... this small cafe has good food and good coffee.
The menu is limited, as one would expect of a small cafe, trading mainly on its coffee and bread items.
The only thing I would have against this cafe, is that it is a little pricey - cashing in on its convenience from Melbourne Law School - hungry students in need of food & caffeine.

Approximate cost: $13