They have fantastic food here! Definately worth trying it out sometime. The staff are quick and very friendly. Usually pretty busy but you never wait long!

Great place to catch up with a few friends and have a great coffee. They sell the products they as well so if you really like something there's a good chance you can buy it to take home and enjoy.

The food at L'Aperitivo is amazing, some of the best I've had. The gnocchi sorrentina is amazing the food is always fast and the Italian hot chocolates are perfect. There was only one negative experience experience had here over the many times Ive been here in which upon paying i was spoken to rather rudely as i was taking "a while" to pay because we were splitting the bill, when I offered to the man that was serving us whether the people after us would rather go ahead of us I once again got a rude response.

But keep in mind Ive been here 20+ times and this is the only negative experience Ive ever had. I would deffinetly recommend this restaurant/cafe

Approximate cost: $15-21

Italian cafe with great coffee and meals. Their Italian hot chocolate is a real taste treat. The only problem is that its very noisy and it is hard to have a conversation due to the noise.

I really like the pastas here and for a lighter meal the salads are good too. Casual relaxed atmosphere and child friendly. New management experiencing some teething troubles with service but staff friendly and trying.

Approximate cost: $15

This cafe has been an Elsternwick institution for a long time. The fitout is along the lines of a classic Italian Coffee bar and they do fantastic Italian Hot Chocolates (the really thick type).

Unfortunately L'Aperitivo changed hands in January 2007 and the new owners are really struggling to get it running well. We went there with our kids and grandparents for brunch recently and it was quite chaotic. We ordered two lattes, an iced chocolate and a strawberry milkshake (for my daughter) and we had almost finished our meals when we realised they still hadn't brought our drinks!! I went up to the bar and asked where they were and they said they were really busy but working on them.

By the time we actually got the drinks (almost 30 mins after ordering them) my daughter no longer wanted a strawberry milkshake (you know how kids change their minds) so we asked them to add some chocolate syrup into it. Fortunately they didn't take long to do that.

The food was still of a high standard but the service on this occasion was a real let down and there was no real apology. We will give the new owners another shot to win us back but if it's still not up to scratch we'll be looking elsewhere.

Approximate cost: $15