The beautiful food at Cielo Pizza
Cielo Pizza at McKinnon is definitely beginning to make a great name for itself right on McKinnon Road. Taking your first bite into one of their gourmet pizzas; it makes a lot of sense that the owners have been making delicious pizzas in Melbourne since 1978, and that is a true record of accomplishment in itself. You may have heard of Zests Pizza in the past, and if you have then you are in for a real treat. The owners of Cielo Pizza, Soula and George were previously the owners of Zests Pizza right here in Melbourne.
Expect to be indulged with fantastic and friendly customer service and many slices of heaven. The red decor is just stunning. You have a choice to either eat out alfresco or at one of the two tables inside, or perhaps just order in and pick up. Furthermore, for those of you pizza lovers who wish to get their pizzas delivered to their door; then you guys are in luck as Cielo Gourmet Pizza Pasta at McKinnon also deliver.
That's Amore...
Life is short...live it up
You feel welcome the moment you step foot inside the door of this establishment. Have already mentioned the great and friendly service provided to you by Soula, George and their team of staff. Expect a professional and consistent image, and it is great to finally see a top pizza place in Melbourne having their topping displays available for show and tell right at the front counter.
The ingredients are extremely fresh, and having tasted them in their pizzas as well as in the rocket salad, it is evident that this establishment takes great pride in only using quality ingredients in their food products, and for those of you who prefer gluten free pizzas; well you are also in luck as Cielo always makes yummy gluten free pizzas as well. When you eat in, expect to enjoy a jug of water with a cute red/white jug that blends in nicely with the image this establishment is portraying to its customers.
The fresh toppings in easy view for you as a customer/pizza fan
In addition to trying their garlic pizza; I have also had an opportunity to try their Gambari, Courgette and Vegipatch pizzas in addition to trying their rocket salad.
Cielo's Garlic Pizza
The Gambari is just delicious. It is like being given a free air ticket to fly to Italy just to consume pizza, yet thankfully for me this experience only involved a short train ride in order to feast out and enjoy. In all seriousness, when you order the Gambari pizza; expect the chunkiest and the freshest king prawns with the freshest tomatoes and the taste of home made napoli sauce with the highest quality mozzarella cheese around. This pizza also includes the freshest spring onions and scallops as well as herbs such as parsley with a hint of sesame seeds. Order this pizza with an appetite and you will be satisfied and wanting to come back for more and more.
Cielo's Gambari Pizza and Rocket Salad
The Courgette is also an original and special pizza that I have also tried at this establishment. If you love quality as well as gourmet cheese, and your taste buds scream out for more antipasto; then this pizza is just a winner, and a real delight with a generous serving of sun dried tomatoes, fetta, artichokes and pesto aioli for those of you who really want a quality pizza experience. The parsley is a fresh herb that adds to the flavour and smooth texture of this unique and special pizza. Also expect some quality vegetables such as roasted zucchinis and red capsicum in tandem with the flavour and smoothness of the napoli sauce.
Cielo's Courgette Pizza
It was also great to try a vegetarian pizza, and the Vegipatch (for all of you vegetarians out there reading this article review, rejoice and celebrate) looks like an organically made pizza. The hits for me were the generous thinly cut slices of fresh pumpkin scattered throughout with tastes of goat's cheese and baby spinach. The potato slices also blend in quite nicely with the pumpkin, the mushrooms and the mozzarella cheese. There is a hint of red peppers that blend in nicely with all of the ingredients as well as in the pizza sauce.
Cielo's Vegipatch Pizza
The nuts and the thin slices of cheese blends in so nicely with the fresh and vibrant rocket leaves in the rocket salad with a hint of balsamic vinegar; again quality ingredients are only used.
It is great that the owners have decided to turn this establishment into an area where more people should be able to eat in, and will decorate their interiors more to make way for a real upmarket ambience and food experience. The quality and generosity of the food ingredients, and how they perfectly complement each other will continue to enhance this experience; where if I was to give this restaurant a star rating, with the minimum star rating of one star, and a maximum rating of six stars plus, I would easily go for the latter as this establishment truly deserves such a high star rating on service, consistency and the quality of their food in particular, including the generous serving sizes. No wonder why this business has won the food industry's most coveted awards such as the
Glen Eira Council Food Hygiene Award on multiple occasions since this family business has been in operation for almost 35 years.
It will really be difficult to eat pizza anywhere else ever again. The toppings are extremely generous and the variety of ingredients spells out top quality pizza which Melbourne deserves to enjoy in the food and capital culture of Australia.
Cielo's outside dining area
Find Cielo's at 22 McKinnon Road, McKinnon
