Crispy Italian Bar

Crispy Italian Bar is one of the Gold Coast's hidden gems - an authentic little Italian bar tucked away on the westside of the Gold Coast Highway in Burleigh Heads.

The cosy little venue, which has a cracking hot food menu, features red and white striped umbrellas on the terrace outside and red leather booths and banquettes inside.

The menu features an array of delicious eats, prepared from locally sourced produce and cooked in the wood-fired oven, with entrees of puffed bread (wood-fired pizza bread infused with Italian herbs), perfectly accompanied by pesto burrata cheese (hightly recommended), prosciutto parma, chilli honey straccitella, or spicy woodfired prawns with olive oil, garlic, chilli and parsley.   

Pizzas are amongst the best to be found anywhere on the Gold Coast with toppings including margherita, capricciosa, wild mushrooms, diavola, prosciutto, amatriciana, carbonara and vegan and for those with an appetite, there's their famous 1/2 metre margherita, perfect for 2 or 3 people to share. 

As well as the pizzas, there's a selection of equally deletable pastas such as Fettuccine Amalfi (lemon, prawns, thick cream, garlic & parsley); and Rigatoni Mamma Rossa (Napoli sauce, ham, olives, cream and oregano), which is highly recommended and based on a family recipe.

On the dessert front, there's sweet temptations like Duplo (folded pistacchio cream & Nutella stuffed pizza, topped with icing sugar whipped cream & chocolate syrup); Le Bombette (fried doughnuts bites coated with icing sugar & cinnamon, served with vanilla custard dip) and Sorbetto Limone (homemade lemon sorbet served with lemon zest & whipped cream).

The extensive drinks list features a range of Italian-flavoured cocktails, including Aperol, Limoncello or Campari Spritz, Espresso or Tiramisu Martini and Negroni; as well as classics like Mojito, Cosmopolitan and Old Fashioned.  There's also Italian beers and wines, Digestivos and classic spirits as well as a premium selection of coffee-based drinks, including Nutttelino (small glass of coffee shot, steamed milk Nutella & whipped cream).

Good to know - Look out for the nightly specials - Wednesday night is wood-fired gnocchi night at Sundays Panini Night. Theree's also kids pizzas available.

Need to know - Dogs are welcome at the outdoor seating. There is limited street parking nearby. Best access off the Gold Coast Highway is via Christine Ave, with left turn onto Lemana Lane then look for the parking signs