Cocco's Pizzeria, Crows Nest

Cocco's Pizzeria is situated along one of the main strips of cafes in Crows Nest, just a couple of shop lots away from Bavarian Bier Cafe. There aren't many square metres of floorspace inside, but they have two levels, which means that private dining is definitely an option. Even without hiring the restaurant, the environment is intimate and casual, and, surprisingly (since it was a Sunday night and the food is pretty good), most of the tables were empty.

Exterior

 We took a pretty long time to decide what we wanted to have, but the staff were really accommodating and friendly. As an aside, we decided to share some dishes amongst the four of us, which, once served, came with serving utensils without us having to ask. It's attention to detail like these that really boosts my appreciation for service provided (especially when you're being charged average prices).

First up was the basket of 4 pieces of garlic bread. It was fairly average - white bread and a standard mixture of garlic butter spread. Nevertheless, it was mostly soft, wasn't as oily as per usual, and it was a nice filler before the mains arrived.

Garlic bread ($5.90)

Some of our other friends offered us their 'Bianca' pizza - garlic and herb pizza crust sliced up into numerous pieces, served with 2 types of dip - olive and chilli. It actually gave me a bit of food envy when I compared it to our garlic bread - the Bianca tasted a lot more 'gourmet' and the accompanying pastes were mouthwatering.

'Bianca' pizza ($12.90)

We ordered two pasta dishes - gnocchi and ravioli, one entree-sized and one main meal.

The gnocchi was prepared with gorgonzola cheese and cream sauce. It was soft and chewy, but not to the extent that it turned gluggy. Overall, it was made well and, despite the richness of the sauce, it didn't give me that sick feeling that I often get after eating too much of creamy pasta dishes (like penne bosciola done badly).

Gnocchi gorgonzola (main size) ($22.90)

Our pumpkin ravioli came with butter sage sauce, which was light and didn't overpower the pumpkin. Considering we were sharing these dishes, I felt like hoarding it all to myself - it was that addictive!

Ravioli alla zucca (entree size) ($18.90)

Our last dish was a tomato-based seafood pizza, which consisted of mozzarella cheese, anchovies, baby clams, prawns and garlic. Although the pizza base is thin, it isn't crispy and is bready and soft. It wasn't very oily and it was quite enjoyable. The anchovies were very salty, but there wasn't that much of it (and I'm not an anchovy fan anyway, so I'm probably biased), and the other toppings balanced out the flavours quite well.

Frutta di mare ($23.90)

At the end of our dinner, we were offered the dessert and coffee menu. Although the items on the menu looked tempting, all of us were just too full to think about ordering anything else. Excluding the Bianca pizza, the bill came to about $18 between the four of us, which is great value for excellent pasta, decent portions, and friendly service.