Being old enough to remember the hey day of Totos in Lygon Street Carlton, before it became apartments and the original La Porchetta restaurant in Rathdowne Street, Carlton before it became the McDonalds of pizza restaurants it is nice to know that traditional pizza restaurants, such as Gennaro's in Eltham, still exist.

Gennaro's is marketed as a family friendly pizza restaurant located in a former weatherboard residence in the leafy suburb of Eltham. Onsite parking is at a premium and the carpark is dominated with large four wheel drives which seems to be the staple of local residents. Upon entering Genaro's on a Sunday evening it is evident that it is a favourite with the locals with nearly all tables occupied and a constant stream of patrons collecting their take away orders.

Our table was situated to the side of the roaring "gas fired" log fire within view of the pizza kitchen with its large wood oven dominating. Taking in the ambience of the fire and with a nice white wine to savour (nice to see that BYO restaurants still exist) I perused the menu. The obvious choice was to order pizza and that was exactly what I did. I chose the lamb pizza, while my partner the pumpkin pizza and the kids the Tropicale pizza (or in otherwords the Ham and Pineapple). Other choices included the standard Chicken and Veal parmigiana, Caesar salads, variety of pastas and seafood.

For mine the lamb pizza was nice although maybe a little light on in terms of lamb, while the kids Tropicale pizza hit the spot and was quickly consumed in its entirety. As a side we had an Italian salad and also servings of herb and garlic bread both of which were cooked to perfection in the wood oven.

Staff at the restaurant were attentive to our needs and it was evident that having appropriate staffing levels is a priority of the owners.

Overall Gennaro's in Eltham is family friendly with a homely atmosphere and is reminisent of the classic italian run pizza restaurants.

Gennaro's Pizza Restaurant - 720 Main Road, Eltham

For further information: www.gennaro.com.au

Last Reviewed: August 2010