Two friends and I called in here for a quick Friday night feed before going to the Cirque du Soleil show a short walk away. We arrived around 6:15pm and the place was pretty busy but we were able to secure a table and our order was taken quickly.

I ordered the Surf and Turf, and my friends ordered meatballs and a side salad and the crumbed lamb cutlets. It's not a particularly cheap restaurant at $42 for the steak and $30 plus for the lamb but it's also not unaffordably pricey. Pretty run of the mill and that statement applies also to the food. Decent enough for a necessary dinner because we were in the area but not a draw to come especially.

It's family friendly; boisterous with an energetic and upbeat feel. It's casual and the menu has plenty for all tastes: pizzas, pasta, ribs, salads. The food looks appetising. We saw some ribs go out that looked the part and the lamb salad also looked good. 

My surf and turf was fine. Pub type steak - overcooked for the rare I ordered but not obliterated. Meatballs and salad also met expectations. The crumbed lamb cutlets were probably the fail. There were 5 of them which is generous enough but no flavour with a thick non descript crumb. Accompanying mash and vegetables also bland. Very much cafeteria food.

Our food took a while to arrive and when we followed up the waiter said, "We're busy because of the show so there's a 30 minute wait." I had to respond and point out that this 30 minute wait was not communicated to us and had we known we wouldn't have ordered because we also had to get to the show. Luckily our food arrived soon after.

Pacino's is a destination that does the job although I would avoid the lamb cutlets and maybe go pizza or ribs if we were to dine there again.

Sunday lunch was spent with with Ling, Noah, Stef and baby Bunty and we gathered in Flemington for Laksa King. This was Steve and my first visit but the rest of the group have been before. Stef is almost a regular but it is in her 'hood. It was busy so lucky we had a reservation and they didn't seem to mind when we weren't all there at the pre booked time.

Service is more efficient than friendly but it works and we're attended to promptly. 

Steve and I share the lobak which was tasty; more meaty than spring roll like but good. I went with fish fillet laksa which was generous with at least 5 pieces of fried fish. Steve went shredded duck laksa and Stef had combo laksa.

The laksas went down a treat. Loved the balance of flavours and it wasn't overly coconutty and creamy. I could have done with more spice but the chilli sambal we asked for helped. We found these vibrant bowls of sunshine yellow goodness to be great value for money at less than $15 per serve depending on the type. $10.80 for the combo!

Ling had the Ipoh Hor Fun which also looked huge and delicious with lots of eggy gravy.

Noah had the roast chicken rice which to me looked a little dry and more meagre than the noodle dishes but it seemed to be well received. Water bottles were replaced regularly, not necessarily with a smile but I'm ok with that!

Laksa King is worth the travel for good laksa and there's plenty more to try next time.