Mietta's Review
Not just your normal pizza and pasta place - there's real food found here in this simple, but busy, little Merthyr Rd shopfront. You'll find a real Italian touch at work here with lots of fresh seafood. And, the pasta's home made. Good wine list for the situation. Mains average $17.

Other published opinions

Queensland Food and Wine "lt could be called kitsch Italian, but it is done with care and aplomb"

Courier Mail Tony Harper, Brisbane News, 15-07-2009 "It was Mark Paterno and Brooke Edwards who turned New Farm's Arriva into one of the most popular pizza and pasta joints in town. They moved on a few months ago, but it seems the crowds remained, as did the quality fare. Arriva has won the Queensland heat of the 2009 Best of the Best Pizza Challenge for Best Traditional Pizza. This September, it will fight it out at the national awards. ... It is easy to see why Arriva is such a hit: it's all about the food really. It's a shame that the service isn't better: brisk and brusque should still be attentive."

Courier Mail Food and Wine Guide 2009 Queensland Score: 14/20 "Arrivas front window is not exactly demure; awards shoulder each other for space like finger paintings on a proud parent's fridge door"

Brisbane Times Score: 13/20

Courier Mail food and wine guide Queensland 2008 Score: 14/20 "The food and setting at Arriva are as unpretentious as they are delightful and authentically Italian"

Brisbane News Dining Out Guide 2007 "Like a big Italian dinner party, Arriva has a relaxed air with indoor and outdoor seating"

Courier Mail Alison Walsh, 19-2-2007 Food 15 Wine 15 Service 13 Ambience 12 The Score 14 "Arriva in New Farm, amid a row of businesses just up Merthyr Road from the inner Brisbane suburb's main shopping centre, serves up salads bursting with freshness, luscious pasta and crispy-based pizzas that are about as far removed from dial-a-pizza offerings as England is from world cricket domination. But the ambience is more university refectory than chic bolthole. Tables joined together ready for groups are covered by white paper over white cloths, the floor is tiled, two walls are sliding glass and the other is orange and covered with three paintings - one flamboyantly abstract and the others rustically Italian. The kitchen huddles behind a cluttered high counter at the back and tables are dotted down the side of the restaurant."

Courier-Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guide 2006 "It may look small, but this busy pasta and pizza joint packs a real punch, and is deservedly popular with the New Farm set. In fact, it sums up the Brisbane lifestyle, our love for eating outdoors (the pavement area is as large as the bistro space itself), our love for fresh seafood, and our desire to support people with initiative."

Brisbane News Eating Out Guide 2006 "You have to book to taste some of the best homemade pasta and pizzas in town at chef-owner Mark Paterno's popular eatery. Mark and his wife Brooke are passionate about food"

Courier-Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guide 05 "This is one of those great, casual cafes that is run by a food-passionate young couple that you miss if you don't visit regularly. Decor is basic with terracotta floors and prints on the walls, and there's as much seating on the pavement as inside the small bistro."

Brisbane News Dining Out Guide 2004 "You'll have to book to be sure of a table at this New Farm hot spot, where owner-chef Mark Paterno puts his Italian heritage to good use, turning out sensational pizzas and pastas."

Brisbane News, 16-22/7/03, Alison Walsh,'keeps it simple with good, quality fresh food.'