WHO
Mark Vincent, Dirty Dancing actor from Sutherland Shire

WHERE
Criniti's, Darling Harbour

WHY
It's a beautiful Italian restaurant. I love ordering the antipasti, you could eat it as a main meal ... organic Italian food: it's very hard to compare it with my mama's cooking but I must say I'd rate the restaurant at least a 10. I work at the Lyric for Dirty Dancing, usually me and my girlfriend go on a Sunday night because I finish early that night.

It's an amazing restaurant and a great family place, you see the whole view of the boats and it's just a great place to unwind and enjoy yourself, especially after the show.

Every time I've been there to eat, it's always very busy. You have to book to eat there otherwise it's very hard to get a table.

WHAT
They make these really nice zucchini flowers, apparently they're a best-seller. And they make lovely pizzas, but they make them really long so you can share them. They are half a metre long but they make them up to a metre long. They're massive. They don't make them traditional style and thin, they make them a little bit thicker. The taste is just terrific.

EATING IN
One thing I love is good food and living at home with Nonna. We always eat great food.  Nonna does most of the cooking because she thinks I dirty the kitchen. She cooks a lot of pasta, parmigiana and baked pasta, even Italian-style hamburgers. You can't fit them in the mouth because they're so big.

I am lucky. I take a leftovers to the theatre. The cast say 'Mark, what's this food? It smells so beautiful.' I say 'It's great living with your mum.' She always overcooks and I get to eat more.

I love cooking on the barbecue. Usually when I have friends over I put on the barbie and put on a spread of T-bone steaks, sausages and prawns, or an Italian-style barbecue of marinated vegetables, thick Italian sausages and pork.

ABOUT
Last year was a very busy year: I've been very much full time with Dirty Dancing. It's been great because this is something very different to what I usually do. I've been a recording artist for six years and they've all gone No.1, which has been epic.

I've enjoyed every minute of Dirty Dancing, I'm just honoured and happy to be part of it. People stop me in the street and they say the great thing is we see a different side to you. It's all about contemporary music; I've been a classical singer my whole life.

I also have a new album out towards the end of the year. I'm doing a concert in Bankstown in February for the opening of the new Bankstown sports theatre.

Dirty Dancing is on until February 22 at the Sydney Lyric theatre; tickets form $50.68.

CRINITI'S
Level 2, Harbourside shopping centre, Darling Harbour, 1300 274 648, crinitis.com.au
Starters, $3.90-$29.90; mains, $24-$199; desserts, $5-$49. $80 for two, plus drinks.

 ★★★☆☆

REVIEW
Like a massive diamond ring or a red Porsche, there are some pieces of hardware that refuse to tread softly. They send a definite message: unequivocal and unsubtle and wanting to be noticed.

The Ducati motorbike that sits on the bar top of Criniti's, a king of liquors, waiters and touristy onlookers, is the same. It sets the tone for an establishment that goes big, does it brashly and studiously and, overall, does it well. This is, after all, a corner of Sydney that thrives on excessive stimulation. Criniti's neighbours are the Hard Rock Cafe, Kingpin bowling and Laser Tag.

Darling Harbour's monument to all things Italian is as theatrical as it is popular. Where else do pizzas come in one-metre lengths, boards of antipasto are raised onto mini-podiums and vast sharing bowls of pasta are available? I've known Criniti's for its ice-cream and cronuts, and its spectacular cannoli from its renowned pasticerria. But I had never tried its evening fare until our Dirty Dancer's suggestion.

On a Wednesday night the place was full by 7pm,  full of families, prams, balloons, tables of young men, couples, theatregoers and everything in between. So we waited. Staff are mostly Italian  (or ours were)  which didn't guarantee a smile but did boost the authenticity of the whole production.

It might , by now, come as no surprise to hear that the menu was among the most vast I have encountered. It has 20 sections,  and that's before desserts or drinks. Unlike the staff, who wear trainers to get around the vast dining room, I corner myself off, focusing only on the menu's antipasto, pizza and pasta sections, as recommended by Signor Vincent, and not venturing into the huge carne and seafood areas.

Our stuzzichini of antipasto Calabrese is a sinker. There's parmigiana and ricotta and salami and olives; preserved grilled eggplant, zucchini and artichoke; fried potato crochetta and eggplant and bread. It's perfect to share.

Our prosciutto and rocket pizza, the smallest size available, isn't quite warm enough. All that distance to cover, perhaps. Butit  was once spot-on. Mediterranean salad comes with feta and marinated capsicum, a blend of cultures and great value. The odd piece of Italian earthenware crockery is lovely.

The mound of rigatoni reggini  (not a main size)  was creamy and full of punchy little bites of Italian sausage, but not fiery enough. Wines come in half-litre or litre options, and Peroni on tap seems to be the way to go for beer drinkers. Our house red is warm, as in really warm, but I haven't the heart to turn our waitress on her heels in search of a fresh batch, and we let it cool down in the evening air, looking out over Darling Harbour and unable to tune out the busker who has set up outside as is singing Take That songs.

This restaurant sets out to impress, provide a spectacle, deliver value and do it all with Latin flair. It pulls it all off with ambitious style,  as long as dining next to a Ducati and in the gaze of The Godfather posters is your thing.