Aperitivo

7.2 Recommended

Food  7      Drinks  7      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  7     

Cool-looking spot for drinks. The offerings are interesting and unique.

May 20, 2012 

7.2 Recommended

Food  9      Drinks  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  6     

Comes very close to being the best pizza in Sydney. The $20 Pizza e Birra night on Tuesday's makes it really good value in comparison. I think they have recently hired a new pizza maker and he clearly knows what he is doing! Nice place for a cocktail, but well worth a visit just for the pizza. Love it!

Mar 13, 2012 

7.6 Recommended

Food  9      Drinks  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  6     

All culinary items were utterly exquisite! The seafood was fresh, zesty and texturally pleasing. Dessert was an absolute highlight, as they were unique, not over-sweet and delicious to the last mouthful. Recommend the prawn entree, the tart dessert.

Nov 22, 2011 

7.4 Recommended

Food  7      Drinks  8      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  6     

Visited this restaurant as a walk in early on a Friday evening after a long flight home and found young families coming in for their early dinner. Over the 90 minutes we spent there the place started to fill with couples and small groups and the families finished off their pizza and headed off.

Ambience of Aperitivo is good and the welcome and attentiveness of service staff was really a strong point. My partner requires gluten free options which were well explained and accommodated. The menu is mostly tapas style which always raises suspicion as this dining format has become a fast track for profitability through portion downsize but without reasonable pricing. Lets just say that one should be cautious when dining this way. The intent of tapas is lost on Australian restauranteurs.

However! Portions were more substantial than most and the food was funky and tasteful. Really enjoyed the duck slices with fennel and orange and the goat meat dish was a star. On the downside, the scallop tornedos with fig and eggplant puree was a muddle of flavours which left the centrepiece scallop ingredient struggling for attention. Not unpleasant or without interest, but I felt sorry for the scallop sacrificing it's life for no reward!

Wine was excellent and well presented. Pricing $95 for two without a dessert or coffee. Ok I guess. We just closed our eyes and imagined we had enjoyed a mini degustation experience, which helped us rationalize the spend. Overall a pleasant and interesting meal out. We would recommend it, and we will return to work our way through the menu.

Overall very pleasant and friendly place with tasty food presented carefully. Attentive and knowlegeable wait staff

Nov 19, 2011 

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Drinks  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Been here a few times & loved it every time. Great Tasting Food, Awesome Wine & Cocktails & the Service always attentive. I mention this place to everyone... Well done Giuseppe.

Oct 29, 2011 

8.2 Recommended

Food  9      Drinks  7      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

I've had many wonderful evenings in this restaurant, where the service is excellent and the staff incredibly friendly and helpful. I am vegetarian, and they regularly make me something special, which is always delicious. Their wine recommendations are very good. A great place for a meal, or just a drink and a snack.

Oct 17, 2011 

5 Average

Food  5      Drinks  5      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  5     

Food was ordinary but at least it came out hot. Was on the scoopon voucher and as I didn't drink asked if I could have a coffee which is valued at $3.50 in place of glass of wine valued at $6.00. They said no! So my friend drank both glasses of wine that were included in the scoopon voucher while I drank tap water after they tried to make me buy a large 750ml bottle of spring water. They were not very accomodating. Would I go back... nah!

Oct 07, 2011 

6.6 Recommended

Food  7      Drinks  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  4     

Welcome back to Nouvelle cuisine. Great tasting food, beautifully presented, but in tiny portions.

Those of you who have watched “The Supersizers go the 80s” will know what I mean. One dish could well equal one mouthful. But to give these guys their due, one dish took about three or four mouthfuls to finish.

It’s a bit of a joke really so don’t waste your time eating here and if you do, you’ll either need to splurge out on multiple dishes or else be prepared to tuck into a sandwich when you get home.

Two of us dined on a Fri eve. The place was fairly busy when we arrived at 7.00 pm although noise levels remained bearable. There are three distinct areas: a downstairs bar, an upstairs eating area and leading off from that, a small function centre.

And because we booked well in advance we were rewarded with the worst table in the house, just outside the function centre, which meant a cold draft blowing onto us every time someone opened or closed the sliding door (which they did regularly.) Eventually we were able to shift to a slightly better table, out of the draft.

Ambience is casual and lively and the decor and layout is modern but impractical as mentioned with a row of tables set uncomfortably flush against the back wall, the last three too close to the function centre for comfort.

Thankfully, service at least from our hardworking waitress was friendly, polite and efficient.

Our first course was the bruschettine ($9), which comprised three tiny pieces of toast, one with capsicum, one with mushroom and one with rocket. I’m assuming that bruschettine is the diminutive for bruschetta, and if that’s the case, then it’s an entirely appropriate description. Tasty, yes, but woefully inadequate.

For mains my wife chose the zucchini, and beef cheeks and I went for the Margherita Bufala pizza. The zucchini, with fennel and cabbage was not much more than an accompanying salad for $14, but the twice cooked beef cheeks with leak and chickpea ($17), wow! I have to say this was the most tender, juiciest, tastiest meat I’ve had in a long time. It was melt-in-your-mouth softness. Only pity was that there were about six small pieces (and we weren’t sure about that name: beef cheeks?).

So that was $31 for a small salad and a few mouthfuls of beef! Pathetic. My pizza for $22 was disappointing. The base was soggy and the ingredients uninspiring but then I guess that was my fault for a poor choice. Luckily the pizza at least was a reasonable size or we would have polished all our meals in three minutes flat. We finished off with a cappuccino and a green tea.

All up, and including a beer and a soft drink, we paid $82. Way overpriced for what we had, I thought. Toilets are sparkling clean, easy to find and well provisioned and for that they deserve credit. Only problem was the poor lighting and the steps in awkward places, so be careful not to slip.

Being Leichhardt on a Fri night, parking was a bit of a chore. We were told to try nearby Macauley Street but there’s no left turn into Macauley from Norton Street, so we carried on to Allen Street where we were lucky to find something on a two hour limit but that was sufficient.

I’m not sure whether it’s because of these difficult economic times that we’re going through but it seems to me that more and more restaurants are cutting back on their servings. This means that you leave the restaurant feeling hungry and your night out ends at 8.30 pm because you’ve polished off your meals so quickly.

Not my idea of a night out at a restaurant.

Sep 29, 2011 

8.4 Highly Recommended

Food  7      Drinks  7      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

Excellent service. The waiters/waitress had impeccable manners and I would not hesitate to come back based purely on this aspect. The food was also delicious and very unique in terms of texture and flavour. My partner and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Highly recommended. Oh and we came with a Scoopon voucher and they treated us like any other full-paying patron. Loved it!

Sep 25, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Drinks  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

We dined there using a Scoopon voucher and were very happy with our meal and service. The beef cheeks and stuffed calamari were delicious, as was the pizza crust and lamb and chorizo skewers. Would definitely like to head back to check out other items on the menu.

Sep 08, 2011