Located on Victoria St, Darlinghurst, this Italian restaurant doesn’t have people standing out the front asking people to walk in. It’s not a busy hyped up place like Bar Reggio or a restaurant that you’ll find on St Kilda in Melbourne.

A Tavola is fine dinning Italian with a casual yet modern décor. The interior is very warm and welcoming. It’s not too noisy and a table in the covered courtyard towards the back of the restaurant is a different experience. A second level also exists for functions and a more private dining experience.

After a couple of drinks at Victoria Room, we jay walked across Victoria St and met with the Maitre d’ who checked our name and asked us to follow her to our table. Some of group members were a few minutes late and walked right in, however, the Maitre D’ was quite adamant on knowing who they were with – as opposed to letting them stroll right in.

Now, when I saw our group – I better mention who the group includes. Of course there was myself, Maia Michaelis, Sam Wadsworth, Amy Kwok, Sophie Chappelow, Stuart Pond, and Sophie’s lovely parents from the UK.

As we sat down, we found a piece of paper with the menu for the evening. This is where things took a tumble for me. As an Italian restaurant, I’m sure the owners and the chef like to keep thing very traditional. However, the menu written in Italian with no explanation of each dish, took things a little too far. We had to wait for our waitress to explain not only each dish on our menu, but also each dish on the specials board. 10 minutes later and hoping  we hear correctly with her thick accent, we all needed a good 10 more minutes to absorb what was the best fit for our appetite.

We ordered several entrée dishes to share. A bowl of warm olives, meat stuffed olives, a couple of salad dishes – including one with buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto and some focaccia  bread.  The salads were the highlight for me. The cheese was brilliant, rich and worked perfectly with the prosciutto and lettuce leaves topped with a well balanced Italian dressing.

My main course had to be in my top 10 list of 2009. I had veal, slow cooked in milk (and a tomato base), placed over freshly made pappardelle. The veal was cooked to perfection. Tender, gamey and full of flavour. It was one of the most satisfying meal for dinner.

Dessert for me was a complete let down – I ordered a chocolate fondant which turned up to be an overcooked cupcake. I did however give a good go at some deep fried ricotta served with marsala ice cream. The waitress was kind enough to ask what was wrong with my fondant, and after mentioning to the chef they took it off the bill – nice touch. I wouldn’t say dessert was brilliant, so I’d recommend to skip that course and after a cup of coffee or go across the road to Gelato Messina.

In terms of a dent to your pocket, A Tavola is what you would expect to pay. It’s not overly expensive, but it’s not your average pasta take away. You have to appreciate your food to justify the bill, and I enjoyed my entrée and main to justify the expense.

Overall, I would give A Tavola a thumbs up – well cooked food, great staff and a good place to catch up with your mates. I’d definitely visit this place in 2010.

Thanks for introducing us to this place Sophie! =)

Atmosphere – 8/10
Food – 7/10 (a let down because of dessert)
Wine – 7/10
Staff – 7.5/10
Value for money – 8/10

www.atavola.com.au