Went here tonight for a date night with my husband. We made reservations a week (which I actually…read morenever imagined might be necessary) and arrived about 30 minutes before our booking time. However, even for a non-specific Wednesday night, the dining area was nearly full at 7:00 pm. We had a drink at The Keg Room (both establishments are connected) before heading over to The Eatery for our dinner.
The ambiance is casual, comfortable but nice. The Keg Room has dark walls, metal kegs lining one wall, multiple TV screens showing sports. There are high stool seats, lower leather seating and a couple of booths inside. There is limited outdoor seating as well. When we went, there was a combo of adult groups and also people there with children.
The Eatery is slightly fancier, but still appropriate to wear casual attire. There are black beaded chandeliers, a gas fireplace and a couple of iron shelves filled with wood logs. There appeared to be a sectioned of area that could be used for a private party.
We had a bottle of wine and I was happy with the wine selections. There were plenty of NZ wines but also a good selections of Italian wines. We had the Quota 29 primitivo. We weren't disappointed.
We started with spicy Italian pork sausages. These were very tasty, not *too* spicy and served with cooked onions, tomatoes and kalamata olives. It was really great. We also shared one of the side salads to start - arugula/rocket, pears and candied walnuts. It was nicely dressed, light and delicious.
I had the suprema pizza for my main - it had arugula/rocket, pine nuts and prosciutto. What I really loved is that the crust was not too thin/crispy but not so think that it was like a grease sponge. It was very reminiscent of pizzas that I had while traveling in Italy. I wasn't sure what I'd think about the pine nuts, but they ended up being a nice touch. The pizza was fairly sizable, and I ended up eating about half and taking the rest home.
My husband had the Maltagliati, all'amatriciana (spicy, hand-pulled pasta with bacon). He asked for it to be "extra spicy," and they did spice it up. I tasted it and it was on the verge of too spicy for me, but that is just how he likes it.
We finished with tiramisu, which was very nice, but I'm not sure that it was really stand-out compared to others.
All in all, we had a great evening and felt the drive from the CBD was well worth it (all 15 minutes). It is rather unassuming from the outside, nestled inside a strip mall type of setting. There is plenty of parking. We will definitely go back.