It took a lot for me to commit to giving Ettie's only two stars, though I'm hoping to return for a dinner service and I'm hoping that dinner service will cause me to update my review, but for the meantime it will have to stand.
Ettie's is located in the refurbished shell of what was, for many years, Ethos Eat Drink. There is no real indication of the old business unless you were a regular and know the layout, can spot the old familiar chairs, etc... Ettie's has done a lot of work to give themselves new branding and good for them, because those were some big shoes to fill.
Having said that. I went in for lunch with a friend yesterday, both of us excited to try out the new venue. I stood awkwardly in the entryway for a couple of minutes, going unacknowledged by any staff (though another patron did compliment me on my dress, so five stars to her). I moved a little closer to the dining area, where the man behind the bar said hello, but nothing else. Ok? My friend arrived and we continued to stand around kind of awkwardly until someone finally acknowledged us and we took seats at an excellent booth table (why do I love booths so much? Don't question me).
The wine list is excellent, and for good reason, because the sommelier is probably my favourite wine person in Hobart. The rosé was delicious for a warm afternoon. We picked our way through the odd lunch offerings and ended up with a terrine, chicken liver parfait, "crudo" (which just means "raw" in Italian but turned out to be raw kingfish, which is ALWAYS a yes from me) and frites (these were delicious but a small bowl for $8 didn't even come with any sort of sauce? I woulda killed for a mayo or aioli or something). It felt like we ordered a heckload of food but we were nicely full by the end and it came to $80 neat, easily split down the middle for two of us.
I will be in no great hurry to go back for a lunch service. We were sat near a large table of sassy older ladies and I think that's probably far more the target market (for a lunch service at least) given the design of the place. Like I said, I'm keen to at least try out a dinner service to compare the two, so we'll see. We'll see. read more