1889 enoteca

average. my partner and i recently dined at enoteca on a saturday evening. having been before, i was excited for our dinner, however it failed to meet expectations. we ordered the multi-course roman menu and a fairly decent bottle of wine. the first course of cold meats and fried zucchini flowers took approx. 45 minutes to arrive, the last dish arrived close to 11pm and the staff waiting on us kept switching throughout the evening, resulting in a very disjointed service as a full set of cutlery was laid out, removed (even the sets we hadn’t used), laid out, removed and laid out again. the waitress seemed to have no idea what was going on and kept bringing us menus and then taking them away unnecessarily, and the table next to us was uncomfortable close. the food was fine for the most part, and we were given a discount on the bottle of wine, but when you’re paying upwards of $400 for a dinner, i’d expect the service to run a little faster and the food to come out quicker.

zucchini flowers: simply terrible. quality. execution. price. very old oil leaving the bad fish and chip taste in your mouth. if you find the need to remove the classic ricotta filling at least make it extraordinary. if you’re going to charge $24 for two zucchini flowers with no filling at least use some of the significant profit to replace the oil. the waitress could have rectified the issue but all we received was ‘oh sorry’.

next the main. veal saltimbocca. average not bad but nothing amazing and for the quality $30 would have sufficed not $42(?).

disappointed because enoteca used to be a fabulous restaurant but the high price of the food does not represent the quality or execution.

loved the food and the wine! overall a great experience. look forward to dining with you again.

find 1889 along a great little street in woollongabba.. as you arrive you will be greeted by friendly staff. the food is delicious, the gnocchi their signature and couldn't recommend more highly. my favourite gnocchi dish. the oysters were prepared nicely as well. great selection of international wines.

hello, i had recently taken my grandmother for her birthday to this restaurant. to my disgust we were not given the full restaurants menu on a piece of paper! the lady that served up had already put down everything that was available on our table (which added up to 120 dollars) which we did not ask for this. she did not even provide the option if we would like 9 dollar water served to us but again this was done without our knowledge. when ordering, she would take half our tables then go off to serve someone else then come back to serve the rest of our table (without even advising this). when receiving our meal, the fish was not cooked (pink in the middle), the squid was chewy, and all other main meals were extremely salty. i was disgusted with the poor service and quality of the food.

loved it!. my husband took me here for my birthday and we both loved it. lovely warm decor and great service. the barman came over and helped us choose an italian wine which was delicious. i especially liked the way he gave us both a taste of the wine before pouring "well, you are both going to drink it" he said. the clams were very tasty and the garlic toast was to die for. i had an entree size portion of the gnocchi as i know how filling it can be and it was delicious. would definitely recommend this restaurant and will be back.

a perfect night. we dined in the private cellar for my partner's 30th birthday on saturday night and what a memorable evening it was. amazing food, wine, venue & service - we could not fault a thing. would highly recommend 1889 enoteca to anyone looking at hosting a special event. thank you max, luca and the rest of the team - we will be back.


-----18 may, 2013-----

the best. amazing food, service and atmosphere. definetly brisbane's finest.

where to start?. when we booked for a table of eight on a saturday night, we were told that we would have to be seated in the sidewalk dinning area which was fine by us as it allowed a little more space. to our absolute delight, when we were called 24hrs prior to confirm our reservation we were offered a table in the cellar/private dining room. what an amazing room! great ambiance, heaps of room and very private (which was good as we were quite loud at times). the addition of our own waiter was a great bonus as his wine and food knowledge was fantastic.
the food was simply superb! every coarse and meal was of the highest standard with nothing being left on our plates. the portions were large and delicious. forget reading 'the bible' of all wine lists, you just don't have time. the wine selections from our waiter matched our food choices to a tee. we all felt the the prices were reasonable and were actually pleasantly surprised once the bill was presented. we all very much enjoyed our dining experience at enoteca and will definitely be returning again soon.

really good food! the triple frommage & black pepper spaghetti and mushroom risotto were amazing. they even made a vegetarian version of the stuffed zucchini flowers for us :-)

i surprised my partner for his birthday with a beautiful dinner at 1889 enoteca. he was so excited i’d picked an italian restaurant. we ordered classic mains (gnocchi & carbonara). the gnocchi was like no other. the flavours were so amazing and the gnocchi parcels were so light and fluffy. we were trying to show appropriate etiquette being in such a nice restaurant but couldn’t resist mopping up the leftover sauce off the plate. absolutely recommend.

whats all the fuss about. last year i read that enoteca is one of brisbanes best restaurants. so i just had to try it out and recently i did.
it was a thursday evening and i arrive to a beautiful old building housing two great looking restaurants. i walk into enoteca and take a deep breath and i can just smell the chianti into the air, and i say to myself this is going to be a great dinner. we are promptly seated on our very small table only millimeters away from the other diners.
so to the food although enotecas food is ok, its not great there is nothing to rave about and its surely not worth the expensive price tags considering the tapas size serves. the wait staff are very knowlegable yet make you feel very uptight due to their arrogant nature. will i return to enoteca no, i wont!

bellissiimo. my partner and i had the pleasure of visiting enoteca friday evening last week and despite my numerous cancellations and rebookings each request and alteration was met with a genuine desire to help.

we ordered a yabby entree which was excellent and followed with mains of bucatini all’amatriciana and saltimbocca alla romana both of which were sheer bliss on a plate. being shameless dessert addicts we ordered pannacotta, fico e biscotti and tiramisu and it's fair to say that they were easily the best examples of these dessert standards we've tasted anywhere.

the wait staff were fun, informative and efficient and the decore was enchanting.

we thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours we spent in this excellent restaurant.

decided to visit 1889 enoteca the other night after reading a number of positive reviews. it did not disappoint with all three courses being excellent. as many people mentioned, the gnocchi is the standout dish and is a must for anyone planning a visit. the service was efficient and the staff were very accommodating of my nut allergy. despite going on a tuesday night, the restaurant was still quite busy and i would recommend booking a table for whatever day you plan to visit. overall, it was a lovely experience and we are already eager to try more dishes from the menu!

salt fest. i first visited 1889 enoteca for my partners birthday in approximately 2012, i was throughly impressed and therefore when my italian friend asked me to suggest a fine dining italian restaurant for her mothers birthday i immediately suggested 1889 enoteca. unfortunately, i was left throughly embarrassed.
before we had even taken our seats we were questioned about entree's and whether we wanted sparkling or tap water, in the confusion with working out seats and getting settled, our group just said yes, yes, yes to everything. before we know it, a platter of meats and vegetables arrives at our table at a price tag of $15 per person, per platter! along with additional bread and olives - olives were included in the vegetable platter! while the meat and vegetables were reasonably tasty, i would not hurry back for a couple of slices of meat and 4 slices of antipasto vegetables. at that price, for the small portion i expect the food to blow my mind, unfortunately, i was left wanting more.
when it was time for our mains two meals arrived 15 minutes before any other mains arrived. there were only 8 of us and it was a quiet weeknight, so to align meals should not really be particularly difficult. every one of us was disappointed in the mains. they were all extremely salty, so much so, we all ended up sculling down water like we had been parched in the desert for months!
i couldn't tell you much else about the meal apart from that if you like salt, and you like throwing money away for the pretence of "fine dining", you will like 1889 enoteca.
throughly disappointed and will definitely not be back. everyone at the table was very disappointed and the entire meal for 8 people ended up costing over $650. no one would have minded the price tag if the meal was worth the money, unfortunately you don't always get what you pay for.

1889 entocea is not just italian food, but roman food. the philosophy of the romans i am told is to use only a couple of ingredients in each dish – always fresh, good quality and sourced locally wherever possible.