1923 Blackwood Cafe — Restaurant in Adelaide

Now re branded as 1923 or 19twenty3. (Although the sign at the front, up the top still says 'Café de la Paix'. Intriguing)!

Ambiance: 5.5 / 10 Stark is the first impression and bright! Cripes, is it BRIGHT!! One feels like you’re in a fish bowl on display. We were there for dins and thought it was day. Loud too, even though there weren’t many fellow diners. It’s a small room and everyone can hear everyone (WOW, someone at the next table was talking about their affair). We thought acoustics would be disastrous if it was better patronised and word on the grape vine is that this place has re-established itself from a café to an upmarket Italian restaurant so, when full it would be more like a cafeteria cacophony.

Winelist: 4 / 10 Oh dear! An Italian inspired restaurant with no Italian wines?? A few extra marks for supporting local but, a Barolo, Sangiovese or at least a Vermentino would complement the intended restaurant influence. Even the local wines that monopolise the list are main stream and average.

Service: 6 / 10 Call me old fashioned but, if one is expecting upmarket Darlings, an old girl and my professional counterparts notice things. Serve from the left - clear from the right; unless 2 patrons next to each other are in conversation, clear only when everyone has finished, don’t reach across in front of your patron, top up the vino, top up the water, don’t hover, staff should intimately know the dishes and wine, etc etc. And of greatest importance, they should like they actually enjoy their job. Need I say more about 1923?

Cuisine: 5 / 10 And only just a 5, saved by the quality of the cuisine, not the selection of the cuisine. The kitchen does good with the almost boring and average dishes listed. For a restaurant that’s positioned itself at ‘upmarket’ Italian it’s not genuine Italian. There’s no signature dish, no scaloppine (veal), Nothing chocolate for dessert (Italian sacrilege). Nothing that leaps out from the menu that shrieks “PICK ME, PICK ME”.

Value for what you get: 5 / 10 Expensive. Better value elsewhere.

The deal maker or breaker; would I go back? No. These people have pitched themselves in the ranks of the likes of Assaggio, Jamie’s Italian, Chianti and Ambrosini’s. They come nowhere near this standard. We were hoping the trek up the hill would be worth it but, it wasn’t. We came back down the hill to one of the aforementioned for dessert, coffee and...

Was going to try out this high rated cafe with my dog as there is a courtyard side which doggie is allowed to be in (dog friendly). I got told to sit at a table and i was waiting for someone to at least bring me a menu? Sat there for 5minutes staffs kept waking by but no one bothered to ask. So i then asked a staff who was walking by if i could place an order with her as i already know what i wanted. The response i got from her is that i have to order at the counter myself. Then i told her i am only here by myself with my dog. Is there anyway she could place an order in for me as she already told me dog is not allowed to be inside the area where the counter is (totally fair enough and i understand)! She told me dog is only allowed to go through that gate (pointed at the entrance of the courtyard) then walked away. I ended up going back to the Little Leaf and Beans cafe which i used to go and is ACTUALLY DOG FRIENDLY with amazing staffs who actually cares about their customers!

Extremely disappointed with this...

We went there for brunch and the food was great, no complaints at all.

The service however, not so great.

We walked there with our dog and took a seat right at the far back of the outdoor area, well clear of everyone.

We noticed a water bowl for the dog almost next to us, but before we could get settled a waitress took the bowl and it wasn't seen again. There was no reason to take the bowl before our dog could even get a drink, well apart from us needing to buy a bottle of water for the dog!

Anyhow, we ordered our meals and when they came, in quite a reasonable time, there was no cutlery. As she was leaving we asked the waitress if we could have some cutlery and she called back that it was kept inside and we would need to get them ourselves....from where she had just walked past to bring us our meals!

Summary....Great food,...