Elementi Restaurant — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Food Four of us dined on a Thursday night in Apr. We ordered three drinks, three pizzas, (a Margherita, a Salamino and a Vegetariana) and one pasta dish, the fusilli alla Norma. No complaints about the food. It was all delicious, beautifully prepared with love, care and attention to detail, and presented to the table on stylish, modern crockery. The pizzas were a decent size, and filled with lashings of tasty, fresh ingredients. Mine was the Salamoni which had tomato, spicy salami and mozzarella. Everyone enjoyed their meals.

Vibe This is a busy place, with a lively, fun and energetic vibe. The fact that they don’t take bookings and can still easily fill the joint, attests to their popularity. The décor is modern, industrial style with exposed brick walls and stone floors, hard durable furniture and low hanging lamps. There are two drawbacks to all this modernity though: Firstly, the lighting is so poor that we had to use our phone torches to read the menu and secondly, the place was hellishly noisy, due to all the hard surfaces with no carpets or noise absorbers. We struggled to communicate, even with our waitress. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for a relaxed dining experience.

Service As no bookings were taken, we agreed to meet our friends at 6pm. We were first to arrive and luckily, there were quite a few tables available. But the greeting we received from the owner/manager when we asked for a table for four, was not welcoming or friendly. He merely enquired how long it would be before our dining companions arrived. We were given a table in the middle of the restaurant. As expected, within a few minutes, our friends arrived. Things improved after that. Anna, our waitress, was warm, friendly and courteous. She was neatly dressed in a smart black uniform. The only problem with Anna was that it was difficult for her to hear us, and vice versa, and we struggled to make ourselves understood. But being patient and attentive she persevered until all orders were taken. Drinks, and meals came out quickly. After we had finished our meals we remained at the table, chatting for a few minutes, before we were unceremoniously bundled out by the owner/manager on the grounds that others were waiting for the table. Whilst I fully understand his dilemma, as other diners were waiting, I guess a bit more tact and diplomacy would not have gone astray.

Toilets & Parking Toilets are clean and well provisioned with separate male, female and disabled cubicles. But with just one cubicle each, things can get a bit crowded, so you may need to wait. We found easy parking on the opposite side of Given Terrace, where there are no weekend or after hours restrictions.

Cost This is where things get a bit tricky, because this is not a cheap restaurant. We paid 144 for three drinks, three pizzas and a pasta. 17 pesos each for a glass of house red or an Aperol Spritz. I guess this also goes to show the extent to which out-of-control inflation is slowly but surely destroying the purchasing power of our little Aussie peso. I couldn’t help but notice that even before we had paid, when they wouldn’t have known whether we were paying cash or card, a hefty 1.45% card surcharge was added to the bill. Hopefully cash payers will have that deducted.

Summary Elementi is a well run restaurant, staffed by trained professionals, so it's no surprise then, that it’s popular with the locals. The food is superb and served in decent portions, with efficient and polite service to match. There are clean toilets and it’s easy to find parking nearby. What I didn't like about this place though was that it was too noisy and the lighting was weak. Prices are at the higher end of the spectrum, even in this crazy era of hyperinflation, and unfortunately, there are no offers or discount deals available. There are also no bookings, so it’s first come first served, meaning that you need to get here early to secure a table. I found the owner/manager a tad brusque especially when asking us to leave to make way for the...

My birthday lunch at Elementi in Paddington, Brisbane, lived up to the great reviews from friends who had been there. It was an early start for lunch and we had booked several weeks before. We paid $130 upfront which seems to be fairly common with many popular restaurants. We were greeted by the bar staff as we walked in and a delightful waitperson showed us to our table. While perusing the menu, sparkling water all round, although still was offered up front. I asked the waitperson if she spoke Italian- yes, so future discussion was conducted in both Italian and English, particularly for our granddaughters. They settled for pizza and pasta while we had lemoncello spritzes ( delicious) and negronis. We went to the pizza menu as we had had a big meal the night before to celebrate Lunar New Year. 3 large pizze between 4 adults and 3 pieces went home in a doggy bag for the grandkids lunch the next day. The classic Margharita was absolutely delicious- crisp, crunchy edges with doughy base- classic authentic Italian style the way we like it. With that we shared a tradional Sicilian style pizza with plenty of prosciutto and fillings surmounted with a mound of ricotta cheese steaming hot in the middle. Equally delicious was the third-a pizza con fungi with 4 different types of mushroom. This was accompanied by a Nebiolo wine from Piedmont. All the while , the restaurant was slowly filling with diners ,but the waitstaff were regular visitors, checking our wine and topping up our water. One just cannot finish good Italian food without trying out the dolci ( desserts) so we had Sicilian cake with icecream, some of the best tiramisu we've had anywhere, and cannoli. Strong coffee with amaretti biscuits and Amaretto liquer finished the meal. For 4 adults and two hungry grandchildren, the meal came to just under $ 500, which included the deposit. We felt that was good value across the board. Well worth the 5 star rating we gave them. Elementi is a great place for authentic Italian food. Brisbane has some of the best Italian food we have eaten anywhere, including Italy itself. To the staff in the restaurant, " grazie mille" for a great lunch and great service....

Do you ever see a restaurant or bar advertised, or you drive by it and think – oh I should go there, and never do?

We knew about Elementi since it opened as we were acquainted with Mauricio one of the owners, but life got in the way and we hadn't visited until now!

A couple of months back we finally, finally booked in –and what can I say... we have become ''the pest diners''! LOL No word of a lie, we are haunting the place!! I’m sure they are sick of us – haha!

But honestly, this place – if you love Italian and great people, then do yourself a favour and book in already!!! The amazing wait staff – Ivan, Mattia, and Jane, they make our visit in truth, they are pure sunshine – happy, accommodating and we enjoy coming in to see them, it’s half the fun when you go out to eat talking to the people who make a place what it is.

Now let’s talk about food – Italiano at its absolute best! The pizza – the bruschetta...ok all of it actually is next level!!!

The chefs make their own dough, and you can tell, it is soo good, and you don’t feel that awful full heavy feeling afterwards.

The dessert – our favourite is this apple and custard crumble cake, served a little warm, it is soul food – finished off with a grappa for him and an affogato for me.

Our last visit, we had lunch, then ordered dinner to take way. We had the vegetarian pasta – which will feature highly on my visit list, homemade pasta – the home-made taste shines through. Have I convinced you yet? Book now!!

So, if you feel like a little slice of Italiano heaven, then I tell you to book in already, don’t do what we did and say yeah, we will go one day, you will not regret it, and like us you might just become a dine in pest. Haha!!! Love you guys see you...