Nestled in amongst the cafés and outdoor adventure shops around Hardware Lane and Little Bourke Street lies this small, cosy, and possible groovy establishment. At lunchtime it was very pleasant, if not particularly groovy. Perhaps they groove it up at nighttime.
We had a nice meal here. We started with the daily soup - mushroom, spinach and potato in a clear broth. Satisfying, but possibly a little expensive for the size of the serving (the price wasn't shown on the board, and turned out to be $8.50 a bowl). For mains, Dave tried the Homemade Gnocchi with Pesto, and I had the Linguine alla Groove. As usual, Dave's choice was better (don't ask me why this always happens). The linguine wasn't bad at all, but it was nothing particulary inspired - you could easily make an identical dish at home. The gnocchi, however, was definitely fresh and quite light where most examples would be stodgy. Excellent.
We had some wine, but in spite of our efforts we still don't know anything about wine. Dave had the house red, and I had "Lucy's Choice" Pinot Noir, and both were acceptable.
I really enjoyed my dessert - Sticky Date Pudding with vanilla bean ice cream. I always like sticky date pudding, but this was one of the best I've had recently. Dave tried the Gelato, which came as raspberry, mango and rockmelon, but he couldn't tell which one of the orange scoops was mango and which one was rockmelon.
Prices for mains were reasonable (around $15), and wouldn't you know I forgot to take note of the dessert prices.
Service was fine until the place got busy, and then it slowed considerably. They failed the auto-water-refill test.
Restrooms were not in keeping with the hip and groovy image. As seems to happen more often than not, the restrooms didn't receive the same attention to presentation and maintenance as the dining area. No hot water and no soap don't make for a pleasant hand washing experience.
But the mood was relaxed (and possibly groovy), the seats were comfy, and the food was pretty good.
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Dave's summary: "I'll bet the chef didn't make the homemade gnocchi at home. I'll bet he made it here."
Probability that we will return: 30 / 42
Note that the probability rating is affected by the fact that there are hundreds of places to eat around here.