Vini

Loved this place. Service was wonderful — friendly and proactive and knowledgeable. Started with quail and polenta which was tasty and balanced. Then I had the gnocchi with prawns and cauliflower. The prawn stock used for the sauce was outstanding and u had to order two serves if break to soak it up, fighting off my fellow diners in the process who kept stealing the outstanding bread.

Totally over rated… $ 33 for 2 glasses of wine! That would be ok if food was excellent, sadly but no. Advice you are better off going to local pub food more flavours & you won’t be ripped off. Vini what a boring wank!

Wonderful small Italian restaurant /​wine bar.
You can tell they are serious about their wine by the dedication it took for someone to write all the wines on the chalkboard wall.
The food menu is considerably smaller (which is good as I don’t like difficult menu decisions that inevitably lead to food envy!). I tried the smoked eggplant ravioli with kingfish tonight which was absolutely delicious. The smoked eggplant filling absolutely made the dish.
The kitchen was a little slower than I would have liked but the food was very much worth the wait!

Whats not to love about italian wine, delicious food, dim lighting and black board menus! Vini is all that and more. Its the perfect date spot albeit the seating is a little crowded with barely any space between the tables. That out of the way the place is just charming. The walls are all the menus you will get and it will take some bit of neck twisting to see all of it. That and an understanding of Italian, cause the only words I could read were pork, duck and dolci and that pretty much nailed the nights selection for me. The wine list is extensive with regional Italian wines on offer and I honestly was lost on what to order, so I explained my dilemma to the patient lady serving us, and she expertly reccomended an excellent choice of white. So if you are like me and can’t read a word of Italian, still give this place a go, the staff are helpful and willing to explain the menu. Their food is fuss free and relaxed as the atmosphere and bursting with flavours. I highly reccomend the duck salad with orange and fennel, and the parpadelle with braised pork, both the dishes were finger licking delicious. The star of the evening however was the espresso caramel panacotta which was divine in a roll your eyes to the back of your head kind of way. My partner declared it the best dessert he has ever eaten! A tip though, call precisely around 5:30pm for a Saturday booking after 7:30pm, they take down your name and number and call you when your table is ready!

Have heard many great reviews about Vini and was really looking forward to going there, unfortunately we weren’t wowed like everyone else. The food was good but what really ruined it for my husband was the house wine (to be fair, mine was fine). Before you roll your eyes at his choice of house wine, in European countries house wine is what restaurants recommends as their go-​to (wine of the house). Being an Italian restaurant that’s literally called Wine, we expected an almost $ 10/​glass wine to be decent, and it was not even close. So overall not a bad place to go if you’re in the area but steer clear of the house red!

It’s been a couple of years since I had been here — i had spend these interim years talking the place up. yet somehow I was left wanting.
Came on a ‘regional night’ where the cuisine of specific regions of Italy are on offer. The menu is set (make sure any dietary requirements are noted at time of booking!)
While the food was good (possibly not as good as before?), the wine was outstanding, the service was average. They do have 2 sittings on these nights so I can feel rushed (read: waitress hurrying you up to get out).
The chef comes into the dining room to explain the menu which is a nice touch.
The place is tiny lil hole in the wall with a fantastic wine list, the meals are a good size and if excellent quality.
Would I come back? Absolutely, just not on regional night.

Amazing little Italian restaurant. I had the cauliflower and sausage crostini and buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto for antipasti and eggplant and oxtail lasagne for main. My dining partner had the pumpkin tagliatelle. All were amazing. Each dish was a tribute to the season!
The service, while in true Italian style was very relaxed (date I say slow) was super friendly and helpful. The only downside was the dessert. Having had a stellar meal we were looking forward to a great finish and we were let down with the pana cotta that was simply over whelmed by the sauce. I could of done without.
I will be returning, just probably skipping dessert!

Look, I bag Italy a lot (thanks mainly to a certain few individuals who shall remain nameless. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) but it’s all done in fun and places like Vini make it real hard for me to even jest about the ol’ boot.
All the food & wine is written up on the walls, which are chalkboards. Someone has neat handwriting. Big points. Mega handwriting porn. A little obsessed. If you don’t know your Italian wines you may as well be reading Japanese, but ask the waitress for a recommendation and away you go. We had a stonkingly good Nebbiolo, then got the roast scallops in shell, the cauliflower salad with radish, cheese and olives, and amazing pasta with pippis and peas. All exceptional in terms of flavour, ingredients, and how much I wanted to make love to them with my face.
Are you on Tinder? This makes a banging date place. Should get you to at least second base. Third if you’re lucky.

You know that feeling when you order a pasta, and then get it and think to yourself, «this is silly, I could have done that myself, and done it better.»
Yeah — you don’t have to worry about that problem at Vini. It’s all done so well, — only your Italian grandmother could have done it this well. And let’s face it, dinner with Nonna involves putting up with her telling you that you aren’t the best grandson, and you’re not doing anything with your life, and her bunions are hurting, can you please find her foot cream?
Vini has sophisticated, reliable Italian food, and a humble atmosphere. It never feels like a «big deal» to go here — but the food (and the wine) is consistently excellent. It can get a little noisy — since the space isn’t that big and it’s almost always busy.
They have phenomenal Italian wines on the menu and you can even order by half-​carafes, if keen to avoid buying a whole bottle. The menu is all handwritten, up on big blackboards, and it changes daily, depending on what’s market fresh. The serving sizes look fairly small, but the food can be quite rich, and you’ll find you leave Vini feeling very satisfied but not over-​full.
If you want to make sure you get a table — turn up in the early evening (or as Esther says — call in the afternoon at 5.30 or so), or try later on, for a second sitting.
This restaurant is owned by the same people who run 121BC and Berta, and the Italian wine is from the same sommelier. So — it’s important to know — you can’t BYO — but why would you want to?
I haven’t done this myself, but they have a private dining room for 8 – 12 people for private functions. Sounds like an indulgent birthday possibility. Oh wait… I just had my birthday. damn. unbirthday?

Last evening we sat in the sprinkling rain of a Surry Hills winter night under an inadequate awning, and were grateful to do so. Any fool knows to be at Vini at 6pm sharp to get a table in the small golden black-​board and wine lined room. We arrived at 6.10pm and were very very lucky to be granted the last table on the footpath. I’m still in a food coma.
We started with little bitelets of duck, orange, radicchio and fennel. They were on the small side so we called for more, but luckily our primi course was already arriving, else our stomachs would have surely ruptured at the end of the evening. The portions here are deceptively small, but once you begin to eat you realise that the depth and complexity of each seemingly simple dish satisfies you in a way mere quantity never does. This is exceptional food. We shared two entrees — tortellini of roast pumpkin with broad beans and walnuts, and cavatelle pasta with prawns, bitter leaves and cannelini beans. The cavatelle is a twisted rag style pasta — marvellous. The broad beans at Vini are always a revelation — we have a mini festival each year when they come in to season, celebrating by eating them at Vini as often as possible.
Stupidly, we ordered dessert, an unnecessary but delicious indulgence of ricotta pannacotta with espresso caramel sauce and almonds, and a quince topped semifreddo. Thank God we’d skipped the main of bream and roast cauliflower.
Throughout this allegedly light but supremely filling meal we quaffed great draughts of a red nectar called Schioppettino, from the Friuli region of Italy. I can’t explain the nose on this wine. Unearthly good. Such was it’s beauty that we meandered over to the ‘bottle shop’ at 121BC (Vini’s laneway sister) and took a bottle home. 121BC is a tale for another time, but is also an exquisite experience.
The staff here are adorable beyond compare. Ask the bearded fellow to guide your wine selection, he is an oracle.

Great little place with well prepared Italian food.
Best thing on the menu? The Panna Cotta with this amazing caramel sauce and toasted almonds. Omg, mouth.watering. just thinking about it!
Tip — they don’t take reservations and it can be REALLY difficult to get a table. Call at exactly 5:30PM the night you want to go and get your name on the list.

Gotta love the robust Italian small bars vibe revving up in Surry Hills these days. Enter Berta and 121BC’s little sister. This place is so convincingly modern Italian, it’s more than likely you’ll need assistance from the Italian waiter to translate the menu — scribbled on a black chalkboard, and evolving daily… which means you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get. But you can rest assured it’s all going to be good. Antipasti features house made ricotta with figs, and the Rotolo makes a regular appearance with different meaty flavours, like braised beef, eggplant and silverbeet. Über affordability is a welcome break for my wallet. Even the usually extravagant Dory only sets you back $ 30. Tomato, borlotti and reserved lemon; or rocket, peach and proscuito are sure to freshen up any meal. Coffee granita marscapone is a textural masterpiece. Take «Wine Flight» for $ 32, or let adorable Georgio select your poison for you. Dine in or outside. Wherever you end up, the food will taste damn good and you’ll exit planning your next visit.

Vini is a well done little wine bar, tucked off Devonshire on Holt Street. It feels like a little bit of a secret, which is hard to come by in Surry Hills — the land where everyone cool knows everything cool. I went on a Wednesday night to 121BC, which is JUST around the corner from Vini and happens to be owned by the same people. They took our mobile number and suggested we grab a glass at Vini while we waited.
We were set up outside with waters and small nibbles, inclusive of olives and bread sticks. Not feeling particularly decisive, we rattled off our short list of desirable wine characterizes and left the waitress with the task of selecting something nice. For me, she brought out a lovely, crisp and clean white wine which was similar to a pinot gris. For my partner she chose a nice light pinot noir, perfect for the beginning of the evening. The wine was delicious and the experience was lovely. I was only sad that we had to slurp the rest of our glasses when 121BC phoned. It’s okay, I assured myself, I will certainly be back.