Olive Garden Cafe Bar and Grill

When a friend suggested that we try the Olive Garden Cafe Bar and Grill on Inkerman Street in St Kilda for dinner, I thought she was slightly mad. No, it's not related to the famous American chain, and yes, it's the tacky looking one at the bottom the apartment building that is always empty. But to my surprise, at the end of my dining experience, it was no longer tacky - it was funky,  it was no longer cheap - it was good value and it was no longer empty - it was intimate.

The staff of Olive Garden are definitely its main attribute - warm and friendly, they were up for a good laugh throughout the entire night. With its fairy lights, eclectic colours, and outdoor couch set up which would be perfect in Summer, the venue reminded me of a cheap and cheerful place you would find on a university campus,

To start with we shared the nachos with guacamole, salsa and sour cream ($12) - which came out with sweet chilli sauce instead of tomato salsa and the addition of black beans.  Whilst it didn't come out quite like the description, the blacks beans were rather delicious and the sweet chilli sauce actually worked, making it a refreshing change from the standard nachos.

For main I had the home-made pumpkin gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce, baby spinach and reggiano ($20.50). The gnocchi was cooked well and the sauce was full of flavour - a bit salty for my liking -  but I'm not the biggest salt fan and my friends who tried it thought it was salted perfectly. 

Olive Garden is by no means fine dining, and were a little slow in getting our meals to us, but it is still a good value spot which I wouldn't object to going to again.

Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Decor: 3/5
Total: 10/15
Verdict: Like - get around to trying it at some point