Villa on Kellet Street is beautifully presented from the outside. Their menu was displayed using elegant colours and fonts and peering in, the restaurant looked lovely for a quiet date night.
Villa was quiet as we walked through, led by our warm and friendly waiter, but we discovered that the diners were all sitting in the enclosed outside area. Whilst the inside was romantically painted in shades of maroon, the outside area was considerably brighter with lights fixed on the walls. Quirky art, such as a distorted Mona Lisa, filled both the inside and outside of the restaurant giving it a bit of personality.
The tables were covered in white paper and as ours had water rings on it, the waiter quickly changed it before seating us.
The menu was substantial, carrying an Italian theme and the restaurant is licenced with a cocktail menu. I asked if they could do a Mango Daquiri (though not on the menu, I noted that another cocktail had mango in it so assumed they had all the ingredients) and they happily obliged.
We started with a serving of bruscetta (which was very large for $10) and was served on a brightly painted, very Italian looking plate. The bruscetta was perfect. A lot of the time I find that with bruscetta you either get too much tomato on two tiny pieces of bread, or all bread and very little tomato. Here, the balance was ideal with six serves on the plate and a good balance of tomato and basil (I also found that as you crunched and munched through it, no tomato fell off).
Our other entree was a beef carpaccio ($21). Very zesty, the carpaccio seemed to be sitting in olive oil and lemon juice and was served with rocket, parmasan and a side of warm, partially toasted and herbed turkish bread pieces. I loved it.
For mains we ordered squid ink pasta with calamari ($26) and a lasagne. The pasta was lovely and buttery, but this had the effect of making it quite filling (or perhaps it was the turkish bread I had filled up on). The calamari wasn't quite to my taste though as the thick pieces were a bit soft and slimy.
The beef lasagna was wonderful with a creamy tomato sauce. Villa seems to really master the art of clean food as the lasagna didn't fall apart, as many lasagnas do and was easy to eat.
Moderately priced and fully licenced, Villa is a great little restaurant for a night out with friends or a romantic date.
