Elio, Leichhardt - Scoopon deal

I'm one of those people that trawl all the group deal sites everyday looking for bargains. However, I am a very discerning group deal buyer - I'm usually only after food deals, and only at restaurants that I've heard of, eaten at before, or have some kind of confidence in its quality.

A few months ago I saw a deal for Elio, a restaurant in Leichhardt, on Scoopon. It was $49 for $140 worth of food and wine from the menu, and I thought it was a great deal - especially as I had eaten at Elio a year or so ago and thought it was pretty good. I happily snapped up the deal and tried to make a reservation about 4 weeks in advance for a Friday night dinner with the hubby. 

First impressions was that their reservation management was woeful - the restaurant doesn't ever seem to answer their phone. I called three times before leaving a message to book a table, and didn't hear back from them. On the week leading up to the booking the hubby tried calling to confirm and again, no one answers the phone. Finally, we sent an email to which we received a confirmation of the booking.

My second impression upon turning up to the restaurant was that I think they had changed owners since the last time I had visited. The menu was fairly unoriginal and there were no specials. What surprised me the most though was the lack of value: the price of the dishes in comparison to the size of the dish - I'm not sure if the restaurant did this as I had the Scoopon voucher, or whether this was standard serving sizes. I'm glad that the hubby and I had $140 between the two of us on the voucher, because at $18 for two single scallops, we would've been left very hungry!

The dishes at Elio are simply cooked - they were tasty, solid in its quality. The hubby and I ordered the entree of proscuitto wrapped asparagus and the seared scallops. Mains consisted of gnocchi with mussels and clams, and a scotch fillet steak. When we saw the sizes of the dishes, we quickly added in orders for sides of sauteed spinach and another of green beans.

Proscuitto wrapped asparagus, taleggio cream ($10)

Scallops wrapped in ocean trout ($18)

The stand out dish of the evening was the gnocchi - wonderfully light, the gnocchi was perfectly paired with the clams, mussels and cherry tomatoes. All it needed was some freshly ground pepper over the top, and the hubby and I ate it all up with relish. The hubby enjoyed his scotch fillet, but rated it as average - it was, however, perfectly cooked to his requirements.

Scotch fillet with potato puree & fried artichoke ($29)

Gnocchi with baby clams & mussels ($24)

The hubby and I didn't stay for dessert despite having about $40 value left on our Scoopon voucher - we went next door to Bar Italia for toberlone and tiramisu gelato!

With all these group buying deals, there are always hit and misses. This was unfortunately a miss for us - it was still great value, but would we dine here without the benefit of a deal? Probably not. For the prices that the restaurant are charging, better value and quality can be found elsewhere.

Elio restaurant, 159 Norton St, Leichhardt

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