Orso is one of our favourite restaurants in Adelaide, and you will find it on Kensington Road at Rose Park. If you are looking for exceptional food and service, then this place is perfect. It is a fine dining experience with a great atmosphere. We enjoy the elegance and relaxed feel, but most of all, the great food. This is our “go-to” place for celebrations, like birthdays and anniversaries. From the outside, it looks like a house – probably because it originally was.
The entrance is a lovely large glass door, and staff always greet guests cheerily. We often book an early sitting, when you are more likely to get a table at short notice. Later sittings are usually fully booked, so get in early if you prefer this. The tables are a good size, and we can usually fit everything we order on the table. Today we were placed near the bar and the covered outside area, and we have also been seated by the front windows. Not that it matters; there are no bad seats.
Orso has several seating options, with multiple rooms to select. Choose from the main dining room, the heated courtyard, the kitchen bar, or the “Alexandra Room”. The same menu is available in all areas, but the Alexandra Room is only available at dinner.
An exclusive option is the Orso Cellar, which we have yet to experience, as it requires a minimum of 6 guests. We are looking forward to this and will update you all once we have tried it.
The menu
We love the food here; we are yet to find anything we don’t like. The menu is contemporary and sophisticated, and the dishes are designed to be shared. We recommend the “feed me” menu, which is different each time, but make sure you are hungry if you are going to choose this option. Staff are happy to cater to dietary requirements, and will swap out dishes if required. Nothing is too much trouble! There is also a huge range of wines to choose from, and the cocktails are excellent.
We decided to have the “let the chef choose” option, and informed them that Christian does not like fish. They selected a variety of wonderful dishes for us to savour and enjoy. We had a selection from the menu that included four smaller dishes, including our favourite of steak tartare.
The staff were very accommodating, ensuring that they did not pressure us to finish, and that we did not wait too long with no food. We saved the dipping sauce that we loved, to use with the next dish.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is both cosy and busy. We could see into the kitchen across the bar. The staff are on display whilst they work, and it is entertaining to see them making the delights for.our stomachs.
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