Wino's on Lorne, Auckland City

Reviewed by ELEANOR BLACK for canvas

First up, I have to say the name is appalling. So bad in fact, that I seriously doubted whether we could have a good meal at a place called Wino's. The connotations are so bad: overconsumption, dry mouth, headache, acid tummy, regret.

Luckily for Wino's on Lorne, a new tapas bar/restaurant within cooee of the Civic, other people are not so pernickety about names, although I still reckon this could prove to be a lingering PR problem. The place was buzzing when we turned up on a recent Friday night, full of cheery theatregoers who all stood up abruptly at 7.50pm and went to Mamma Mia!.

As the tone shifted from celebration to relaxation, we pored over the menu, and decided to do the Spanish thing, ordering five tapas dishes to share. While we waited for our food, we picked at a dish of wonderful black and green olives, which appeared at the table like magic, and sipped our dry-as-a-bone French wine, Chateau de la Ragotiere muscadet Sevre et Maine 2002 ($39.50 a bottle).

And then our own little piece of theatre began. Our waiter, given to dancing next to the table, produced — with flourishes — dish upon dish from the tiny kitchen: cod croquetas, aioli and mixed leaves ($5); chorizo sausage, butter bean and tomato salad ($9); fried squid, tiger prawns, mixed leaves and lemon ($10.50); fresh pasta, portabello mushroom, garlic and porcini bechamel ($9.50); roast quail, parsnip mash, white wine and sage sauce ($13).

The simple chorizo sausage dish, which had a comforting farmhouse feel, was our immediate favourite. The beans were cooked perfectly, the sausage was spicy without being hot, and the chunk of bread on the side fresh and springy. For one person, it would be a perfect light lunch.

The pasta, deliciously creamy and layered with fat chunks of mushroom, was another standout. The other three dishes were okay, verging on not-so-good — the seafood overly oily and cloying, the roast quail admirably tender but far too salty. The effect was of good food treated badly, a lost opportunity.

On to dessert. Tim's baked blueberry cheesecake ($8.50) was rich and absolutely riddled with fruit but lost points for appearance, being a sadly flat little thing. My banana cake ($8.50), resting in a pool of strangely smoky caramel sauce, had been sitting in the fridge too long.

So it wasn't a great meal, but I will happily return to Wino's, and this is why: potential. After a few months of settling in, I think this will be a groovy place to begin or end a night at the ballet, theatre, symphony, or gallery. The staff are good fun, the music funky, the decor classy, the wine list fantastic and if they lighten up on the oil, the tapas will be pretty damn good too.

Ambience: Buzzy, fun, artsy

Cost: Five tapas to share, two desserts, one bottle of wine for $103.50

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.