Maxim’s Wine Bar

Maxim’s is a comfortably small (–ish?!) wine bar, which sits above a restaurant in Norwood.
My housemate and I were on the internet looking at places to have her 21^st and stumbled across this one. The manager was really helpful and she settled for a Friday night as it was less expensive (still pretty pricey to hire though!). There’s a $ 30 cake fee if intend to bring your own and they do provide finger food which will be brought around by one of the employees throughout the night. You can play your own music and slideshows too.
I didn’t talk to the manager personally, I just remember seeing him talk a bit rudely to the bartenders and it seemed a bit unprofessional. The woman behind the bar was lovely and joked around with us. It was a young girl’s first shift and she was really lovely too.
The only things that were a little off putting were:
a) The very obvious stripper pole which is placed in the middle of the room. This wasn’t mentioned anywhere. My housemate wanted ‘classy’ and with the fluro pink lights which outline the ceiling on half of the room, it brings the class-​o-​meter down a little!
and, b) Because I’m vegan, my housemate asked them to make something vegan for me and they agreed. When I asked on the night, they said no one had told them! My housemate definitely did, so we were a bit annoyed about that. Luckily the spring rolls turned out to be «accidentally» vegan, so I didn’t go home too hungry!
My experience wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. With what my housemate’s parents paid to hire the place, I just expected it to be in my top 5 at least.

A small little wine bar (if you didn’t guess by the title) that serves as a bistro as well.
My review rating, as you’ll notice, isn’t particularly generous, and that’s because the establishment doesn’t have anything to incite any sort of particular boast. However, though I imagine most ‘readers’ might take a glance at the score and ignore my words, let me say I feel this place COULD be really special to the right person. I’m not the person. We didn’t gel, I’m afraid, the two of us. But sitting there at sipping at my shiraz, I had a very strong feeling that, were I a particular sort of person, this might be the type of place I’d love to frequent.
So, it’s somewhere you’ll have an okay time, but it’s somewhere you might fall in love with. I don’t want to give it a higher review, ’cause it’s not the place for everyone to rush to, but if you’re looking for a small place to sip at your wine or your coffee in a solitary way, give this place a look and see if you hit it off.

A medium sized function centre located above a restaurant in Norwood, They are actually a wine that serves tapas and other food as well. I had no idea as it is only stairs downstairs and it’s not a raging nightlife area, particularly for younger people.
The Norwood scene is a little more casual, up market and quieter. I usually only go there for tea and the movies, not to stay around on weekend nights and party.
But a wine bar is a cool idea, especially on a great corner in the middle of The Parade.
I have been to Maxims for a party function or two, and they were pretty good. It’s quite cosy so feels full and you don’t have to move around too much. The bar is big enough, with ample staff to keep up with the demand. Maxims has a small outdoor balcony area (very small), and it can be closed off so almost be indoors. But only 4 or 5 people will really fit out there. There are toilets, lounges, TVs and lights to make it perfect for a function.
The one thing I find funny about Maxims –there is an obvious stripper pole smack bang in the middle of the dance floor area, which is always the centre of attention and the feature of many photos.