Saggio Di Vino

Lisa and her team are warm and accommodating, and the menu is one of the best in town. Great place to go for a special dinner out, with an unrivalled wine list and European style dining area.

Tables far apart, could actually hear each other. Very refined dinning, excellent stemware. Highlights for us were Serrano ham with ripe melon balls and housemade crostini, beautiful steak tartar, and wild Paua (abalone) raviolis, lamb chops, great flavors! Definite go back, our best stop on a 16 day tour of NZ.

I really enjoyed every moment of my dining experience at Saggio Di Vino. We opted for the Pre-​Theater $ 54 meal option as we were headed to a play the Court Theater at 7:30 and found it was a great deal. For $ 54 you can have your choice of two of the following: an entrée, a main or a dessert. My husband chose the steak tartare option (which is excluded from the option because of the time it takes to prepare, but we got lucky) and the prime aged beef fillet. I chose the Prime Aged Beef Fillet and the Chocolate Mousse Cake with cinnamon ice cream. We also chose to pay a la carte for the Mahaurangi Oysters (which I highly recommend if you’re an oyster person). The oysters are served with a white wine mignonette. The steak tartare was plated gorgeously. We had the waitress prepare the tartare for us and watched as she mixed in the egg, worcestshire sauce, hot sauce, capers, onions and spices. The tartare and the toasted brioche were fantastic and we quickly cleaned the plate. Our beef fillets were beautifully prepared and plated as well. My husband wished for more vege on his plate, but I found the amount of spinach and pomme fondant provided to be in proportion with the beef (which is a petite serving, but I’m a petite person and often restaurants tend to overfeed customers). The chocolate mousse cake was to die for. Just heavenly. The cinnamon ice cream blended perfectly, but I loved mixing it with the chocolate biscuit over the mousse. I highly recommend every option we consumed! If you aren’t in a rush, and want to eat later (pre-​theater must vacate by 7:30pm) there is a wine pairing ($ 140) and non-​wine pairing ($ 90) dinner option or you can simply order a la carte. The service was attentive, profesional and friendly and the atmosphere is chique, warm and intimate. A great date night atmosphere.

Saggio di Vinos is a Christchurch classic, and probably for good reason. Its quite a formal restaurant, dark and restrained inside. Food was delicious, we dined with a group of about 6 of us and all enjoyed entrée/​main/​desert so got to sample a fair portion of the menu. I recommend the beef carpaccio. I also had the rack of lamb which was well cooked and delicious but not exceptional. Our waiter was rather terrifying, she reminded us all of a grumpy school principle! Not sure is we struck her on a bad night or if that is par for the course, but it did give us a few laughs afterwards.
Parking is a bit of a pain (as always) when dining anywhere on the immensely popular Victoria st so allow extra time for this, especially on a busy night like a Friday or Saturday.
Would I come back? Yes, but I still have some other places to try around Christchurch first!

Having only had a wine or two here on a couple of occasions since it reopened I was looking forward to dining here last night! Without a doubt the service was prompt and efficient, the food was everything the menu promised and the wine list extensive as always. I had the confit duck which i enjoyed, others at our table had the angus beef fillet or the venison loin. Food envy struck when I eyed the venison which was cooked perfectly. I felt a little bit underwhelmed by the variety and originality of the menu and whilst the mains were appropriately sized the side orders (which were delicious — we had duck fat fries and brussells sprouts) were bordering on stingy. At the end of the day however, if you want a sure bet on a quality experience in Christchurch this is probably it.