I got a kick out of the advertising for this place. The flyer was in an envelope addressed “To our special friends on PHILLIP STREET, ENMORE” which is not only a little over-the-top, but also not even close to my address. Inside the envelope, the flyer was a dramatic open-the double-doors fold-out thing referring to the cafe as a “unique new chicken courtyard cafe experience” and “Sydney’s first chicken cafe”. The dot-point cafe-menu listed, first and foremost, “Newtown’s best coffee” and also “Many non-chicken items.” Crying with laughter, I just had to visit this chicken courtyard serving Newtown’s best coffee.
In reality, the chicken very much takes a backseat to the cafe and the cafe is, as the flyer suggested, a little dinky. For a brand new cafe, the decor was surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly) cheap and inconsistent, complete with an oversized bunch of very fake flowers. My waitress didn’t know what a mimosa was, so I had to order a glass of Prosecco with a separate glass of orange juice and put it together myself. The coffee tasted ok and was nicely presented. The banana bread also tasted ok but had a very crumbly, cakey consistency. My experience at Ariana’s Place wasn’t bad, but I have to say their courtyard is neither unique nor chickeny in any way. And I have no idea what made them think they could claim to have the best coffee in Newtown. That was always going to be a tough claim to make. As for “Sydney’s first chicken cafe”, well, Ariana’s Place is just a sub-par cafe with very confusing marketing.
Coffee: 0
BB: -1