What are the opening hours?

Wednesday 5pm - 10pm Thursday 4pm - 10pm Friday 12pm - 10pm Saturday 12pm - 10pm Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Joe's, 133 Main Street, McLaren Vale (2026)

11/07/2026

Joe's is closed for two days.

Wednesday 15th July
Thursday 16th July

Back open on Friday 17th July.

To all of my incredible regulars, irregulars and first timers that come visit Locals Nights on a Wednesday - I apologise but I need a day off.

Running a restaurant solo isn't for the faint hearted, it's fu***ng stressful I can say that much. I'm tired.

So I'm disappearing for 48 hours

Theres no emergency
No scandal
No chef meltdown..

I'll be back soon, hopefully slightly rested, feeling fresh and ready for what the weekend brings

See you all in two days.

All my love, Lil xx

06/07/2026

Locals Night #68
Wednesday 8th July
Aglio E Olio

I'm keeping it simple.

School holidays have officially begun.

Which means parents are trying to entertain tiny dictators who have somehow managed to eat six times before lunch, l and everyone else is wondering why every second person in McLaren Vale suddenly has weekdays off, If you've spent the week arguing with children, arguing with opposing counsel, or arguing with yourself about whether you can justify another coffee... and to top it off lawyers are emailing "just one quick thing" at 4:58pm.

None the less you deserve pasta.

Not foam.

Not tweezers.

Not a chef snatching the parmesan off you saying you're grating it wrong

Just one of Italy's greatest hits. Because Joe's is Italian on Wednesdays

Aglio e Olio.

Garlic. Chilli. Good olive oil. And when I say good olive oil I mean the good stuff. Shout out to Bahloo glen olives. Parsley. Parmesan.

Proof that you don't need twenty-seven ingredients to make something bloody delicious.

Want to make questionable financial decisions?

Add sausage.

Add truffle.

Add anchovies.

why the heck not

Or do all three. i'm not your wife.

And because it's Locals Night, it's still all the sides, $20, and free BYO.

Bring the family who cant be bothered cooking in school holidays.

Bring your work mates after surviving another meeting that absolutely could've been an email.

Bring your lawyer if you've got one. They probably need a night off too... and if you're paying by the hour, at least make them earn it over charred potatoes.

We'll cook.

You pour the wine.

Everyone wins. Even the gluten frees, I won't forget about you.

Wednesday 8 July
From 5pm
Bookings essential
133 Main Road, McLaren Vale
8323 8270
joesatsabella.com

28/06/2026

Locals Night #67
Wednesday 1st July
Field Mushroom Crema

Winter has officially settled in.
Its fkn cold.
Every morning starts with convincing yourself it's worth leaving the blankets, your car takes ten minutes to defrost, and by 4:45pm it somehow feels like you've lived 3 separate days already. or at least for me.

Meanwhile the world continues to perform its weekly circus. Every second person online has become an economist because eggs cost $12, every podcast host has a solution to civilisation, and every male on linkedIn is posting a photo of himself at 4:17am explaining how cold showers and "discipline" made him a millionaire. No worries mate, ill let centrelink know.

I'm exhausted. I don't know what day it is. My phone keeps reminding me about bills I'd rather not think about and my screen time report somehow manages to insult me every Monday.

Which is exactly why I keep doing Locals Night.

Not because pasta fixes the world.

Because for an hour or two you get to sit across from people you actually like, drink whatever you brought with you, eat something cooked properly, and remember life exists outside whatever fresh disaster is currently happening in your life.

This week is Field Mushroom Crema.

Proper field mushrooms cooked slowly until they've given up every bit of flavour they've got. Finished in a silky parmesan crema that's rich without being heavy, earthy without trying too hard, and exactly the sort of bowl you want when it's freezing outside and you're questioning every decision that got you to Wednesday.

And yes... it's all the sides.

Not "choose two."

All. The. Sides.

We're even going to add some fried enoki mushrooms to the options.

Because life's already full of unnecessary restrictions.

It's still $20. It's still free BYO.

It's still the best excuse you'll find all week to stop doomscrolling, put your phone face down for an hour and eat something that wasn't delivered in a paper bag.

We'll cook.

You bring the wine. Leave some for me would ya?

Everyone leaves happier than they arrived.

Wednesday 1 July
From 5pm
Bookings essential

133 Main Road, McLaren Vale

8323 8270

joesatsabella.com

21/06/2026

Locals Night #66
Wednesday 24th June
Charred sprouts & leafy greens

A dish for anyone that has spent the last week pretending they're 'getting back on track' whilst eating rice & beans over the sink at midnight and calling it 'dinner'

Alright. Its Brussel sprouts. The one vegetable everyone hated until society discovered that boiling the s**t out of it until its grey isn't it's real personality. It's soft, salty, buttery and has a much nicer persona than the 80's.
We've thrown some NZ spinach, confit garlic and our famous tomato sugo in there to make it slightly less dirty.

It's green, its smokey, it tastes like you made a good decision continuing to listen to that one favourite podcast that your ex hated. you know what babe just do it.

Life is already full of too much admin.

Car needs fixing.
Body is screaming for the gym.
Phone is on IOS 16 and wont open apps anymore.
ATO is emailing bout a tax bill thats over due.
And people you barely know are calling last minute to make a booking.

It's pasta night. You know the drill. Yes i'm still falling for your sarcastic 'do you have a GF option?'

Free BYO
Side dishes
$20 Pasta
Wednesday 24th June from 5pm
Bookings essential
133 Main Road McLaren Vale
8323 8270
joesatsabella.com

Eat like you live here.

20/06/2026

Joe’s old piano has been quietly holding court over the past 17 months.
Witnessing birthdays, anniversaries, first dates, family disputes and long luncheons that turn into a night dancing in the restrooms to Bad Bunny after one too many margaritas.

It never calls in sick, never complains about working weekends, never hints at a deserved pay rise, and despite the attention it gets, it remains humble.

Candle lit, stained glass windows, purposely covered in candle wax which Jerry will say has ruined a statement piece and looks tacky.
Layer upon layer, night after night, it’s become resilient to passing comments and still holds character.

In a world where everything can be replaced, a moment aside for the old timber, worn down edges and candle wax that is solidifying memories, if it could talk we’d all be in a lot of trouble, but thankfully it stays quiet at the entrance and keeps your secrets while you leave your tequila on top for it.

15/06/2026

Locals Night #65.
Wednesday 17 June.
Basil pesto crema.

This one’s for Charlotte’s birthday. 🎈

Charlotte and I have been friends for about 20 years, which is a terrifying sentence because it means we’re now old enough to say things like “remember when” and actually have it refer to multiple decades ago, several bad outfit trends, and a long list of decisions best left behind.

But here we are.

Still standing.
Still eating pasta.
Still pretending I know what I'm doing.

This week’s pasta is basil pesto crema. Nut free, because apparently we’re responsible adults now and have to think about these things instead of just throwing nuts into everything like it’s 2005 and nobody had a dietary requirement.

It’s basil, garlic, parmesan, olive oil, creaminess, and enough green energy to make you feel like you’ve made one good decision this week. Smooth, punchy, rich, a little bit of 'damn that was delicious'

Meanwhile, the world outside is still having a nervous breakdown.

Your phone is screaming.
Your inbox is multiplying.
Groceries cost more than your next holiday.
Someone online is explaining “what’s really going on” while sitting in their car eating servo sushi.
And every second influencer is trying to sell you peace, balance, and a morning routine while looking like they’ve never had to work a double shift in their life.

Hell nah.

Come eat pasta.

Free BYO.
All the sides.
$20 pasta.

And yes, there’s a gluten-free option. There always is. Don’t make me say it again.

Wednesday 17 June — from 5pm
Bookings essential
133 Main Road McLaren Vale
8323 8270
joesatsabella.com

Bring a bottle. Bring your mates. Bring whatever version of yourself survived the week.

We’ll feed it.

09/06/2026

Locals Night #64.
Wednesday 10 June.
Banana capsicum sugo.

Before anybody calls the police, no, there is no actual banana in the pasta.

Banana capsicums are those long, sweet, ever so slightly spicy (but not spicy) little yellow peppers that look like a banana after a rough divorce. We cook them down slowly until they surrender completely, fold them into a rich sugo, then throw the whole beautiful mess at a bowl of pasta.

Sweet. Savoury. A little bit smoky. A little bit not spicy. Deeply comforting in the way a proper meal should be when you’ve spent the week being emotionally mugged by adulthood.

Because life is strange enough already.

Your phone battery dies faster than your enthusiasm.
Your grocery bill now resembles a minor gambling debt.
You need seven separate passwords to do anything, and every single one of them apparently requires a capital letter, a number, a hieroglyph and the name of your first pet’s parole officer.

Then someone sends you a voice note that goes for four minutes.

What the helly.

Come eat pasta instead.

We’ve just turned Joe’s into a Mexican restaurant, yet every Wednesday we keep firing up an Italian side quest like a venue with a multiple-personality disorder and an unhealthy relationship with carbohydrates.

It makes no sense.
Neither does anything else.

Free BYO.
All the sides.
$20 pasta.

And yes, there’s a gluten-free option. There always is. You don’t need to submit a formal enquiry through the United Nations.

Wednesday 10 June — from 5pm
Bookings essential
133 Main Road McLaren Vale
8323 8270
joesatsabella.com

Bring a bottle. Bring a mate. Bring whichever exhausted version of yourself made it through the week without telling a stranger to get fu**ed.

We’ll take it from there
Come eat like you live here

01/06/2026

Locals Night #63.
Wednesday 3rd June
Parmesan cream.

So I survived the first weekend of the new Mexican Joe’s concept.

Barely.

For three days we baptised McLaren Vale in tequila, lime juice and the smell of grilled meat. Margaritas flew across the room like emergency supplies. Tacos disappeared faster than our remaining sense of optimism. Someone almost certainly woke up on Sunday morning with a sombrero-shaped gap in their memory and a bank statement that read like a cry for help.

Beautiful scenes.

Now Wednesday has rolled around, and we’re doing the only sensible thing after relaunching a Mexican restaurant inside an old church:

Serving pasta.

Because consistency is for accountants, sober people and businesses with a functional HR department.

This week: Parmesan cream.

Nothing clever. Nothing deconstructed. No culinary TED Talk delivered by a bloke with tweezers and a sleeve tattoo of a fish he’s never caught.

Just proper Parmesan cooked into a silky, salty, obscenely comforting sauce and wrapped around pasta until the whole thing becomes legally questionable.

The kind of bowl you eat slowly at first, then suddenly realise you’re hunched over it like a raccoon guarding a wheelie bin.

The world already asks too much of you.

Answer emails. Pay bills. Drink water. Maintain relationships. Pretend you understand why your lower back hurts now. Remember 14 different passwords. Smile politely while someone tells you a story with no ending.

F**k that.

On Wednesday, your responsibilities are reduced to:
sit down, pour wine, eat Pasta, order sides, stop talking for a minute, or 7.

Free BYO.
All the sides.
$20 pasta.

Wednesday 3 June — from 5pm
Bookings essential
133 Main Road McLaren Vale
8323 8270
joesatsabella.com

Joe’s is now Mexican.
Locals Night is still Italian.
Nobody knows what the f**k is going on.

That’s why it works.

27/05/2026

I'm not going to tell you how to eat it 🇲🇽

23/05/2026

Locals Night #62. Wednesday 27 May.
Roast tomato & silverbeet sugo.

We’ve been closed for a week turning Joe’s into a Mexican fever dream — tacos, tequila, margaritas, bad decisions, the whole beautiful circus — and now, like every overworked hospitality gremlin who said “I just need a little break,” we’re crawling back out of the renovation dust with sauce in our hair and a thousand-yard stare.

The world didn’t stop while we were gone. Of course it didn’t. The internet kept screaming. Influencers kept pretending their lives are casual while filming 19 takes of a coffee pour. Some bloke somewhere is still explaining “what’s really going on” into his phone from the driver’s seat of a Hilux like some overstimulated f**k. Everyone’s angry, everyone’s tired, everyone’s one bad email away from moving to the bush and raising goats.

So we made sugo.

Roast tomato. Silverbeet. Pasta.
Simple food for complicated people.

Tomatoes roasted until they stop being polite and start tasting like they’ve lived through something. Silverbeet folded through the sauce like the one responsible adult at a house party. It’s red, green, rustic, comforting, and has absolutely no interest in your wellness journey.

You’ve had a week. We’ve had a week. The whole planet looks like it needs a lie down and a glass of red.

So bring wine. Bring your mates. Bring whatever fragments of personality you’ve got left after pretending to be normal at work.

$20 pasta.
Free BYO.
All the sides.
Gluten free? Yes. It exists. It always exists. Vegan...yes. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.

Wednesday 27 May — from 5pm
133 Main Road McLaren Vale
8323 8270
joesatsabella.com

Joe’s is back. Sort of Italian. Sort of Mexican. Fully unstable.
Eat like you live here. Or keep doomscrolling until your soul turns into wet cardboard.

Joe's

11/07/2026

06/07/2026

28/06/2026

21/06/2026

20/06/2026

15/06/2026

09/06/2026

01/06/2026

27/05/2026

23/05/2026

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Wednesday	5pm - 10pm
Thursday	4pm - 10pm
Friday	12pm - 10pm
Saturday	12pm - 10pm
Sunday	12pm - 5pm