Chloe’s Restaurant closes after more than 30 years

It’s been a bastion of fine dining for more than 30 years. Now Chloe’s Restaurant is closing its doors — and its landmark building is set to be sold.

Owner Nick Papazahariakis at Chloe’s Restaurant which is closing down after more than 30 years in business. Picture: Brad Fleet

The drinks trolley will roll between the tables at Chloe’s Restaurant for the last time this weekend as the bastion of fine dining and polished service closes its doors after more than 30 years.

It marks the final passing of a different era of Adelaide dining — when eating out was more of a special occasion than a regular event and demanded a setting to match.

Owner Nick Papazahariakis, whose debonair appearance and unflustered approach has made him a legend of restaurants here, has decided the time is right to move on. After a short trip to his Greek homeland to see family, he will return to sell the landmark building at the corner of Fullarton Rd, as well as many of the artworks, antiques and the extraordinary wine cellar he has collected over the years.

He says the business has been all-consuming since he opened in 1986, naming it after his daughter, Chloe.

But he has no regrets. “You are here non-stop. I am here by 10.30 most mornings and then I participate every night in the dining room,” he says.

“But it’s fantastic — as I have said for many years, you arrive as a guest, you leave as a friend.

“A lot of people are coming in now for their last meals, saying I proposed to my wife here, you did the wedding, and you did the christening of our children. It is a lot of history and we love that.”

Nick Papazahariakis inside his Kent Town restaurant in 1991. Picture: Campbell Brodie

Over the years, he has served two prime ministers (John Howard and Tony Abbott) and counted Sir Donald Bradman as a regular guest.

“The Grand Prix was amazing for Adelaide and restaurants at the time,” he remembers. Well-read in topics including world politics, history and economics, Nick says dining out has changed forever, as people become busier, rely on ready-made meals and late-night shopping, and communicate with each other by mobile phone.

The secret of good service, he says, is anticipating what the customer wants and becoming “a psychologist”.

“To exceed customer expectation you have to recognise them, receive them with a smile, thank them and open the door when they go. The customer is always the boss because they pay the bills.”

Even so, there have been a few occasions when the usually unflappable Nick has needed to put his foot down, in the interest of other diners.

“I have kicked a couple of people out,” he says. “One was because I saw him from a distance try and undo his trousers by the window. He said he still wanted dessert but I told him to get out.

“And we had a table of six people who were very loud. The restaurant was full and they were screaming at each other. On the way out they said ‘We will tell our friends and they won’t come’. I said ‘That is good, I don’t want them here if they are like you’.”