Pascal's of Napier ...the No 1 Eatery and Accommodation — Hotel in Cape Agulhas Local Municipality

The warning bells should have rung when looking at the picture of dog vomit on bread, featured on their website. My family and I arrived on time at 12.30pm for what we hoped was going to be a home cooked Sunday Lunch. Just what we felt like.We were ushered to a quiet table in the very dark restaurant and started with a Bloody Mary. We waited....... Just wanting to chill out we cracked open a bottle of wine. At 1pm the waiter came to tell us that if we wanted the Sunday Lunch as advertised, it was now off the menu as they were sold out. Odd! We decided to keep it simple. Chicken liver starter to share. Hake and chips, chicken schnitzel and a lamb shank. We waited........ Bottle of wine number 2. At 1.30 pm a couple walked in and asked for a table. They are told that they have tables, but there is no food!!! The are sent away! 1.45pm..."your food will be out now".........We waited. Bottle of wine No 3.....We waited. At 2.20pm the chicken livers arrived fresh from the microwave. Ordinary schlock slopped onto a plate, but had to be eaten to avoid eating another fingernail. The place emptied out, apart from the dogs wandering about. The food arrives. The fish is a chunk of oily blackness, the schnitzel has a pale looking sauce over it and the lamb shank looks like a chunk of meat in a soup bowl. It takes us a few minutes to realise that the food is disgusting. The lamb was not seasoned and had no flavour, My wife ate her schnitzel but after I had a taste of it, I warned her to stop, as the texture of the chicken seemed more soft than I thought it should have been, and as for the simplest thing, hake and chips? Well that was inedible. ~In fact a complete and utter disgrace! Appetites lost we called for the bill. Waiter: " The manager apologises for the long wait and the food." I ask again for the bill. Waiter: " The manager says he can remove what you didn't like off the bill ,...if you like" . Now when someone says that to me after we clearly have had a revolting experience, to which the manager never attended to throughout the entire time we were there, what he is actually saying is that his food was fine and that I am just one of those ignorant complaining types. Wrong buddy! Had you just come over and told us that you had a bad day, we would have simply walked away, but the fact that you tried to make me look like the bad guy in this, is why you will feel the sting of this review. And it is the reason why I paid the bill in full, with a tip for the poor waiter, who had to spend the entire afternoon squirming, just to cover your arse.I have been in food for many years, I own the most successful food TV show SA has ever seen, working with the best chefs in South Africa, and so I wont tolerate small town egos. Don't go to Pascals. It's awful beyond measure, and besides my wife is...

Which was to be a quick snack turned out to be lovely meal. From were we entered Pascal's we knew this is a special place. Fortunately for us we had the pic of all the tables. However, I was informed that they can get pretty busy. Our waiter was friendly and attentative and also talked with pride about all the dishes. Everything is from Napier and made from scratch in the kitchen even the bread. By the way.. the bread rolls are divine. One can buy them but an order is nessesary in advance. As I mentioned; Pascal's is special. I do not have words to describe the decor that is why I took pictures. The owners have insight to mix old and new, traditional and modern. Different decor from different countries and cultures. Never did I know different and unique can form an 'unit'. Back to our tummies. Because it was lunch time we chose the full monty burger and chips. My husband's words; this was the best hamburger I ever had. Delicious coffee and wine completed a lovely experience. Thanks, we will be back with friends...

As we had good food there before and even made a Facebook post to recommend it, we went back when we drove through last week. We waited quite a while for service. People who got there after us, were served their food before someone even took our order. We had to call for service. Twice.

Two out of three meals were tasty and looked appetizing, but my Melanzane was a disaster. A few tiny slices of undercooked, almost raw brinjal were covered with a bowl of tomato sauce, topped with grilled cheese. The sauce was really tasty, but made up 80% of the bowl. Geez, people, raw brinjal is not nice! And the ratio of brinjal:tomato was really just off! The good thing about it was that at R120, the portion was tiny enough that I could easily finish it. The side salad I was looking forward to, was really just a garnish. Tasty, but simply can't be called side salad.

The male waiter who got to us later, was friendly and his service just right. He deserved his tip.

Dogs in a restaurant? Really?

Won't be...