Liguria Ristorante — Restaurant in City Centre

22.11.2023 (Updated)

Imagine…

You were on holiday and loved the beauty of Cape Town. You were super starving after travelling and you found a restaurant that is highly recommended on Google Maps. You were super grateful the restaurant accepted your reservation.

You looked at the menu, every dish was described decently and you wanted to try as many as possible. You and your friends ordered almost every category and very looking forward to it.

But then, it turned out to be a long wait, and the food didn’t perform well. You tried so hard to ignore that bad feelings. You tried to enjoy the music and atmosphere but you were distracted by the manager and staff who were giving and receiving the warning.

In the end, when you wanted to talk about your thoughts, the discussion was changed to self-praise: “Many people love us”, “who ordered that tasty salad, it was good right!”

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What do you think about your experience in this restaurant? How many stars will you give it based on what you have experienced?

I was once in your position as well, someone wrote a huge article to give our brand a negative comment on the internet. He was so mad but our team decided to listen and asked him more about his experience politely. After serval discussions, we both understood each other and he was very willing to give advice to our team and help us boost the brand.

Every negative comment has a reason. When we were in the restaurant, we were also thinking maybe it was just that day. Maybe the kitchen was too busy, that’s why we didn’t have the same experience as what your five-star-comment customers had.

There are so many possibilities.

I didn’t want to write too much on food cause it was very personal and subjective. Most importantly, I’m not sure if our table was a special case. That’s why my comment is more about the service, the attitude we received, and what we observed.

As you asked, we ordered both flavours of the gnocchi plates, but we didn’t taste the garlic sauce. We added the garlic you gave us for the bread by ourselves. My friend’s prawn pasta: the prawn was too salted, and the sauce and the pasta didn’t mix well. She also ordered a side salad but it came late and it tasted bitter.

**We didn’t point out when we were eating. The first reason was because we were very hungry. The second reason was we noticed you closed at 10 but our dish came at 9.30, we only have 30 minutes left. Due to that, we decided to give feedback when doing the bill.

** My friends on the other side of the table didn’t enjoy their pasta as well but I didn’t taste it so no comments on those.

** Just checked the menu, and the photo reminded me we did order Valle Santa. That one performed well and the prawn wasn’t too salted. Will add one more star because of that for the food section. ( Box gave three cause he likes your beer and pizza)

That was what I tried to express rather than starting an awful argument. I was very uncomfortable with how you responded to my previous comment. It was disrespectful and disappointing.

I was going to ignore your response, but anyway, I decided to waste my time 🫠 and share the thoughts we weren’t able to let you know on that day.

Thank you for listening.

Respectfully, SYK

—————————- (Last week; R650+/pp)

90mins waiting for our food

Food was ☹️😢😢😢

15% charge automatically??? ( my local friend says it is unusual; it became 10% after giving the feedback )

Thought the manager was coming to listen to the feedback. She did for a bit, but then, turned the topic and started to admire the restaurant(???).

After we left, we saw her blame the staff.

**When we were eating, she also blamed the staff as soon as another group left. Very embarrassing.

Please treat your team well😞 They support...

While none of our family members are Italian descendants, we visit Italy almost on an annual basis. We just love the spirit and zest for life—la dolce vita.

Anyway, we are pretty selective about our Italian restaurants—we prize authenticity and quality above all. So we were very intrigued when we saw the name of this restaurant—Liguria (the most well known and largest city in Liguria is Genoa). We love focaccia and pesto for which the region is renown.

We came for our first dinner in Cape Town. And three of us love pasta—my son doesn’t, but he enjoys a nice steak. They had one on their menu but it said subject to availability. We asked the owner (Sholton who is super caring and warm) about this dish and he said it wasn’t available. And then he immediately said—“give me 10 minutes and let me see what I can do. I can’t promise anything but I will do what I can.” And 10 mins later, he had secured a nice steak fillet.

We wanted to start with focaccia but he said (honestly) that ingredients and being outside of Italy had made reproducing great focaccia difficult (which I agree with! I’ve tried unsuccessfully to replicate Ligurian focaccia several times) and he suggested another bread dish for us instead as he didn’t want us to be disappointed. That bread dish (which might have been their pizza dough?) was delicious and served with garlic and chilies.

Additionally, I wanted some guidance on wine as I haven’t consumed very much South African wine. Sholton’s partner Sara recommended a lovely Chardonnay which wasn’t even on their list (and reasonably priced at 350 Rand—they weren’t trying to upsell an insanely priced wine. I didn’t even ask the price as I fully trusted them).

We ordered a pesto dish (delicious and authentic), lasagna (very much authentic with bechamel sauce and excellent) and I got a seafood pasta that was also fresh (full of prawns, mussels and clams) and super tasty. Also, my wife likes sauce so she ordered a side of bolognese sauce to supplement to the lasagna and she liked having that extra sauce.

My family immediately insisted that we must return to Liguria Ristorante while we are here in Cape Town.

And my son’s beef fillet? Tender and cooked to a perfect medium rare (as requested). Yummy flavor (and large portion too!). Highly recommended gem!!

Note—I posted almost the exact same review on Trip Advisor. Just want to help this wonderful restaurant! (and for the record, I just met the owner yesterday when we came to the restaurant—no prior relationship/introduction and I wasn’t offered nor given anything to write a review). Sorry for the disclaimer—I just know there are lots of fake reviews and shady stuff out there.

In the words of my 13 year old daughter: “Liguria...

A Cozy Italian Dinner for Two at Liguria Ristorante

Liguria Ristorante provided a cozy and intimate dining experience, perfect for a romantic night out for two. The restaurant's warm ambiance created a relaxing atmosphere, and the service was friendly and attentive.

To start, we shared the bruschetta ligure, which my partner and I both thoroughly enjoyed. The dish was prepared to perfection, with a perfect balance of flavors and a generous portion size that was ideal for sharing.

Moving on to the main course, we opted for the gnocchi di levanto and Tagliata Genovese. The gnocchi was cooked to perfection, with a soft and fluffy texture that melted in the mouth. It was a delightful surprise, given our initial impression from the bruschetta.

However, the star of the meal was the Tagliata Genovese. The quality of the meat was exceptional, cooked to perfection and seasoned just right, making each bite a burst of flavors that transported us straight to Italy. This dish was truly unforgettable, and we would certainly recommend it to anyone visiting Liguria Ristorante.

Overall, Liguria Ristorante provided a memorable dining experience that exceeded our expectations. From the warm ambiance to the attentive service and delicious food, we had a wonderful time and look forward to returning...