Nolio Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Eastern Cape

My friend & I went to Nolio for a late lunch on Women's Day. When we arrived a waiter came to our table almost immediately and told us that the table we were sitting at was booked for 7pm and we should finish our meal by then because they will need to table. Bear in mind, we had made a booking for the table. Usually we have a lovely experience at Nolio but for the last few visits, I have received appalling service and subpar dishes. It was particularly terrible this time. Not only we were asked to leave early before we even ordered drinks, I ordered the seafood pasta and I usually enjoy this thoroughly, but as I ate my dish I noticed that there were mussels that were unopened and some of them had a pungent smell and taste. I had about 6 or 8 bites at this point. I was savouring the mussels for because they are my favourite. I let a waiter know immediately. He then proceeded to tell us in a very rude and undermining tone: "Well, what do you want me to do? I can bring you one or two mussels on a plate! And also, there is nothing wrong with this dish! He then proceeded to take the dish away. He came back a few minutes later with the same rude attitude and proceeded to tell me: "Well, since you ate half the pasta already, the chef will only make you half a dish." I asked him what he insinuated by saying I only complained half way through the dish. I was shocked, to say the least. The owner then came rushing over and said to us: "Don't worry, we will make you another dish. His tone was also rude, he told me out of courtesy, he was making a new dish and he is a chef and he knows what he is doing. There is nothing wrong with my dish! I asked him what his waiter was insinuating by saying I waited half way through my meal. The owner proceeded to argue, raise his voice and undermine my intelligence and knowledge of food. I work in a five-star industry so I am very aware of food standards. I have never experienced such appalling behaviour from a restaurant. To raise your voice, undermine and embarrass your customers should never be acceptable. As a women of colour, I am truly shocked that this is way we were spoken to and we were told that basically, we were looking for a freebie hence we complained. I will never be returning or recommending Nolio to our hotel group guests an restaurants. This used to be one of my favourite restaurants, sadly this was one of the worst dining...

I called Friday, 30 September 2022 at 8:14pm to place an order for collection as we were told that we could place an order by Nolio even though we were enjoying our evening at a wine bar that did not serve food.

The phone rang and rang, eventually someone picked up and I asked if I could place an order. I was told they're too busy to take my order - this is the first time I've witnessed a restaurant turn down business. the guy who answered the phone could've just said 'we have enough business for the night, we don't need your money - thanks'

I looked forward to enjoying a meal at this establishment all week only to be disappointed and I'm really disappointed in the customer service - this was not expected at all.

Tables are fully booked every week + weekend and the restaurant doesn't take orders for collection - this is not reassuring as it proves that the restaurant is heavily understaffed if the guy on the phone made it seem as though they can barely keep us with the restaurant's orders hence, they cannot accept...

We arrived at dinner at 6pm because we wanted an early night. Big mistake. It took over 2 hours to get our mains and when we asked for the food the waiter blamed us saying it was because one of our mains was a pizza and then after we asked again because we had starters. They seem to prioritise take aways as we saw many boxes going out the door. It would have been so much better if they apologised and said they never put the order through or that they will rush it from now or whatever the truth was. The food was mixed some of it was excellent (wood fired mushrooms, risotto balls, pizza) and some terrible (seafood pasta which was highly rated was actually very average and pasta was way too soft and pesto pasta was very bland). Rude waiters left a bad feeling at the end of dinner so I wouldn’t go again. Ruined the...