Capito — Restaurant in Gauteng

My wife and I visited Capito Restaurant (Hazelwood) earlier this evening and ordered a medium-priced bottle of wine from one of our favourite wine estates in Stellenbosch, together with a starter and main course.

We have asked the waiter if we can have the wine in one of their larger wine glasses and she replied that it won’t be a problem. Then the manager arrived and told us that the larger glasses are only meant for patrons who order one of their premium wines.

Most probably this manager tried to embarrass us for drinking a less expensive wine. The waitress was very upset about this unfortunate incident caused by her manager.

We felt so unwelcome and took our order as a take-away and left the restaurant. The waitress still got a full 10% tip on the bill (R1100), seeing that she tried her utmost best to defuse the situation. We could see that the waitress escalated the situation to the owner of the restaurant (who was also present), but he did not do anything about it.

We used to visit this restaurant at least four times per month, but unfortunately this was the last time.

What a disgrace of a manager and owner. They definitely do not understand the concept of addressing their clients’ specific needs....

I am a vegetarian and nonalcoholic. We began the meal by my asking the waiter what mocktails he had. I ordered the virgin mojito and reconfirmed with the waiter that it would be nonalcoholic. When the drink came I could clearly taste alcohol. I asked the waiter again and he confirmed that it HAD alcohol. The drink was taken back only for the manager to come to the table and insist there was no alcohol. He insisted that someone else at the table taste the drink putting the person in an uncomfortable position. She duly tasted only to confirm she also tastes the alcohol. The manager then rushed away in anger. This is really no way to treat your patrons.

On the menu, vegetarian options are also not clearly marked. I inadvertently ordered a ravioli with mince as the menu stated ravioli with bolognaise OR creamy Parmesan sauce. I mistakenly thought the Parmesan ravioli would not contain meat only to find out that the ravioli has mince inside.

Given the treatment by the manager I will never set foot in this...

Capito, the restaurant formerly known as Capeesh in Brooklyn, Pretoria, is now situated in Hazelwood. It still sports the same gourmet menu, with the most affordable items being from the pasta and pizza sections. Ambience is a trendy, metropolitan feel, and Capito is surrounded by a myriad other restaurants and a busy Woolworths. For this reason, it got very busy over lunchtime on a Sunday - so take note if you are noise sensitive. Parking is a little bit of a nightmare when it’s busy, with impossibly tight turns in the parking garage and not enough clarity that it extends on outside AND below, which leads to delays and waiting right through from entering the garage off the street. Food is what is to be expected from a restaurant like Capito, although the sirloin was a hit and miss with our party. Portions are reasonable, but pricey. Service is good. Card machine did not work for my card and I had to do a bank transfer. All in all, will go again, but in the week when it is perhaps a...