Del Forno The Reef — Restaurant in Gauteng

Election day, my family and I had just come from voting. This was roughly before or just after 10 am.

We arrived and were welcomed to loud noise of people shouting and screaming at one another seated at the same table.

We didn't think much of it, because it's election day, and this is South Africa, naturally we are all loud, we are filled with passion and that is what makes us as such. We had naturally assumed that people would respect other people. As a human being raised right would.

This table with its patents kept getting louder and louder and louder. This was when I decided to start typing out a complaint. Before actually sending this complaint, I thought let me hear what the manager has to say and why he was not doing anything about it. I said he, because that's what I assumed. To my shock the manager was a woman. I'll explain the shock below. Nothing against woman being managers, just bare with me.

The manager could see I wanted to complain and immediately shut me down before letting me even utter a word. I then asked her, what kind of atmosphere she wants for her clients, to which she said 'as an adult, I cannot control another adult'. There are so many reasons why that response was wrong on so many levels. That is clear evidence that she cannot even control her own staff. They're adults aren't they. She then proceeded to say that she had requested them to quiet down and that they have been there since 7 am in the morning. Which was quite funny, considering that you only open at 9 am. So you can imagine my shock when I found out the manager was a woman, when I thought it was a man, that claimed to request these ratchet patrons to quiet down. She never did that, because I never saw her. Not once before me requesting to speak to a manager did I see, Blessing, request the patrons to quiet down.

She then gets people to post reviews about my review. Tell me, how would anyone in the restaurant on that day know about my specific review. Only your staff and company is aware. 1 plus 1 is 2, right?!

This restaurant and company responded to my initial complaint and requested my details to find out more about what had transpired. This is when these reviews start trickling in. Aowu, jiki jiki, suddenly my complaint has withered off into oblivion. This company not only condones ratchet behaviour in a family restaurant they also do NOT care about you as a PAYING client. This place is no longer run like a restaurant but rather like a pub or shibeen. That kind of behaviour should not be tolerated ever. There is a reason why there is mall security. There is a reason why each company and organisation has policies and procedures in place.

Tell me, if they were not loud and ratchet, how come my family were unable to have 1 simple conversation. Tell me, how come so many patrons there were uncomfortable. Tell me, why would the waiter assisting us, start the interaction already by saying sorry for the noise, then proceeding to raise his voice as we couldn't hear him. Tell me, why would your manager feel the need to intimidate my family by walking up and down infront of our table after I had tried to complain. Tell me, why you refused to acknowledge my initial review yet you acknowledged the other review. Tell me, if she requested them to quiet down, does that not mean that vele vele they were incredibly loud?!

Ps, notice how one of the reviews claimed that these patrons came from voting yet the manager said they had been there since 7am. This has nothing to do with hate speech or anything you or they might want to make it out to be. It is simple. You respect others, nje. If you're employed to do a specific job, you are expected to meet those requirements. If there are policies and procedures in place, they should be followed. Your waiters would be better managers. People have lost their jobs for far less. Others are unable to get the opportunities, where they would be exceptional in what they are doing. Stop requiring the bare minimum out of your employees. They need to meet and exceed their job...

If you’re like me, and was led to believe that Del Forno was just about pizza, based on their old name Pizza Del Forno, you’d be pleasantly surprised at their extensive menu of Mediterranean style items as well as innovative dishes with Turkish and Argentinian influence. When I heard that they had a Deep Fried Chilly Cheese Burger and a special Trinchado dish, I had to check it out, with my son, a burger fan. Burger - 2x 150g beef patties with cheese, crumbed and deep fried to perfection with the patties still juicy and smothered in a chilly cheese sauce was an absolute winner. And with great fries too. I had the chicken and prawn trinchado, that comes served in a baked pastry bowl. Tender chicken with nice sized prawns in a spicy cream sauce with those perfect thin fries. We started with a cheesy focaccia, that arrived promptly. Thin base and full of flavour. I drank a very refreshing passion fruit limonata and my son, the Milky Bar Mocha deluxe milkshake. Heavenly shake with that shot of coffee. Dessert and coffee in post 2 😉.

Great service from our waitron Soneni, with the owner/manager regularly popping by. Order taken right and great food all round. Great airy atmosphere with the booth seats being very popular.

Big menu and superb food line up. Glad there’s high quality pictures of some meals, that’ll make your choice easier. If you like something different and want choice, I highly recommend giving Del Forno a try. 👍 . Next visit will be to sample the Pepperoni Picante Pizza, crispy pockets and the Chimichurri...

As with all restaurant meals these days I cant help thinking that that the money being charged is not quite worth the meal you get, but the food generally is pretty good, looks appetizing and tastes fine. I think portion sizes are smallish for the price being charged, though not not excessively so. Ultimately, i have had better meals for better value, but I have had worse meals that was even more expensive, and in this context Del Forno is solidly in the middle high end of the pack. Although in fairness my general thinking is overall that meals are excessively priced everywhere. You generally can prepare the same meal for two to three, sometimes four people if you did it yourself, in my opinion at least, than what you get charged per plate. Ambience is stock but exactly right. Where this restaurant does stand out for me was that the waiters were friendly, attentive without being intrusive and capable of doing what a waiter should be doing just right. Didnt have to repeat myself when ordering or be lectured about the menu, the food was delivered in good time, order was correct, waiter was neatly dressed and well presented, and very...