Il Forno Mediteranean Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Gauteng

Place has gone to the dogs. Sat for about 15 minutes without being greeted or served while waiters strolled on by avoiding eye contact.

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It’s impressive how quickly you respond online but fail to deliver basic service in person. Defending yourselves at 1AM but letting your customers experience poor service at 8PM on a Saturday? Real priorities, huh?

Instead of addressing the issue or apologising like any half decent establishment would, you opt to challenge a loyal, paying customer. That speaks volumes about your lack of respect and misplaced priorities for those that keep you in business.

Invoking 'Reservoir Dogs', a film about a heist gone wrong due to betrayal and incompetence? Seems fitting, considering your establishment's trajectory. Sounds more like a description of your business model than anything else.

Maybe you're referring yourselves to the 'junkyard dogs,' scavenging without regard for standards or decency.

Either way, the reference is fitting, but sadly not for the reasons you imply.

Referencing a Tarantino crime film in response to a service complaint? Really? Threatening or just another display of your unprofessionalism?

Reservoir Dogs is also slang for a snitch or rat by the way… again, fitting, considering how quickly you jumped to deflect instead of taking accountability.

“Survivors”? By the smell of the place, it’s where survivors go to die or at least where service delivery goes to die. Do you want your business to survive or thrive?

Longevity doesn't equate to excellence. Stuttafords lasted 150 years, but fell when management stopped caring about service and customer satisfaction. Don’t think your 30 years make you untouchable, it’s a warning, not an achievement.

Here’s a thought: Next time, try respecting your customers and focusing on what made you successful in the first place. Because right now, your response is more embarrassing than the service (or lack of) you’re defending.

At most decent restaurants, there’s no need to call for the manager because there is good service. The manager usually comes over to greet you, not when there's a complaint, but that’s because THEY care about your...

The service which was 5 stars and atmosphere which was 5 stars made this review a 4 star however the food itself I would say is 3 stars,room for improvement but hopefully it gets only better from here onwards.

●SERVICE (Service was great,table was always checked on and made sure everyone was happy,food came out at a decent time as well)

●ATMOSPHERE (Restaurant wasn't that busy but other than that the vibe in the restaurant was great,the music made the evening better as it played softly in the background and not blasted)

●FOOD (In summary,food lacked seasoning,only well seasoned bit was the chips but other than that I would say a decent meal)

KLEFTIKO (Lamb shank just melts in your mouth,but drastically lacked so much seasoning,lamb shank itself had that nice roast taste to it but it was dry,no gravy/jus/sauce served with it so make sure to order a sauce on the side,i get the greak way of making it is like that but changes must be made when its so dry as it was)

GORGONZOLA SNAILS (Snails were great but lacked seasoning but the gorgonzola sauce was very thick,almost like a lumpy texture and look to it,other than that i still enjoyed the gorgonzola sauce)

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE (Soft,gooey and melts in your mouth,choclate sauce on it wasnt too heavy either,had a great taste to it but ice cream looked and tasted like it was just store bought and used with how it was crystalised from being in the freezer)

POLLO AL BACONÉ (Chicken was cooked to perfection,super moist and melts in your mouth,the sauce and cheese looks like it was just thrown on the plate,lacked seasoning but had a good flavour to it.)

YELLOW RICE (Way too bitter,they used too much tumeric when making it where I had to coat the rice in chilli,garlic and parmesan to overpower that bitter taste it had,was very bland like they forgot to add salt when making it but one good thing was it was cooked to perfection)

CHIPS (Crispy on the outside,soft on the inside and seasoned and cooked...

On Christmas Day, 25/12/2024, I took my Mother out for our Christmas lumch to Ilforno, as it was highly recommend. The moment we were seated we were asked by our waitress, Portia what would we like to drink. We haven't even had a chance to open the menu yet. I asked her to give us five minutes. When she returned we gave her our drinks order and our starter order. She informed us that as the kitchen is busy we must order our mains too. I declined and said that we want our starter order first and then we will order out mains as we haven't had a chance to have a look at the menu. When we eventually receuved out main course, it was quite the dissapointment. My Mother looked forward to the Eisbein and it was dry and tough. My order of 2 pork chops and 5 king prawsn wasn't appeticing at all. The prawns were cold and the pork chops were dry. Only the veggies were nice to eat.The waitress only came back once to see if our food was in order. Never even asked if we would like something else to drink. We ended up asking the manager to bring our bill for us, seeing as the waitress, Portia, was more concerned about her table on the outside section that our little table for 2. We didn't even bother to order desert. Our whole Christmas lunch was spoiled. I didn't even feel like giving the waitress a tip, but out of morality I did. The one girl cleaning table were more attentitive than the waitress and I gave her a tip for her good service. We ended up handing our leftover to the gentlemne begging at the robot. Atleast he had something to eat on Christmas day. As I work in the food industry myseld, I am really saddened by the lack of the service of the waitress and the quality of the foor we received. Please have a...