La Parada Rosebank — Restaurant in Gauteng

Worst Service I ever had at any restaurant. Food was fairly horrible as well. A friend and I dined here on Saturday lunch time. We decided to order a few items from the tapas menu to share. Prawn croquettes had at least a nice outer crumb. No taste other than salt for the filling. Sauce that was supposed to mitigate the harshness of the croquettes was artfully arranged on the plate but of no use as to flavour. Fried calamari had no spicing at all and was left too long in the deep fryer and all one could taste was oil. Wagu pot stickers - was there any wagu in it ? Couldn't taste any. All one could taste was an excess of chilli. All dishes were meant to be served hot but were served cold and on cold plates. Tuna ceviche did not arrive with the rest of the food and was full of sinew and again the miniscule sploge of avo did nothing to mitigate the vinigary taste of the fish. Foolishly we requested a menu for sweets. These were then literally snatched out of our hands and given to a newly arrived table nearby. We had to call several waitrons three times to place coffee and sweets order. Coffees came before the sweets. Coffee ordered with hot milk came with no milk at all and waitrons had to be asked three times for milk. There was no sugar on the table and again waitrons had to be asked three times for sugar and eventually a coffee cup of Canderel sachets that were emptied out into a cup was produced. Sweets arrived well after the coffees were drunk. The sweets had obviously been sitting somewhere for a long time and the ice cream had melted almost completely. Sweets were sent back and ice cream was replaced with the most disgusting over sweet concoction which was inedible. After such a disaster I declined to tip the usual 10% as it certainly was not at...

The restaurant has done a great job in creating ambience but the romance stops there. I ordered a vegetarian pizza, priced a what you might pay for a date with Scarlet Johansson at a charity auction. What I got instead was tea with Margret Thatcher (in her later years, much later!). I was served an anemic pizza that looked and tasted like a high school cooking project, missing the chimichurri that sold me on it in the first place. I mean how can you forget the chimichurri! Surely it ought to be the star of the show. But I'm an optimist and held out for a turnaround. I should have know better by the sombre expressions of my 13 other colleagues who knew that we were in a nosedive and about to hit the ground. My cheesecake arrived with "homemade vanilla bean ice cream", a crumble of sorts and the ever so persistent after taste of styrofoam. That's right, styrofoam! I wonder how they managed to pull that off in the kitchen. I tried my utmost to convince myself otherwise and persisted in working my way through the dish, but could make my way through (as the pictures will tell.) If you want to spend a lot of money, wait an eternity for your food and have your expectations knocked sideways, then this is the place for you. If, however, you want great food, great service and an overall great culinary experience then consider one of the many other options in the vicinity. I can't vouch for all, or any of them for that matter, but I can't imagine it getting worse, could it? I'm an...

Went there on the 20th of March 2025(for Strictly Soul). Booking was for 19:30. When Xolani showed us where we gonna sit I was shocked because I booked inside not outside. The seats and table were uncomfortable and small.He had to remove cutlery so that everything fits. Asked to speak to the manager Zanele. She then moved us to a corner shaky table where everyone passes there and it doesnt belong there. She said inside its for 4 or more people. How so because around 7 there was a couple that sat inside. Then we asked to sit back by the high chairs because our drinks will fall. Then we ordered our drinks and food at 18:20 after we went to the car for 20 min just to warm up because it was chilly outside. We came back than sat for a solid 30 min no drinks no food no one attending to us.At 7:15 Xolani came with the drinks. Our food only came at 8:00. The pizza base was soo crispy. Then at 9 Xolani toke our plates and we ordered more drinks. They came at 9:40. Xolani was doing hour intervals with his service. We were passive smokers because of the outside seatingin the meantime we dnt even smoke hubbly.At one point there was a marijuana smell. Asked for the bill it came 40 min later. First time going to a La parada. Will try other branches as for Rosebank I am thanxs.What a terrible experience would not recommend the Rosebank...