La Pergola — Restaurant in Gauteng

The service was horrible!

I had arrived with a friend for a meeting, no-one was at the door to let us in and we decided to let ourselves in and sat down at one of the tables. We noticed that we were getting stares from the staff and they would walk by our table clearly ignoring us. The restaurant was also empty so I wouldn't classify it as a busy day and that they needed to serve other people. We waited a good 15 minutes until it was apparent that no-one was willing to even offer the menu to us. Then when we kindly asked one of the staff for the menu, they replied that we should have waited for someone to let us in and that is why staff was not serving us. I did not know that the mere act of sitting down in a restaurant was so big of a sin that it constitutes to us being ignored and not being offered the menu but if no-one was at the door, what else could we have done... knocked or shouted for someone to let us in perhaps? The whole point of having food establishments is for people to feel welcome enough to come in to eat and unfortunately, in this establishment we did feel welcomed AT ALL which resulted in us leaving the place altogether without ordering anything because were made to feel like we were intruding as if the place was not open to the public to come in. I am still confused on where the disdain from staff was coming from and why they thought we deserved to feel it. Service could...

44 Stanley is a small oasis of calm in this water shod city. Great place for a bit of quality time with my 15 year old teen. A respite from carrying buckets of water, from the pool to the bathroom. Youngest and I thought we’d skip the unwashed dishes in the kitchen, and pop over to La Pergola's for lunch.

Felt like we has entered a house and leisure magazine. There were no multiple grey water buckets dotted around the place. The Italian photos on the walls suggesting style and joy, lay in Europe. Seating area had greenery in the rafters and filtered sunlight above these plants. Created a tranquil atmosphere that makes you forget you're in the middle of a messy city whose water and electricity grid are beginning to collapse. Almost as lovely as sitting in Brera Botanical Garden.

Nonna’s Special Pizza was comfort food. This Grandma had managed to survive far worse. Her recipe gave us strength, we felt fortified after the visit. Washed the dishes, sloshed buckets around, boiled kettles etc. Water shedding is bearable when you have Le Pergola as a brief refuge. Left reminded that if Nonna had thrived in her exciting African life. This “moaning madala” could last a few days...

A charming setting as the pictures will attest to. However, I should have known that something was amiss when I could not get a table at Salvation Cafe, a few steps away, but found ample seating at La Pergola. There were a handful of patrons probably about 10% of the restaurant capacity. We ordered Shashuka and a Salmon bagle. It took an inordinate amount of time for a waiter to arrive and when he eventually did, he was rather friendly. He took our order and then disappeared into the ether, not to be seen again for the rest of our time at the restaurant. After about 30 minutes of waiting, the beautiful surroundings ceased to hold our attention. We flagged down a waitress who eventually managed to get our order out another 10 or so minutes later. The food was adequately presented. However, my wife suffered food poisoning some hours later, most likely the salmon bagle. This is to say nothing of the poached egg which smelt of egg soaked water. Yes, I know how a poached egg is made. I've had many that didn't smell like this. Full points for marketing, zero points for service and quality. Cheers La Pergola, you won't...