Pigalle Restaurant — Restaurant in Green Point

The place ja it’s beautiful and the hostess at the door is so friendly and kind…. In side is where the drama is. You have to be at your wits end there because wow.

We had a 24th wedding anniversary dinner about 38 out the 45 we expected. We reserved one of there private rooms furthest from the stage as possible. They placed us right by the stage music was so loud we couldn’t hear ourselves at all. Literally couldn’t even hear the person next to you kind of loud. 1 out of the 4 waiters were hospitable and friendly, the rest not so much. Felt like you were bothering them whenever you asked them for anything. When we were reserving the private room we asked them to put out a table for the couple of honor. The manager lost it, hit the roof in anger he was fuming, shouting telling us that we didn’t book the whole restaurant for us to request such from them. He then suddenly came down and came down again and said they’ll do it. No apologies given whatsoever. Couldn’t even think of changing restaurants as it was now the day of the event and we had already paid for a third of the bill.

After the dinner drama started again… they were refusing to give us takeaway boxes saying we were too many people for the restaurant to give out takeaway boxes, mind you the restaurant says hosts up to 400 guest and we are just 38 people. Didn’t stop there the 2nd manager was so arrogant and aggressive demanding that we pay 40gst saying we should have said in time. But we really did tell them that we were expecting 45 but we will see on the day and they agreed. Infact they recommended we don’t pay the full amount (as it is recommended in the invoice they send you ahead of time.) and we didn’t. We tried to tell them we’d have no problem paying should they have informed us of that ahead of time. He started shouting telling me that I’m lucky because he could charge me for the 45 because they prepared the food ahead of time. A “3course set menu “ cooked ahead of time …? (In the invoice they charge you for the set menu price, tip and the individual copies of the menu,even though they don’t give everyone a menu they still charge you for everyone.)Nonetheless not sure what turned him around or calmed him from his anger. He then changed and excepted that we will pay for only 38. Next drama was the waitress who added a huge tip for the separate take away order ,placed at the end of the night… which was salmon teriyaki and lamb shank costing R680 and a bottle of water and she charged us +/-R1400. When inquired she rudely just said,”you can give us more if you want”. Mind you this was not part of the big bill which it self had its tip. Just a simple takeaway order. Not sure if they are used to drunk people who wouldn’t be aware of what they are doing but they are very unprofessional and abusive to their customers. At the end of the night all that dancing and fun provided by the live and that one waiter that’s was kind was over shadowed by the abuse I was certainly not ok but had to mask it to try and avoid more escalation. I will certainly never go back and it was a good reminder why we stopped going there in the first place. The next day woke my heart was so heavy. I just couldn’t believe the way they treated me. I like going to restaurants it’s what I do whenever I go out to do something fun and I have never experienced such. Traumatised by the level of aggression and the felt robbed for being forced to so much for a takeaway which usually doesn’t require a tip. Even just thinking of the embarrassment and the treatment my guests received. I’m am left traumatised so certainly wouldn’t recommend it. The food was ok didn’t like the sweetness they put in their vegetables but the...

….We are here to celebrate my 68th birthday in sheer elegance as this true-lii is that kind of venue. When you arrive and enter the foyer you are overwhelmed by what meets the eye, it exudes class. As is the saying “first impressions last longest”. On our arrival here we were met by Warren the manager on duty who cordial-lii welcomed us and went through the Covid-19 safety protocols, no mask no entree, hand sanitiser-spray, info-form to fill out and the body temperature test. Once this was done he lead us to our table which was in the centre court just a bit away from the live-band in attendance but close enough to enjoy the pleasant background serenading. Here they have different seating areas which can be requested like the Elvis-Room, the side-seating behind the glass partitions and the more private seating-rooms which differ in its size depending on the party it can accommodate. All absolute-lii elegant-lii decorated with beautiful paintings and cloth-seat chairs around the tables. Our designated waiter was Kenny who was on top of his game and treated us as royal-til, if he was nearby and you moved he was there to pull-back your chair or replace your napkin on your lap. We started our evening of celebrations with ordering a well-chilled bottle of “PONGRACZ” Rose’. STARTERS:- 1. Oysters x 3 (served with lemon & Tabasco-sauces), 2. Prawns (sautéed with garlic & chilli), 3. Escargots (infused in cream-ii garlic butter) served with bread. All our starters were extreme-lii delicious. MAINS:- 1. Mozambican Prawn-curry (a flavour some mild curry with coconut & coriander), 2. Calamari (succulent tubes & squid-heads, grilled in garlic & lemon-butter) with a blue-cheese sauce, 3. Grilled Rib-eye (served with French-fries or Mash potatoes) a choice of sauce can be ordered as a side. Again our main dishes where delicious especial-lii the prawn-curry as the flavouring was indeed intriguing. DESSERTS:- 1. Baked Cheese-cake (Marbled chocolate & vanilla seeds cheeses-cake with white chocolate ganache), 2. Dom-Pedro with whisky. The ambience in this venue was festive as the live-band provided live-lii and groovy music which encouraged many of the patrons to take to the dance-floor. One of the surprising bonuses was when the band announced my name and sang “Happy Birthday” to me and the second surprising bonus was when Kenny brought me a “Pavlova” dessert (Creme Chantilly, tropical fruit with passion fruit) with a candle lite-up and “Happy Birthday” scrolled on the edge of the plate in chocolate. This was one magical evening to remember forever. This is a high-lii recommended restaurant and we will be back here again in the future for more exciting...

had a disappointing experience at Pigalle, and I'm still reeling from the subpar service. The dessert was great, but the food was unsatisfying.

One of our waiters Fortune was kind and did his best to make our experience pleasant.

The steak I ordered, along with two other guests at our table, was not up to par. Given the premium price we paid for our meal, I expected a much higher standard. Unfortunately one of our waiters struggled to recall the cooking instructions for our steaks, confusing medium and well-done orders. When we cut into the steak to check, it was clear that it was the wrong one.

What I found particularly unpleasant was the waiter's insistence that my steak was medium to well-done, despite my correction. He even went so far as to place the same steak in front of my partner, claiming it was well-done. When we got them to take the steak back, they simply grilled it further instead of replacing it with a new, correctly cooked one - a standard practice in top restaurants.

The lack of training among the waitstaff was evident, and the overall quality of service fell short of expectations. By the time my friends steak was finally prepared correctly, I had already lost my appetite for complaining about my own steak largely due to the visible frustration of one of the waitresses. I felt sorry for them as I could see the place was too busy and they are much undersraffed and appear quite stressed out.

The prawns we ordered also were not great.

The sides were really nice though.

While the ambiance and new decor were lovely, the experience was marred by outdated service standards and overwhelmed staff. One waiter, in particular, seemed under immense pressure and was argumentative, which further detracted from our experience.

The bathroom staff also seems to be hanging around there which seems awkward and under par for how they hang on the walls.

Fortune was great though. I get the hunch it has a lot to do with management as the staff appear to be unhappy and working without any motivation or pleasantry.

In my opinion, you might have a better experience at NV or 80 on the Avenue. It's clear that Pigalle has some management issues to address, particularly regarding staff training and workload. Despite its nice atmosphere, the overall experience feels like it's been left behind the times with old music throughout the evening. Perhaps having newer pleasant music and golden oldies towards the end is better.

Overall my last visit to Pigalle as the food did not seem worth it. I prefer to visit their sister...