Old Town Italy Pavilion Mall — Restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal

Old Town Italy Pavilion Mall – The most disappointing experience on a whole! Especially since it was a Father’s Day lunch….

Not one to publicly taint but after a few days of pondering over and the unpleasant taste which still lingers, I felt I had too…. Having tried and tested a tasteful experience at Old Town Italy Umhlanga and decided to give Pavilion a try for the very first time, and that being a Father’s Day lunch., it was a terribly bad decision on my part and a never to return one at that. After being seated by the host (the only warm element of it all) and browsing the menu our waitress took at least 15 minutes to introduce herself to us, ordered our drinks and waited a further 20minutes of which we could not flag her down but had to ask a different waitress to call ours so we could order our mains. The chicken meal and pizza arrived lukewarm and not straight off the oven, but the prawn dish was piping hot. On my second slice of pizza I bit into a tiny “stone” like object, I brushed this off and left it aside thinking it could have come from the salt & pepper grinder I used. To my luck the 3rd slice had the most awful looking sprig of curly hair on the topping! This irked me and in an effort to not spoil the days outing and lunch I quietly left the piece aside and did not raise a fuss over it. At this point it was again difficult to flag our waitress down and I again asked for someone to call her – I had then ordered a takeaway pasta and whilst waiting for this I asked her to reheat my last 2 slices of pizza (which took another 10 minutes) – and to my extreme luck I again bit into a tiny gritty object which this time was definitely not from the salt & pepper grinder as I did not sprinkle any. I was terribly annoyed by this point and signalled our waitress to pack away the prawn dish and bring our bill. Low and behold packing a takeaway dish took 15mins. I paid our bill and walked away disappointed and grossed out. Only for my brother to have his chicken pasta dish that evening to tell me the chicken was still “pink” inside which obviously meant it was not cooked properly. I was not even shocked as it was no surprise considering our lunch was horrible. The restaurant itself also has a very different aesthetic, vibe and atmosphere to it, nothing compared to the pleasant, welcoming and “Old Town Italy” ambience of the Umhlanga branch, (not to mention lack of variety at the Gelato stand and completely missing the pastry deli, something which first timers would not even know about if they never had the Umhlanga experience beforehand). My experience at Umhlanga was definitely one to boast about so much so I decided to not only try out but to treat my parents to the same experience I had but it was far from being even a “nice” lunch.

Pavilion - you failed dismally on all levels and I definitely will not...

It's a very pretty restaurant for sure. The seating is comfortable but it's cold ,especially any of the booths shared with olive and oil. They can't assist you and close their doors ,so you get fully blasted by the cold wind while waiting and eat your meal.

The food was significantly below average. Such an utter abysmal disappointment and so very sad. Especially since we spent so very much and it was hubby's birthday ,he was looking forward to trying the restaurant. Safe to say we won't be visiting again and we will definitely not be eating anywhere where fancy described pasta is gummy with dry chicken because its reheated in a microwave and completely void of taste. Like not even salt. Hubby actually ate as much of my meal as possible saying he "couldn't possibly put me through that" One of the starters we ordered ,the large Calamari, we were served 8 tiny cubed pieces of Calamari with a tiny dollop of sauce. How we were charged so much for a small bowel of food is beyond me. It's one of those pretty places because the food cannot stand up to any expectations.

The service was non existent. The ladies smiled at you at entry and payment but didn't bother to execute any service other than putting down plates infront of you. We had to remind them of drinks. We had to ask for napkins ,not a single 1 came to the table. We even had to ask for the condiment tray for the cold pizzas. And Still , those were brought when we had the last 3 slices of pizza. They were oh so very busy in an empty restaurant on a weekday afternoon with 5 tables of customers.

The older lady who handles the bills ,stands infront of you and waits for payment while you receive your bill to pressurize you into paying a larger gratuity than honestly deserved. She doesn't excuse herself while you discuss the bills and tip. It's illegal at the restaurant. Lol.

The entire experience, however luxury intended to be ,falls short into disappointment in very many ways....

Where do I begin?! We booked a Father's Day lunch online, got confirmation, even forwarded it to our guests... only to arrive and find they'd lost our reservation due to online booking system issues! We were eventually accommodated with a table for eight. We ordered a chicken burger for my 6 year old son and when the burger arrived. My wife noticed that the breast was not looking right so she proceeded to check the chicken breast and confirmed that it was not cooked. It was raw and could have made my son very sick. We sent it back to be cooked properly. 😡🤬🤯 Furthermore, our cheese focaccia appetizer contained an unacceptable level of wood fire ash, resulting in a gritty, unpleasant texture. For our mains, my wife ordered mac & cheese with bacon 🥓🧀, but the Italian restaurant ran out of cheddar?! The waiter confirmed several tables cancelled orders due to lack of stock. It's Father's Day weekend, and they're out of cheese, coke zero 😱, and other items! We couldn't order anything with cheddar. We ordered two 500g wood-fired steaks (sirloin & rump, medium)🥩, but they arrived COLD, sliced, and dusted with parmesan (!). The sirloin was overcooked and dry 😫. Both steaks lacked seasoning. R3200 later... what a terrible experience! 👎 Never going back. #RestaurantFail #Food #Steak #Cheddar #ItalianFood #Father'sDay...