La Boheme Wine Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in Sea Point

…………….today we celebrate 45 years of Valentine days together so we decided we will go to a restaurant that sounds very free spirited as the name says La Bohemia and indeed we found it to be just like we expected it to be! It is a very big place with a massive outdoor area under a blue awning and the inside was just as big and very well decorated in a very free-style with lots of little witch puppets all-over the place, a few nice modern painting on the walls also! There is a big bar which is in the centre of the restaurant but does not have seating around it all drinks are served at the tables. They also have a fair-size wine cellar right next to the bar. They have three sets of Menus: Tapas, salads & Paella: A set three course menu with 4 starters, 4 mains & 4 desserts to choose from: And an Ala Carte! We settled for the set 3 course meal our starters were a Watermelon with feta & biltong shavings (Mmmm-h! Magical) & Tuna crudo served with beetroot, spring-onion & egg (Very interesting in-deed!) Mains: Roasted Pork belly served with mix of fresh veg: Grilled Rabbit wrapped in Beacon and served with baby roasted potatoes, beetroot & corn (Absolute-lii divine! Mmmmmmmmmmm-h) A must try when here for a meal! Desserts you have a long list to choose from: Ours were the three-o of sorbets. Vanilla, granadilla & strawberry & the delightful Stick-ii toffee-tart with honey-comb & coffee flavoured smooth ice-cream! They offer a good selection of fine wines and we settled for a Merlot, nice smooth on the taste-buds. The staff were very professional & friend-lii and the fact that we got a call from the restaurant to confirm our reservation on the day was an absolute plus and we know that this is a business which means business and is a true-lii professional set-up! The place has a good ambiance and a vibe of its own which gives it character! We had a good meal and a monies-worth visit here and we will be back here in the future...

This bistro-style restaurant has soft lighting (during the evening) and a musician serenading you with music while you enjoy your dinner. As someone who loves to eat, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal (courtesy of Wikideals). The atmosphere was very calm and relaxing, really allowing for you to enjoy the winter menu. Were it not for the vouchers, I would have thought the restaurant a bit pricy - with that being said, the food was value for money. I had a wonderful time with decent drinks, and was served by an enthusiastic waitress who made sure we were looked after. There was some inconsistencies with the food and drinks but I still had a great time. On a negative note: the bathroom is literally next to the kitchen ... The 3-course meal consisted of:

(1) Starters - paprika squid and beef koftas. The squid was scrumptious! I wish they had this as an option as a main because that starter really only whets your appetite. As someone who prefers well done meat, I was surprised when my beef koftas was pink in the centre. Didn't enjoy that too much but at least it had a nice sauce to accompany the meatballs.

(2) Mains: pepper crusted beef sirloin, pork belly and pulled oxtail. The pepper crusted beef sirloin was soft and moist, and the Syrah jus was just the perfect pairing for the steak. I absolutely love pork and could not stop telling everyone how delicious the twice cooked pork belly was. Not a fan of sweet potato but the mash was surprisingly good, just the chef went a bit overboard with the spring onions (you want some mash with your spring onion - although it masked the sweet potato flavour). Gnocchi was soft and pillowy but I couldn't really taste the parmesan, it might have been too delicate for the robust flavours of the melt-in-your-mouth oxtail braised in red wine.

(3) Dessert: Crème brulee. I am obsessed with this dessert and they did not disappoint! The custard was rich and decadent, and the perfect way to close the night off on...

We had a terrible experience here! Which was very disappointing as we were very excited to try this restaurant out.

Our waitress brought our food over and before we started eating, I double checked the menu, as we ordered The Set Menu - Steak dish and instead we got steak and chips.

We asked another waiter (tried getting our waitresses attention but she was busy with another table) if the meals we got was the item on the menu as it doesn't match the description and he verified that it isn't. He then asked us, what temperature steaks we wanted and we told him we ordered medium rare, he took our plates to kitchen and came back with the same plate of food and said the chef has asked, if its okay with us, we keep the steak and chips and they'll just make us the sides that the original order was supposed to have - we agreed to this and didn't mind at all and were super hungry!!.BUT we started eating and our steaks were far from medium rare! Extremely chewy and dry - my boyfriend could not eat his and had to return it to the kitchen (where they made him a dish/plate of original order but the steak was now gummy and flavorless). I kept mine which was also dry and chewy but I barely ate it , at this point, i was not prepared to take it back for them to ruin my night any further and i was definitely not willing stay any longer.

The worst part is not even the wrong order - the waitress who initially welcomed us and got our order wrong didn't even bother to come acknowledge or apologize for her mistake. She only came back after her colleague got us the sides to make up for the wrong order and asked if all was hunky dory which is when my boyfriend told her that these steaks are not the right temp - A mere "Apologies for the delay, i made an mistake with your orders, allow us to rectify it " would have made all the difference! I am never spending a cent of mine there again!!Very...