Stella Bella Authentic Italian Restaurant & Wood Fire Pizza — Restaurant in Stellenbosch Local Municipality

Wow! What a massive disappointment in every way imaginable!

The waitress was absolutely clueless, communicating the simplest request was almost impossible. A main course was delivered and described as "baked potato with something" needless to say, none of us could figure out what it was or who it was for. Most of the already slim offering of wine was not in stock with no alternatives offered. The idea of corkage was then bandied about. The food was both cold and burnt at the same time. My main was barely edible and if I had thought the waitress would have understood me, I would have sent it back. Out of a party of 15, a third of us had food that was burnt. Burnt to a black carcinogenic crisp burnt. The presentation of the dishes was hugely inconsistent with people sitting next to each other having ordered the same dish and not being able to recognise any similarity. One person was presented with a portion almost three times the size of others who ordered the exact same meal. The desserts too were a huge disappointment with possibly the worst tasting tiramisu of my life that clearly had been made several days before. When you can taste the week's fridge contents having permeated into your dessert this becomes obvious. The chocolate lava cake could be beaten by a five year old making an instant microwave cake in a mug. Once again the desserts lacked any kind of consistency with some looking like they were scraped from the bottom of the barrel, dropped on the floor, licked by the dog then served up. The toilets and basins had all blocked and were overflowing out onto the bathroom floor. Staff seemed oblivious to this plumbing disaster with nothing as much as a sign advising the patrons to avoid walking through the effluent spewing forth.

No senior staff of any kind were present during our three hour visit. Clearly those left to run what is a fairly expensive restaurant are not capable of doing so.

On being made aware of the disappointment the owner responded in a very generic fashion with no real concern shown. An offer to return for dinner was received and declined. A truly...

Such a disappointment. We went based on reviews per Google, but seems these are out of date or previous owners. Service was nonexistent. Our waitress could barely communicate or understand English, and she was more interested in her phone than helping us, even though we were the only guests. The cheese platter is hugely overpriced and despite staring at a gorgeous display cabinet of cheeses, we had no choice in selection. We were given a small board of 3 hard cheeses and mozzarella. The pizza dough was amazing. But that was the only good thing about the meal. Described as the pistachio and porchetta pizza, there was no actual pistachio on it. Containing nuts, they meant peanuts. So beware anyone with allergies. A bottle of wine, milkshake, pizza and cheese board equates to R880 (excl tip). Massively overpriced. Oh and did I mention we asked for background music as it was deathly quiet? Pretty sure they are breaking the law by playing YouTube with ad breaks. The owners may want to show up and ensure their restaurant isn’t being...

I honestly don't know if the people giving this restaurant 5 stars were at the same place as me! The whole place looks sad, with worn furniture, long grass, small pots of plants and excess furniture stacked on the stairs to the restrooms. No mirror in the restroom, apparently not fitted yet because just a open area of concrete. No Italian music, just modern music blaring from a boombox with lights, totally inappropriate for lunch. The pizza I had was the most expensive one ever. It cost R230 and had 5 pieces of salami on it, 4 basil leaves, and 4 dollop of the cream cheese on top. I do not mind paying for good quality but this is daylight robbery! The taste was not bad, but the ring of dough on the side is too thick. And the middle too thin and almost raw. No extra condiments on the table. The cappuccino was good though. This place has so much potential, but is sadly mismanaged...