Villa 47 — Restaurant in undefined

This was my first time at Villa 47 (a few weeks back we had an awesome experience at the upstairs place).

Things started out well, Jesse our waiter seemed extremely on the ball, he had passion for days about the menu and it was infectious.

Our meal, however, was not great, not terrible, just very disappointing. The steak was sinewy and tough and the pasta was okay at best - not bad enough to complain, but not good enough to finish. Here's where things started to go wrong:

The waiter that takes your order doesn't bring your food. Nobody came to ask us if we were enjoying our meal We sat with half eaten plates for at least 20 minutes before they were cleared. A different waiter asked if we were done (our knives and forks were closed) not if we enjoyed it or if anything was wrong. 10 minutes later when my wife was going to the toilet our waiter asked her if she enjoyed the meal, she said no, not really, he thought she was joking, she asked if he saw our half-eaten plates. 15 minutes after that he asked us if we wanted dessert - now I was a waiter, and my family owned a restaurant. If a customer is unhappy, you address it. We weren't upset, just disappointed, we didn't want a freebie or anything, just some acknowledgement. By now though I was frustrated, I asked why he hadn't come to ask us if we were enjoying our meal, he didn't answer. I asked why he didn't come to the table after he knew we were upset. I asked why nobody came by to see if we had wanted coffees until over half an hour after we had finished our food. He simply said, "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your meal", and walked off - still no coffee :| Then we asked for the bill Then they overcharged us R200 By now, to be honest, I was irritated. I could see the manager and the waiter that cleared our plates looking at us and talking about us, but they didn't come over. I started to address this with Jesse as we were leaving, I said that all we would have needed to turn the whole thing around was a simple acknowledgement. The manager was watching me talking to Jesse but still not coming over. Only when I started pointing at him and saying. "Look at this guy, he doesn't give a f*" He's just standing there watching me get upset with you.", did he come over. Then he apologised, I asked why he didn't come over when he found out that we didn't enjoy our meal, he replied that he wanted to get the facts. I said to him that there were no facts, we just didn't like it, and that that was nearly an hour before. He had nothing. I told him that his problem was that he didn't give a f* (I know, a bit crappy, but by now I was really frustrated). And then we left.

I really do believe that the problem with this place is quite Cape Tonian, the genuinely believe that they are superior to their patrons and they simply don't care if you're unhappy - you must just be an uncultured swine that does not appreciate their brilliance.

The sad thing is that I believe, under the guidance of a manager that promotes a good attitude with his staff, encourages them to check on their tables, visits the tables themselves, he could be brilliant. However, when the manager clearly doesn't care, the junior simply doesn't stand a chance. Somewhere decent needs to poach this guy so he can thrive.

So very...

Good, but not great, especially for the price. Really enjoyed the atmosphere, perfect setting for a quiet night out. Food was good, but did not live up to the menu's descriptions. When you have the entire table trying to convince each other "Ja, mine was good, how was yours?" you know it has missed the mark. I had the pork belly and, while cooked well, it didn't hit any of the high notes it promised, there is definitely no chilli in the broccoli. Be warned, have your dentist on standby for the crackling! Had the Cannoli for dessert, which was a huge let down. Filled with a thick, bland, yellow pasty cream (not Italian at all), instead of a traditional, light, sweet Ricotta cream, and dipped on both ends in a very dark, overpowering chocolate. Nothing fun, light and sweet about it, not enjoyable in any sense. Mentioned this to the waiter, as a bit of feedback to the kitchen, which was later rewarded by having to answer to the manager on duty who seemed quite offended, tableside, insisting the filling was "perfect", while admitting the chocolate was a bit harsh. Bringing me to the reason for submitting this review, which I never do. The manager had the option of having a customer who didn't enjoy his dessert but left feeling heard and appreciated for his feedback, or a customer who didn't enjoy his dessert and was told his assessment of the filling was wrong, he opted for the latter. A lot can be said for situations like these, but the obvious picture here is that whoever designed the menu has long since seen the inside of their kitchen, nobody is tasting the food before it goes out anymore, and the typical Bree Street ego has since taken over. Sad, it's a...

Infested with rats! We went for dinner to Villa 47 last week.

Whilst eating our main course a rat appeared and walked across the restaurant - we picked up our plates and ran! We were reseated at the front of the restaurant on the narrow patio facing Bree St.

We quickly finished our meal and asked for the bill.

After being presented with the bill I asked to speak to the manager. A long time passed, I asked again to speak to him, and eventually he appeared. I said to him that I expected an apology for what had happened. He became very aggressive and said that he had apologised (apparently as we rushed by him through the noisy restaurant) and that he would not apologise again as it was our fault if we had not heard him.

This rude and aggressive behaviour completely flabbergasted me and in response I stated that if he refused to apologize then I would refuse to pay the bill. He then became exceptionally rude and aggressive, pointing his finger in my face and repeatedly shouting that I was going to pay the bill. This shouting and aggression continued for some time and we decided that we should draw this hideous evening to a close, so we paid and left.

I asked that the owner of the restaurant email me - which he did - in his email he stated "we have a major rat infestation that is unfortunately impossible for us to control. We do everything to prevent these things from happening spending upward of R10 000 a month on preventative measures"

A RESTAURANT INFESTED WITH RATS SHOULD NOT...