Spiga — Restaurant in Windermere

Feeling for some authentic Italian cuisine, I decided that I will forget my first and last experience at Spiga several years ago and thought let me give them a second chance. The staff were friendly, bubbly, pleasant and most definitely polite. I ordered a chicken lasagne and my partner ordered a hot pollo pizza. I must apologise that I have not documented this photographically, but the 40 minutes the food took to get to the table rendered me almost starving! Nonetheless, all this meant to me was that my food was freshly prepared - which I appreciated. The food arrived and I was some what disappointed in the flat, poorly presented almost sludge like dish which was supposed to be a chicken lasagne. I looked over at the pizza (atleast I can call this pizza, my lasagne didn't resemble lasagne at all), looked depressed! We tucked in... The pizza had a nice crispy base, but thats about it. The pizza lacked flavour, lacked chicken, lacked mozzarella cheese! Even with the addition of chilli and garlic - it was like eating cardboard! The lasagne was bland. It almost tasted like a R15 chicken and mushroom pie! Albeit, that pie might be better. The pasta sheets were over cooked, the chicken was over cooked, there was way too much sauce, absolutely no crunch element apart from the burnt cheese along the edge of my plate! The layers were unrecognisable - maybe it never even existed. The R35 500ml bottle of Acqua Panna had a nice depth of flavour! But the plastic bottle was unpleasant. I stand by my first impression of Spiga - they are absolutely nothing...

Set in a trendy area of Morningside, on famed Florida Road, Spiga d'Oro indeed lives up to the hype attached to its name. Ever so bustling with energy and staff whizzing around with diligence and fervour. The interior seating is limited and it can be a bit hard to hold normal meal conversation on a peak Saturday dinner service but nonetheless Spiga is worthy of a nod. The seating is arrangeable according to your party and rustic décor with the warm feel of wooden tables and harmonious sandstone colours, easy on the eye. The menu glorifies a good range of Italian cuisine, pasta, antipasti, pizzas(wheat free available) and an admirable selection of young Italian wines. Waiters are friendly and quick to whip up suggestions of tailor made pizzas or pastas as per individual tastes. Honestly, you can really let your creativity go wild, although am sure they cannot vouch for the Italian authenticity of the end result!(says the man who contemplated a tuna fish and banana pizza!). Bases are thin, light and crispy & toppings are not over loading /over powering; which makes them quite a delight. The chicken lasagna was well balanced and proportionate: bechamel to pasta to chicken sauce and a good cheesy gratiner on top. I do wonder whether the pasta sheets are home made as they did feel fresh but one of the penne dishes I sampled was a bit on the crunchier side of al dente. Flavours were genuine, I tasted the smoked salmon and delectable bolognaise. All in all, very authentic and definitely a must-stop in your Durban culinary route of...

The chocolate volcanoes are good, they're dreamy and melty and have a smooth goodness that just warms the cockles of your heart. The pastas were of an appropriate 'starchture', but lacked some basic feel-good flavours. The staff were really friendly, helpful and worked with excellent efficacy. HOWEVER, the owner made 'us' feel really uncomfortable... Like a scene from Disturbia, too close, too scary and a bit up in there. On several occasions, he was like half a metre next to our table, we couldn't even continue our conversations. The constant cigarette smell added to the unnatural "you're-at-my-restaurant-but-lemme-behave-the-way-I-want-to" behaviour. In fact, we tried to speak to him about it, at that instance he grabbed my cousin's hand to apologise with full grip. UP FRONT CONTACT, NO PROBLEM apparently... No boundaries. None. Even when my cousin stated that he's feeling uncomfortable when the owner was that close, the owner got really defensive and started stating why bringing it up was worse. How is that even a discussion. MOVE BACK AND RESPECT THE SPACE. Please don't try to validate your really bad manners. Keep in mind, not once, inside nor outside his restaurant, did he have his mask on. On top of that, hugging and shaking hands was a norm for him to almost anyone and everyone that came close to him. Overall, quite disappointing from the great 20tweens of Spiga on Florida Road, to what it is now. Covid really damaged the lung power of this restaurant's ability to...