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Review: Relaxed deli dining at Old Town Italy at Menlyn Maine
Tuesday, February 7th, 2017
Eat Out critic Diane de Beer visits deli-and-restaurant wonderland Old Town Italy at Menlyn Maine, whose older sibling made waves in Umhlanga Rocks when it first opened in 2015.
The beautiful interior at Old Town Italy. Photo supplied.
Fast facts
Average main course: R90
Serves: Italian deli goodies, fresh breads, gelato, pasta, sit-down dinners and take-home treats
Best for: Generous variety and great people watching
Star rating: Food 3, service 2, ambience 4
Food
The generosity of choice is one of the things that strikes you first. Not only is the menu abundant, but there’s a deli inside the restaurant where you can wander around to pick your piatto misto (mixed plate) from a selection of imported cured meats and cheese, served with chunks of the artisanal bread baked on site and sides like olives, preserves or mustards. (A blackboard list of what’s on offer could, however, avoid displeasure when your first, second and third choices are not available.)
A range of charcuterie and cheese on offer. Photo supplied.
For lunch, the pasta Angelo, with bacon, zucchini, spring onions, garlic, a cream sauce and Grana Padano cheese (R90), is more than enough to share and very tasty. The vanilla option from the great selection of gelato and the Italian apple tart served with cream are both delicious and the cappuccino good enough to return for.
Your meal at Old Town Italy will depend on your selection, whether it’s for breakfast and light meals or something more substantial like a grilled flatbread sandwich from Romagna, steak Florentine or a lemon-caper chicken for dinner. It’s all there and more, but they still have some teething problems, which should be sorted soon. For now I would avoid popular times and go for a simple selection.
Drinks
The options span far and wide, but come at a price. From a substantial Italian selection (Fontanafredda, Bastianich and Giacomo Borgogno) to good quality local wines (Morgenster, Dalla Cia and Bouchard Finlayson), most are in the R200 and above price range. There’s also an amazing craft beer selection of imported and local options, which would perhaps be gentler on the pocket. Else opt for one of the arty cocktails like the Malfy Lemon Squeeze (R70) made with Malfy gin, fresh lemon, elderflower, grapefruit and brown sugar, or you could select one of the organic veg-and-fruit juices such as the very refreshing Revitalizer (R45), made with pineapple, apple, lemon, ginger root and mint.
Decadent dessert at Old Town Italy. Photo supplied.
Service
We are welcomed by all the service staff and pleasantly served. The let-down comes with the lack of experience if and when there are problems. In a restaurant that has so many options, much can go wrong. More experienced floor managers should be more visible and mindful while constantly training their willing staff to add confidence and competency.
The relaxed outdoor section. Photo supplied.
Ambience
This is where Old Town Italy scores highest at the moment. It’s a deli-café on a grand scale, with a number of seating options and ample time to stroll through the deli section for some gifts or take-home surprises. On a busy day, you’ll find no better spot for people watching.
And…
There’s much to like already, and Old Town Italy will no doubt keep improving.
Eat Out critics dine unannounced and pay their own way. Read our full editorial policy here.
The stylish interior. Photo supplied.
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I ordered a pizza and my friend gnocchi alla gorgonzola. The pizza had a burned base so i look around for the waiter but he is outside. I get up and call a fellow at the bakery section and he tells me he is the second in charge the manager/owner is not available for comment. So he tells me the pizza is burned because its a thin based pizza but there is a fire in the oven that can power Pretoria. So i opt for ravioli with lamb sauce but 5 minutes later I get half a dozen raw “ravioli” I mean completely raw, there is no lamb in the sauce and its not even a lamb sauce but a disgusting medley of I&J type pees and black pepper. The chef does not come to the table but manager says that the chef refused to accept that the ravioli are raw and i must pay for the two burned pizza slices i had or order another pizza. so i get another pizza but this time its raw. The second in charge manager apologises but says i will have to pay for the raw pizza. on leaving the chef approaches and tells me that he makes the ravioli that way for the local customers whatever that means. clearly these guys don’t have a clue about Italian food or service let alone good management it was a disgusting and terrible experience I would not return there even if you paid me.
Considering the quality of the food and preparation, the the food is far too pricey but I still wouldn’t eat it even for a third of that price. Service is non existent and I have never seen a chef and manager argue with a customer after having been served two lousy dishes in a row, i had to throw the raw pizza to the dogs when i got home as i could not bring myself to eating it. Loose all hope those who enter I’m afraid with this restaurant. And at R130 rand either for the pizza or ravioli you can do better if you are planning to eat out.
My friend who joined me got gnocchi alla gorgonzola and i could count those on my fingers too. Sorry for taking up three comment boxes but to sum this restaurant up, The prices are way too pretentious for the quality of the food and it pains me to have to comment negatively on an Italian restaurant as I am a a born and bred Italian, who makes ravioli, lasagna, pizza ( i am not a competitor I do not own a restaurant or any similar business and given a choice I would have avoided posting a negative review ) I had to pay for eating two slices of burned pizza and half a raw raviolo as that is all I ate. then I was given the choice of trying out another pizza as the manager felt letting me try out another dish was risky as I might not like the next one either…so this guy is also Big Brother deciding what I should eat. I had to take pizza away and give it to my pets. In my earlier years I worked for Sun International and have always been used to higher standards and I feel there is a lack of tact and customer relation skills from kitchen staff to management besides no knowledge of Italian food preparation or simply lack of interest in improving.