****roaches at Panorottis

Last night I visited Panarotti's in Kenilworth Center, Cape Town for a 5 year old birthday party. Out of all the restaurants we could've chosen we chose Panarottis as we know the standard of service we can expect. We were 12 adults and 6 kids, so quite a few meals were ordered.

Toward the end of the evening we had a ****roaches on our table, a small one on the kids table (fortunately kids were in play area, and an adult ****roach on my table, I must add this was while there was food on the table. I told our waiter, Liam, who we appreciated, who was very polite, he apologised and said he’ll speak to the manager. Liam, the waiter even took one of the live ****roaches I caught to show the manger.

The manager came, apologised and said on behalf of Panarotti's he was willing to give us 1 free waffle to restore our trust in your establishment. At that point we didn’t really want anything from the kitchen due to the ****roach situation. He understood and said he gladly make ONE KIDS pizza complimentary. I told him that that’s a bit unfair to make the cheapest food item among all the food that was ordered complimentary, surely he should do more than that. Being it during the month of Ramadan the restaurant was pumping as people broke their fast, I was intently discreet about the situation as it may have caused discomfort among the other guests.

He said he’ll speak to his boss. Needless to say he never returned to the table, and on the bill he reluctantly just made one of the cheapest meals we ordered complimentary. As a well known establishment this is very unacceptable. I’ve worked in the hospitality industry in South Africa as well as in Europe, from Nandos, to five star restaurants like 12 Apostles Hotel and the Table Bay hotel. I’m a regular customer at Panarottis all over South Africa, but after this experience, I don’t know if I’ll go back. This was an awful customer experience. And the manager, on behalf of Panorottis did minimal to apologise to us, your guests.