La Campagnola

Food:

While it has a worthy reputation for its Italian food, this restaurant also demonstrates some classic French dishes. There’s a small à la carte menu rather heavy on pastas, so wait to hear the day’s specials which always include meat, fish and poultry. The signature dish of calf’s brain in cream and sage is a delight if you do offal, as is the foie gras. It is regarded as a fine dining establishment, but its more reasonably priced pizzas are excellent, as are the gorgeous salads (like the rocket version with slices of radish and a more-than-generous helping of Parmigiano) and pastas.

Wine:

An extensive, award-winning international wine list with some real gems.

Service:

Attentive, knowledgeable and friendly.

Ambience:

The restaurant has literally doubled in size with a terrace offering vistas over Jozi’s northern suburbs. The recently refurbished interior is modern and elegant.

And...:

There’s a deli operating during the day, selling wine, cheese and some charcuterie. (JW, October 2011)

Craig Demosthenous
22-Feb-2012

Overpriced Italian seems easy to find in Johannesburg at the moment. This was our first visit to La Campagnola and despite its lovely setting, we won't be making a second one. We were a table of three on a Saturday evening and were immediately treated to the overzealous rush of the waitering staff. Barely seated with menus in our hands, we were quickly told to order fast as there were big tables expected on the night.

Starters were at best adequate, including a focaccia for the table that bordered on dry and tasteless. Then came the mains... Scottish salmon that was admittedly well prepared, but at R150, the portion was ridiculously undersized. And then my order, the Linguine Olio Aglio Pereroncino e Gamberi, which was shocking. The 'prawns', or shrimp to be more accurate due to their size, were bad tasting and overcooked, not to mention having a bad smell to them. I instantly sent the dish back with the waiter sending the borderline unfriendly manager over. I was told that he'd "look into it", I then ordered another pasta dish which was adequate. The 'looking into it' was never explained to us and that was the last we saw of the manager. Dessert was not priced on the menu, but rather listed on a chalk board that was passed around by the waiters. All three of our orders were for the Banoffee pie and each of us were equally disappointed - all banana, no toffee nor caramel, and served on a Marie biscuit base - all pretty tasteless to say the least. It's only distinguishing factor was its price, R65 each... Needless to say, we won't be returning for a second visit. I'd warn anyone from visiting, unless you want an underwhelming meal and an overwhelming price - fine dining this restaurant certainly isn't.

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Julie Vannier
15-Jan-2012

I hate to do this but it's warranted. We went to La Campagnola in Bryanston on Saturday 14th Jan 2012. The setting and ambience are spot on and in the past we have had some lovely meals here. The wine was wonderful, the starters were fair not brilliant however - the main courses were a different story. Me and my husband ordered Linguine Olio Aglio Pereroncino e Gamberi which is prawns, chilli, garlic and linguine. When it arrived I could not believe it. The prawns obviously came from the freezer - they were an insipid white 1-2cm and watery with no taste what so ever. I called over the waiter who came back with a man in a chef’s jacket who seemed to be in charge. I told him the problem and his reply was that they were fresh prawns from Mozambique which was of course a lie. Our friend ordered Penne Luganega - the sauce had no taste and was impossible to eat. My husband ordered a poached pear for dessert - it had no taste and was unpleasant. They obviously are cutting costs and using inferior ingredients and I would be totally surprised if there was a proper trained chef in the Kitchen. We will simply never go back until new owners take over.

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Jo-Anne Taylor
10-Dec-2011

We ordered our fillets medium rare - they arrived medium to well and very dry. We raised awareness of this to the owner, Anna, who simply raised an eyebrow and asked us why we had not complained earlier when she first asked how the meals were (they had then just arrived at our table). Once she had left without any apologies, we confronted her again regarding her attitude and she told my friend that we were clearly the wrong clientele and that we should leave her restaurant (we did not, we went on to the bar for an after dinner drink). At the bar, both Anna and chef Luca stood, arms folded, glaring at us, clearly trying to intimidate us into leaving. They even went so far as to bring 2 policemen in (on what grounds I do not know - for complaining about an overcooked steak?) When we finally left, both Anna and Luca followed us out of the restuarant so as to ensure that we would not return. Once outside they began hurling obscenities at us and insulting us. Chef told us to suck his genitals. Anna even gave us the middle finger as she walked back inside to fetch her police officer friends. Rude, insulting, arrogant, disgusting people. Avoid this "fine dining" restaurant like the plague!

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Iris Dansic
10-Dec-2011

Our company had our Christmas lunch here for 60 people - our menu was wonderfull, the food superb and the service faultless. Amazing!

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