I try out Villa 47’s Locanda in Bree St

So I recently booked a table at the new Villa 47 in Bree St for a little girls dinner.  I had heard a lot of rave reviews about the place (along with the odd not so great one, won’t lie), but was very excited to try it out for myself.

In total, Villa 47 is actually planning on covering 3 floors of their building located at 47 Bree St.  So far there’s Locanda on the ground floor and Stuzzico on the first floor.  Not sure what’s planned for the 3rd floor yet…

Locanda is where we ate & is described as a relaxed Italian bistro serving regional specialty dishes prepared by their Italian Chef, Vittorio Bianchi, under the leadership of their head Chef, Clayton Bell.

Then Stuzzico is their Mediterranean – Asian fusion tapas and cocktail bar.  Didn’t pop my head in on the night – but you can read more about it over here.

I have to say I really really love the Locanda decor.  It’s beautiful and cosy and makes for the perfect dinner date venue for both couples looking for a bit of romance or family/friends wanting to dine in a welcoming space.

I mean, just have a look at this:

Beautiful right?

The menu, as mentioned above, focuses on Italian cuisine.  They do actually serve breakfasts as well (if you’re wanting to try out a new brunch spot), and for lunch they serve a selection of wraps and panini, but the dinner menu is split into starters, pastas & risotto, mains, cold meat platters, cheese platters, meat & cheese platters, and dessert.

I had heard good things about their risotto (which changes daily), so that’s what I went for.  On the night it was a pea & Prosciutto risotto which looked like this:

Then the other 3 ladies I was dining with went for the seared tuna & two different pastas:

My risotto was good (just not quite as good as the risotto at Societi Bistro – that’s still my number 1).  But the rest of my table weren’t all that happy with their dishes.  The seared tuna was cold, like not oh it’s only been seared cold, just cold.  But even once they heated it up slightly, I had another taste and I must admit it didn’t blow me away.  The two ladies who went for pasta dishes didn’t rate these either, they felt at the price they could’ve had a better bowl elsewhere.

So yeah, not quite the experience I was hoping for…  Price wise they are on the higher end, but I did feel that it was aligned with what’s become the norm in town, and on the service front I really couldn’t fault them in any way.  I left there wondering whether it was just a case of the wrong menu choices, but then again it was a hit rate of 1 out of 4 which is not really the best.

I’m going to give Villa 47 a score of  on my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale.  I really do love the space & I’m hoping that maybe we caught them on an off night.  Is there a restaurant with a similar style which I’d likely recommend instead though?  Yeah, I’d probably recommend 95 Keerom.  Their food is amazing.

To check out Villa 47 for yourself, you can contact them on +27 21 418 2740 or reservations@villa47.co.za. They are quite busy, so a reservation is definitely recommended.  Also if anybody else has been and has a particular dish they can recommend, do share the love with a comment below.

xxx