avianto remains one of the most beautiful venues in sa. the execution of the italian theme is well executed throughout, and the gardens allow for a pleasant walk before or after your meal. pity then, that cielo cannot keep up with the scenery around it.
we went there on sunday for lunch only to find that it's a buffet. this in itself has not affected my rating because there are people out there that like a buffet (i've yet to meet one, but apparently they do exist), it would just have been nice to be told that when we made the booking they proceeded to lose.
the execution of the buffet, however, certainly has affected my rating: dry chicken and lamb, a chronic shortage of cutlery and crockery, mushroom sauce for soup, and all of one dish that i could really compliment - the blue cheese and peppadew pasta.
and then there was the waitress. seriously, if you cannot hire people who can remember your drinks list, put it on a piece of paper - it's called a menu. in fact, we specifically asked for certain items only to be told these were not stocked. when we asked mike, a different, quite knowledgeable waiter, however, he happily rattled off the entire list - including the items that the place simply didn't stock according to our waitress.
and then they top it all off by serving sticky toffee pudding without custard. huh?
as for the dish cleanliness rating, it's a solid 0/10. i spent a large part of my lunch wiping everything i needed eat with or from, and the waitress didn't bat an eyelid when i picked up every glass to wipe it before she poured the wine.
without mike the competent waiter and the lovely scenery, each worth one star, this would have been a solid 0.