Quite literally Col’Cacchio is the equivalent of saying “up yours” in a very pleasant sounding foreign manner. It’s also the name of a rather radical pizza and pasta franchise.

I’ve eaten Col’Cacchio’s excellent pizzas before as take-out fare. Tonight we sat in for an early evening meal. What incited my writing of this post was the service level. Zach, the manager was actively interacting with patrons, taking orders, carrying food and being a genuinely caring individual.

At one point, my mom asked for some tomato sauce, intending to mix a dollop with some of the complimentary chilli and garlic so as to have a spicy compliment for her pasta. It’s an Indian thing. As it turns out, ketchup doesn’t exist at this restaurant. Who needs the common juice of mashed tomatoes when you’re creating quality awarding winning dishes, right?

No worries, my mom just mixed up her chilli with some olive oil and we forgot she’d even asked for sauce.

That is, until a few minutes later, Zach arrived as our table with a warm pot of fresh tomato-based sauce!

Now that’s service! It might be that I’m just accustomed to regular South African service which is generally bland and almost never above the call of duty. Nevertheless, I was most impressed.

Over and above that, our food was awesome, the desserts are delicious and mostly infused with Lindt chocolate, and the after-dinner sweets are little balls of Lindor (as opposed to those cheap mint-like balls that are normally abandoned on the table). The one potential issue was an incorrect starter order: we received an onion and tomato focaccia instead of the onion and feta focaccia. The order was not only promptly rectified but the entire starter cost was removed from the bill. Smiles all around.

Col’Cacchio branches are country-wide. Our experience was at the Bryanston presence. An amazing restaurant with great service and enough variety of food to warrant weekly return visits without boring the pallet. Add your experiences to the comments below and let me know whether this is a once-off or if all the outlets are on top form.