Il Leone Mastrantonio

Ordered their chicken penne for the first time on UberEats and it is DELISH! Homey and comforting. The chicken has a nice grilled flavour to it and the sauce is wonderfully flavoured. I have eaten at the actually Il Leone restaurant a few times, and am a sucker for their carbonara and the gnocchi with 4 cheese sauce. Really tasty pastas! The atmosphere of the restaurant also has a wonderful atmosphere - cozy and welcoming.

I ĥave been to many Italian restaurants in my life. In Bologna, Venice, Florence even a super fancy one in London. Il Leone's food is superior to practically all of them. The Cacio e Pepe, Peasano and Carbonara pastas had the most moreish and perfectly balanced sauces I've ever tasted. The salads are well balanced and not overpowered by fancy dressings. The Tiramisu is light and not over sweet. If you're in Cape Town and you're craving Italian food please do yourself a favour and eat here. Oh and no 10% bully enforced tip at lunch in late October 2025.

Always amazing. I'm a regular google review person. Very much not afraid to leave a bad review kinda person; so if I'm giving a great review then you must know it's great. The food at Il Leone never disappoints. The manageress is phenomenal. The staff is always on point 🔥🔥🔥 and of course the food is sublime ♥️🙏🏻🔥 If I could give 10 stars, I would. My favourite restaurant in Cape Town.

Love this restaurant. The atmosphere was really great, love the artwork. Service was brilliant - efficient and friendly. The food was delicious, calamari starter, seafood risotto, tagliatelle ragu, panna cotta and a Tiramisu cake. Very reasonably priced. Would definitely go again.

THIS PLACE IMPOSES A 10% MANDATORY TIP WITHOUT TELLING YOU UPFRONT AND BULLIES TOURISTS The above speaks for itself. We rounded up the bill which practically provided for a 7% tip and the waitress took a look at the receipt with our written tip amount, threw it away and then printed a new receipt for us and told us a 10% tip on top of the meal price plus VAT is mandatory. It is not stated anywhere in the menu that we had to tip this amount and it’s not a lot of money but the way it was delivered was extremely rude. The waitress who dealt with us also kept harassing us and saying passive aggressive things like “can you calculate 10% without a calculator?”. I can’t help but to feel that we were targeted for being tourists and bullied. Anyway, the food was mid and overpriced. The pasta was not al dente, the meat dishes were overcooked / chewy. The restaurant also tries to upsell water to its customers. We were not told the price and were served 2 bottles of 750ml water (which costs ~7€/140ZAR in total). We would expect that the price of something that costs 50% of a pasta/main dish would be told to customers. You can find much better food and better service elsewhere.

Found this on Google and made a reservation via email, for our wedding anniversary as we were on vacation. Coincidentally found out that it was also one of the recommended restaurants in the hood, by our accommodation hosts. The restaurant is rather lovely with many art pieces, but if I’d to nitpick, it’d be the proximity of the tables. Servers tend to have to squeeze between tables and my chair was cornered at a pillar (which they’d offer to change the position, but I’d be almost next to another diner, so I declined). This also meant it gets uncomfortable if your neighbours were loud. Food wise, we’d the ceviche, mussels in white wine, burrata for starters and grilled chicken and queen prawns for mains. Mussels had a slight stench and chicken less salty, but the rest were delicious, especially the prawns. Service was immaculate nonetheless, which really made our night(: Shoutout to our wonderful waitress Indya, easily the best service I’ve had since arriving in Cape Town.

A lovely find. Oodles of atmosphere and clearly loved by local CT residents. The food was very good without much finesse and the friendly service was as slow as the arrival of our food. Will definitely go back and we'll be happy to adjust star ratings if deserved. Have been back several times since writing the above and very happy to give full star ratings as the welcome and service alone deserve them. The food is very good and is presented in a simple manner and just tastes good. Lovely people.

We had a great dinner at Il Leone Mastrantonio and really enjoyed the variety of dishes. The pasta was fresh and flavorful, the seafood risotto was rich and satisfying, and the steak was perfectly cooked. For dessert, we had the panna cotta and tiramisu,both were beautifully presented and delicious. The atmosphere is cozy yet elegant, and the service was warm and attentive. It is a lovely place for a relaxed.