I dont usually like to complain about service delivery unless it is extremely bad, which was the case this Saturday. A friend and I had a 2pm booking at Af n Plaas restaurant in Stellenbosch. I initially wanted a 3pm booking but was told it wont be possible as they are fully booked from then. I rushed to make it on time, only to get there and stand waiting in the middle of the restaurant for about 10 minutes before any of the waitresses even acknowledged our presence. The lady rushed past, told us to take a seat somewhere as she firsts needs to clean up the open tables outside. So, we sit waiting at a table for about 20 minutes, without any acknowledgment and no feedback from the waitress. At this point we went up to the cashier counter to demand service, yet the waitresses all seemed completely frazzled and couldnt even be bothered to just say Sorry, well be with you in a moment or something to that effect. Whilst at the counter two other people put in very vocal complaints, one woman standing there just said Everything was f*****g terrible and another yelled at the waitress I want to see a manager NOW. The service is pathetic and your attitude stinks! The waitress just shrugged and said the manager cant come as she is busy. I finally decided Ive had enough and we go seat ourselves at a table of our choosing. During our long wait around 50% of the clientele left, so the place was more than half empty and surely this should have meant faster, more efficient service. No such luck, unfortunately. We waited another 15 minutes for our order to be taken. I bought Daddys Deal coupons for a jaffle meal which, if I remember correctly, is just a round snackwich and therefore shouldnt take much longer than, say, 10 minutes to prepare. I also ordered a R25 pina colada. What I got was a margarita glass with that terrible Mainstay papsak cocktail which, in all honesty, is a disgrace to fob off on unwitting customers as a cocktail. Other places normally charge around R7 for a glass of this cheap stuff, and even then I still wouldnt buy it. So our order gets taken with lots of hassle as the waitress had no idea what flavours they had even though the coupon explicitly stated Choose from savoury mince, chicken curry, caramel and banana and MORE. There was no and MORE. Still no apology at all for the long wait but we were somewhat placated at the thought of getting food. Not for very long though. It took them - wait for it - almost an hour to prepare four jaffles, chips and onion rings. At one point I saw the female cook coming out from the kitchen - her hair was dripping wet and stringy and hanging in her face, so hairnets at this place is obviously optional, and as someone who used to be in food service myself I could only shake my head and shudder at the thought of how many stray hairs and droplets of sweat end up in peoples meals. So, after almost an hour one plate comes out. We wait a bit for the other one but after 5 minutes decide to start sharing the plate as we did not relish the thought of cold hard fries and soggy onion rings. After another 5 minutes or so the other plate comes. Only at this point does one of the waitresses take the initiative to come over and say that shes sorry for the service. I was thankful for the gesture but at that point I couldnt even fake a smile if I wanted to. The jaffles itself werent worth the wait, the mince was about as savoury as the kind you get in hospital but it was palatable. We both just shoved everything we could in our mouth and got doggy bags for the rest because at this point we didnt want to spend another minute in that place. I was either lied to about them being fully booked from 3pm onwards or people realised the Spur might be a better option because when we walked out around 16:30 there were about a total of eight other patrons in the place spread among three tables. I am not at all ashamed to admit I tipped the waitress only R5, and would not have tipped at all if I had the correct change on me. These ladies need to step up their game and learn how to deal with customers very fast as the only requirements of being a server is impeccable knowledge of your menu and proactive, efficient and friendly service - failed miserably on both counts. Would never make the effort to drive all the way from Gordons Bay to this place again, even if the meal was free.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:56:02 +0000
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