Terrible Service

I write this email to express my disappointment in Zimbali Fire Room.

On the 27 December 2024 we had booked for my mother-in-law's birthday after a hard year of her being ill and then losing her partner we had decided to spoil her. Below are my points of our experience note I have been to the restaurant before and so has my Brother-in-law and his partner so we definitely know what to expect.

1. We had a reservation for 6.30pm which we arrived at the gate only to be told we need to phone Fireroom for a code to enter. Already so unprofessional yet we had booked. We then had to park aside phoned and waited for a code before entering

2. Upon arrival at the restaurant we was then asked to take a seat only for a 2nd person to say our table was ready and why are we seated. He then took us to the outside deck and got us seated

3. We placed our orders not long after being seated as we had looked at the menu on the net so we had an idea of what we wanted only to wait over 2hrs for our meals.

4. Before our meals could arrive I had asked the waiter to turn off the fan that was hitting directly to us as we didn't want to get our food and having the fan on making the food cold - the waiter then responded that no one is allowed to switch the fan off

5. My Brother-in-law had asked for sauces to our surprise we was not explained by the waiter that the sauces was charged for until we got the bill and had a shock we was charged R42 per a sauce.

6. When we was almost done with our meals which turned out to be cold, families that was on the deck as well had asked for the fans to be put off and the fans was switched off - so why be biased to us when we requested? Are we paying a discounted rate? Why treat us differently?

7. On previous birthday occasions we received a plate that says Happy Birthday and a side ice cream but here again to our disappointment we just received a plate that said Happy Birthday and nothing else.

8. My Brother-in-law had complained immediately to the manager on duty which then took my number down to give us a call. A week later no response. I called 5/01 and was told the manager will get back to me. Called the 8/01 again due to no feedback which I managed to talk to the manager and he was going to investigate and get back to me. I received calls on the 9/01 and 13/01 which I was offered a 50% off which I declined as I paid close to R2500 on terrible service and the restaurant wants me to pay again for such service. I was promised that he will chat to his supervisor and get back to me on another off. Till this date no response

It's over 2 months later and the managers of this branch clearly does not care about unhappy clients.