Bad service - 24 October 2020 - Wine Tasting Centre

Management: Neethlingshof - wine tasting

A friend and I arrived at Neethlingshof on 24.10.2020 at approximately 13:30pm. A lady by the name of Sandra approached us and asked whether we made a booking. We said yes and gave her the name under which the booking was made. She gave us a ‘look’ and said “I don’t see your name here” my friend then told her the booking was made online and a guy called the morning to confirm the booking. Sandra informed us she will call the guy who is responsible for the bookings. This particular guy by the name of Clint approached us, looking rather agitated. No attempt of making us feel welcome. My friend gave her name and he checked the very same (page) for the name and found it (this after Sandra told us, she don’t see our name on the list). My friend still apologized to Clint as we were late for our booking, as we had a prior commitment hence being late. He responded with “well we are very strict with our bookings, do you want to sit inside or outside”. We opted to be seated outside. The waiter (Eddie) served us and he was very friendly and helpful. We chose the Flash food and Wine pairing. We also ordered 2 pizzas. When the pizzas was brought to the table we noticed that the once pizza was not what we ordered. Without making any fuss we called the closest waiter we saw, which was Robin. My friend just asked her if this is the pizza that she ordered pointing it out on the menu. Robin smiled and said “No, this is not the pizza. Don’t worry I will sort it out” bear in mind Robin is not our waiter she was just close by when we called her to the table to ask about the pizza. As Robin took the wrong pizza, Clint was standing by the outside pizza counter with his back towards our table. At this stage he was eavesdropping (secretly listening to our conversation with Robin). Without turning around he loudly and agitatedly said to Robin “Robin, what’s up” At this point I was seriously annoyed with the attitude of how he ‘intervened’ he eventually came to the table and said they will change the pizza. The wrong order (pizza) was given by the waiter, not that it was a major issue though. The correct pizza was brought to our table. My friend and I were chatting and enjoying ourselves. We noticed that their were flies roaming and closed our food with the serviettes. We left the table for a few minutes for a smoke. When we returned to our table the flies were sitting on the serviette covered plates. No one came to check on us - as it is the norm in the hospitality industry to ask if the patrons are fine or if they need something from the menu, etc. If this was done we would’ve asked for a takeaway box in order to resolve the fly issue. When I mentioned this as one of the disappointments with Sandra, she abruptly responded “I am not responsible for your table”

We requested Eddie to bring the bill - it was about 15:42pm. We explained to Eddie our experience at the establishment. We wanted to know who the manager is. He said we can speak to Sandra. At this stage Sandra was busy clearing a table not far from ours. She could hear our conversation with Eddie. She came to our table and asked “Is there a problem?” And I responded with Yes. She showed no interest of trying to find out what the problem is and was more upset that Eddie told us that she’s a supervisor. According to Sandra she’s only a waitress? When I told her about the terrible service from the time we arrived was really bad. She responded “excuse me” and I said to her you see how you handle a situation? Your attitude and tone of voice is the cause of the bad service review. All she said was “well I’m sorry that you feel like that, and we get very good reviews” As we continued explaining, she ‘apologized’ and I said to her I do not accept your apology as we did not deserve the attitude from her and Clint. Sandra than told us she will rather not tell Clint (who was standing a few meters away from our table and he could once again hear our conversation) cause he will not be handling the situation very good. She looked at Eddie and said “You know he’s not going to play and she’s only trying to avoid conflict between us and Clint. At this stage I was astonished that any staff member would say something like that whilst you are attempting to diffuse a possible poor service review. Clint came closer and asked Sandra what’s going on. She started by saying that I am unhappy and she apologized and I told her that I’m not accepting the apology. I don’t understand how you can have someone in a supervisory role but does not have a clue of what customer services entail. Remember we came to your establishment. It was not a favor or for charity. Clint and Sandra was giving the impression that they can do and say whatever they want.

How can you as the management of such an establishment entrust your business in the hands of staff who are incompetent, rude, unprofessional and a clear lack of communication. I have been to numerous wine farms in Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschoek, etc and I have always been impressed with the service. Unlike the experience at Neethlingshof.

This review will not close your establishment, but I want to share this experience with my fellow wine tasters. With staff like Sandra and Clint you will definitely reap the rotten fruits (bad reviews).

Highly disappointed.