Shocking Experience at Ocean Basket Makhado

I write this with great disappointment in our local ocean basket restaurant. Myself and my partner visited our local ocean basket restaurant in louistrichardt, on the 20th September 2019,we arrived just after 8pm, we were greeted by a huddle of waiters in the corner of the main entrance, not a friendly entrance, this already was an unfami**** and uncomfortable look, about 5 of the waiters were leaning over the pot plant and standing around with no enthusiasm whatsoever of being in the fore front and in representation of the restaurant.

We thereafter headed to the table we wanted to sit at, our waiter seemed pretty bothered, almost like she had alot on her mind and like service with a smile was difficult,she didn't even introduce herself,we knew her name by her name badge.

I ordered a bottle of porcupine ridge sauvignon blanc and my partner ordered the seared salmon and avo starter and requested a glass of water, thereafter edith the waiter brought us the standard bread and accompaniments, we didn't eat the bread, however my partner generally enjoys using the accompaniments in her main meal, the reality is these accompaniments looked as if they had been standing somewhere for hours, this was not at all fresh, dry chilli, darker than usual, garlic had a brownish top coat, the bottom was better, showing that too was standing and tartare sauce had a dry layer over it. This was disappointing it gave an awkward impression of what the rest of food could be like.

My partners starter arrived, it lacked seasoning, something was different, knowing this is her favourite starter at all ocean basket restaurants, fortunately the ingredients were fresh.

Thereafter my partner ordered the platter for one, with rice as a starch, when it arrived the rice was so much,almost over powering the entire platter, the fish was rubbery and overcooked, all in all this platter was not of the best quality.

Thereafter it got a bit cold so we asked that we be moved inside also because we were seated outside by the smoking area which was a bit windy, Edith, the waiter assisted with the move and indicated that we would need to sit on the inside centered area because they, the staff wish to clean up. Also she mentioned that they usually close around 10h30, however that was dependant on wether there was clients still.

At this point it was heading on 10pm, and i ordered the Mediterranean mussels, still with at least a half a bottle of wine, the mussels arrived, and were disappointing to say the least, they had no flavour,tasted like tin tomato just poured into the pan, no flavour.

The staff started packing up all the tables around us, to our discomfort, making it evident that they had no intention of allowing us a decent experience, all the tables but ours had the chairs up.

There after around 10h30, a grounds security came through to tell us he wants to lock up,this person does not even work there, he looks after the grounds, then another security guard from a different company came through to greet me, he knows me,and too said we should literally hurry up so they could lock up and leave, alluding to the area being a crime hot spot, this all happened within 10mins of eachother,this altered the entire mood, the experience started changing, at no point were we approached by the manager on duty, nor did our waiter inform us of the concern,the waiter sat on a crate in full view and literally starred us down, making it so uncomfortable till we left.

Next we finished up,paid the bill around 10h40, and as we we're leaving things took a terrible turn for the worse.

As we approached the exit, the manager was there, bag in hand switching off lights and locking up, so i said, sorry for the inconvinience, to my surprise, the manager abruplty,and rudely said in venda using very derogatory words "we know you, you're like that, you always stay late, everytime we see you we just know you're going to keep us and leave late".Her tone was so aggressive and rude as if she were reprimanding children, at this point my partner interjected in shock at the disrespect And asked her how she dares speaking to customers in that manner, she continued saying she knows me to always come and stay late, in that i was explaining to her that i hardly come to the restaurant and when i do its for a take away indicating she possibly had me confused, at this stage my partner asked this manager how she could have that attitude with clients that literally support her salary. Also that wether or not ihad been to the establishment once or a million times, at no point does that warrant such fami****ity to a point of disrespect,She didn't care when my partner told her she would escalate this matter to the local paper, she blatantly said to "do so!" then she said she was just joking, mind you, this was far from a laughing matter, at no point did her tone and approach seem in good taste.

We left so shocked and upset and disappointed with potential of a beautiful night spoilt, is this what customers are treated like at ocean basket or is it a matter of fact that we were black clients, have the service staff and management no respect for service excellence. We are appalled by this experience.