Beautiful venue, but the Saturday bubbly brunch was a huge disappointment

We visited The Tasting Room Cedar at Broadacres Shopping Centre for the Saturday bubbly brunch, which costs R320 per person and includes a three-course meal and a bubbly tasting.

The venue itself is beautiful, with a lovely atmosphere. It was incredibly busy, understandably so given the ongoing R35 breakfast special. Our waitress was also genuinely friendly and attentive, which was a definite positive.

The bubbly tasting was lovely. We tasted the Steenberg bubbly collection, which was explained well and you get to choose a full glass of your favourite bubbly to enjoy as part of the experience. That part was enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the food and overall brunch experience were a huge let-down. When you are spending over R700 for two people, you expect more than just food being placed on the table. The kitchen staff brought each course out, placed it down and walked away without explaining what we were being served. This is particularly concerning from an allergy and dietary perspective, as there was no clear explanation of the ingredients or what each course consisted of.

The "three-course meal" was also extremely disappointing. The starter was granola and plain yoghurt. The main was toast topped with bacon and a white sauce. Dessert was, once again, plain yoghurt with apple crumble. The dessert felt like a repeat of the starter and we didn't even eat it.

Most disappointing of all, my niece and I left hungry. For the price, this simply did not feel like a three-course brunch experience and certainly didn't feel like good value for money.

Ironically, the food we saw being served to other tables from the regular menu looked fantastic. Based on what we saw, I would recommend booking a table, ordering something from the main menu and enjoying a bottle of bubbly instead. The bubbly prices are actually very reasonable and the tasting experiences — whether wine, brandy, gin, bubbly or tequila — are a great option if you want to add something extra to your visit.

The venue has a lot going for it and our waitress was lovely, but the Saturday bubbly brunch did not deliver the experience we expected for the price. Unfortunately, based on our experience, I would not recommend the brunch.