Le Manoir Hotel — Hotel in Gauteng

First off let me start by saying this place is beyond stunning , One of the most beautiful boutique hotels I have ever laid my eyes on with the years of travel I have done. I found this place online as my venue for my second part of my two day wedding & was very excited when Sarah and I started Communicating over phone and email for almost a year as I live in the United States. I sent my sister and my mother to view the venue and there, they were welcomed by Sarah, Bernice Morrell and Kirsty, whom they spoke very highly off and said how impressed they were by everything. Three weeks before my wedding I landed in SA and a few days later we went to Morrells to have a meeting with Sarah, our wedding planner . We were greeted by the security guard who showed us where to go and as we were walking into the reception area we were greeted by a lady whom I assumed worked there by her professional attire who I later found out her name was Amy. She was very unfriendly and had a very snobby tone in her voice which totally threw me off because everyone I had spoken to on the phone during my planning was nothing short of amazing and friendly. As we were talking to her Sarah came down and greeted us with her warm beautiful & friendly smile and gave both myself and my now husband a hug, she was just as lovely in person as she was over the phone , we finally got to meet Sarah after what felt like eternity. I felt like she was a friend I hadn’t seen in years and felt very comfortable around her. We sat down and were offered coffee and were introduced to Thabiso as-well who was just as pleasant , we discussed the wedding and I was very behind on my to do list and Sarah came to my rescue and took a lot off my list including having menus printed , which was my responsibility but didn’t do. she took us on a tour of the estate , which we absolutely loved and fell in love with and were very pleased with our Choice, it was breathtaking . Fast forward to the wedding day , everything went according to plan , Sarah was on top of everything and made sure I knew everything that was going on, she calmed me down when I was panicking and made sure I was comfortable the whole time I was there. The wait staff were also amazing and made sure everyone’s glass was full all night and gave us five star service , whatever we wanted we got. My husband had to go to the atm after the wedding and Thabiso was kind enough to drive him to a nearby garage and drove him back to the estate. The next morning we woke up and it was passed our checkout time but the staff was kind enough to let us sleep in after an eventful two days and were given breakfast when we were ready. We got to see Sarah the next morning as well and spoke to her but there was an issue with the tip she said , where Amy who is the manager wasn’t going to be distributing the tip to the waitstaff accordingly after all the hard work they had done , ( who doesn’t deserve to be paid for the work they have put in ? We were puzzled by this and hoped that the staff weren’t working for pennies ) we asked to speak to her (Amy) which she took forever to come and talk to us and as soon as she started talking she had an attitude with both my husband and I , she wouldn’t even address me she addressed my husband as if I were not there. We ended up sorting out the issue with the tip but I must say her attitude almost took away from the wonderful experience we had, her attitude is awful and had a air of superiority. I left Morrells feeling a bit down after that but had to remember how much work Sarah put into our wedding and how kind both her and Thabiso were to us and the hardwork the waitstaff put in , they are all such a great asset to Morrells and appreciated all they did to make our wedding day a breeze . My mother could not stop talking about how great Sarah was even after the wedding, and spoke about her big beautiful smile and how...

Restaurant review:

We’re locals, and we’re in need of an event at fine dining restaurant for my wife’s 40th birthday so we tried the restaurant beforehand by booking dinner.

We were welcomed with a glass of non-alcoholic sparking. The setting is beautiful, however we were the only ones there for the evening. The service was attentive and from a distance - which meant that we could enjoy each others company.

The music suited the setting, and the wine list was impressive - they even had a few household favourites. This is where delight ended, and regret began.

The hero of any restaurant experience is the food. Here, it was the villain.

If I’m paying R695 for 2 courses, or R895 for 3 courses, my expectation is that the food is prepared in a well trained kitchen.

I ordered my fillet medium rare, and it came well done. My wife ordered hers medium, and it was medium well - she settled and ate it. I sampled both and they both lacked seasoning. I sent mine back. The server and management were apologetic, heard me out, and acknowledged what I said. A replacement arrived and it was burnt on the outside, and raw (not blue) on the inside. I wasn’t prepared to waste my time any further and asked for the bill turning our 3 course meal into 2 courses.

A casual Italian restaurant less than 800m nearby charges R235 for their fillet and it is seasoned well, and cooked perfectly. If you look at their parking area on a weekend afternoon, and evening, and compare it to Le Manoir’s, you can deduce that the latter is either closed, or not a popular choice. If I pay R300 per course, I’m expecting my food to be prepared by a trained, and experienced chef. This is definitely not the case. It wasn’t just the main meal, my wasabi avocado did not have any hints of wasabi. The defence was that some people don’t like wasabi - well, then don’t order the wasabi avocado. It’s in the name after all. I’ve had wasabi parfait before which had strong wasabi flavours and without the burn. The difference was a trained, and experienced chef.

We returned for brunch a week later to see if it would be a better experience but it cemented our decision: Le Manoir needs new kitchen staff despite the new owner’s purchasing the venue from the Morrell family.

Why? 1 piece of ham in my ham, onion, and mushroom omelette. When I showed my server, she spoke with the kitchen and they overcompensated by bringing out a ramekin of ham - they could have added 1/5 of that ramekin to my order and I would not have said anything.

My wife ordered the Eggs Benedict and it tasted cheap, and lacked hollandaise sauce. Woolies makes a better English muffin, this tasted like it was bought from PnP.

The venue is beautiful, the service is wonderful. The cutlery, crockery, and plating is well suited to the setting. I tried to love this restaurant as Northcliff needs more non-franchise restaurants but I couldn’t.

Lucy is a wonderful host, I’d hire her to work in my business to interface with customers but she’s the assistant manager, and she’s not a chef so she can’t fix what’s really broken.

No photos of the steak as we didn’t expect to do a review. Also the steak was cooked during weekend where we had load shedding and this venue does not have...

I'm a former AA Quality Assured Accommodation Manager and have worked alongside TGCSA, so, I'm very critical when it comes to where I lay my head. I think it is important for your staff NOT to tell guests that this establishment is a 5 star Boutique Hotel because it really is none of that at the moment.

Upon arrival, I received a warm welcome and every staff member that I came into contact with was absolutely awesome and Cynthia did her absolute best to make us feel comfortable. I was hungry when I arrived and she arranged a very tasty platter of treats which I really enjoyed - Thank you!

I loved the fresh lavender and Jasmine flowers in the room - the room smelled so good! The bed was comfortable and bed linen was of good quality. The electric blanket is always a good idea but I couldn't find the second switch when it got too hot at night. Toiletries and bath salts were a ++ for me - loved them!

Although the establishment is advertised as, (and the staff is convinced) that it's a Boutique Holel, this establishment is NOT a boutique Hotel (maybe it once was). It is also CERTAINLY NOT a 5 star establishment - It does not provide 5 star or Boutique Hotel services, facilities or food. It is more of 3 Star Guesthouse/Homestay type of establishment.

We were booked for 2 nights but I only stayed for 1 night and spent the other night at a hotel close by.

The establishment is not well-kept and some areas are not properly cleaned. On artival, the room was ice cold and the aircon wasn't working - Cynthia brought me a heater, which was of course appreciated. Exposed electrical wires should be neatened/truncated. And the ones that run along the skirting should be dusted (those areas were shockingly filthy and dusty) The blue couch in the bedroom needs to be steam cleaned and so do some of the couches in the adjacent lounge. The wall in the bedroom I slept in is need of a fresh layer of paint. Broken blinds in the bathroom should be replaced. Bathrooms should be properly cleaned and floors scrubbed. The patio furniture should be dusted and patio rails repainted or varnished. At the moment, the whole establishment looks old and tacky because it's not properly cleaned and not because you want to preserve that antique/classic look! The food and food service is another issue that needs to be looked into, I did not enjoy my omelette and I know the people I was travelling with did not enjoy their breakfast nor the dinner they had the night before. Consider serving biscuits and rusks in wrapping or on a domed plate. And the milk in the fridge should be covered with cling wrap or a clean cloth. (Instead of 1L juices, provide canned fruit juice. I also did not know what to do with the kiwi fruit served whole without a knife, plate or spoon)

All in all, this establishment has great potential - with some TLC, it can easily retun to its...