Tomson Restaurant Cape Town — Restaurant in City Centre

Visiting from London.

My cousin and I decided to have dinner at Tomson this evening. Ive been here in the past and so had she.

When we arrived we were greeted by the standoffish manager. She sat us at the far back of the inside bar. We sensed a bit of a stone energy but ignored it.

We had a lovely waitress who took our order, our food arrived and it was great.

Halfway through our meal a cockroach crawled onto the bar where we were eating, we were about to hail our waitress but it did a b-line for our food. It crawled onto my bowl and I quickly grabbed a serviette and squashed it.

We notified our waitress who was mortified and said she would alert her manager (who was outside at the time).

I watched as the waitress explained what happened and the manager said, “ it’s just a bug” and continued with what she was doing.

The waitress returned and apologized and left. The squashed roach still on the bar with us. We were now slightly taken aback the manager didn’t come over despite clearly looking over at us and seeing our disdain.

Eventually she was standing behind the bar in front of us. Still not a word. My cousin then repeated the situation to her and all she mustered was a cold, “sorry”. We then said it would be decent of her to apologize and remove the cockroach from our table. She said sure, took it and left - still unfettered. We increasingly began to feel we were somehow at fault (bonkers!)

We were then asked by the manager if we wanted our bill, to which we said yes.

I felt so overwhelmed by the sheer rudeness and utter lack of hospitality that I had to call her out. We explained our grievances to which she said, “I said Im sorry”.

She then scolded the waitress, who came over apologizing that she had created a miscommunication.

They then comped two drinks off the bill, to which we refused. We wanted to pay in full because we weren’t seeking freebies.

You see the thing is, of course a restaurant has a pests from time to time. The actual issue is in the lack of basic respect toward patrons, more astonishingly done by the manager. The sheer lack of hospitality, and unfeeling for the uncomfortable atmosphere she was creating for us has made a lasting and disappointing impact.

I will never recommend this place to any friends visiting Cape Town, and sadly my cousin will never return again.

I had to leave the review, not to shame but to hopefully ask for that manager to be a little more mindful of how she treats patrons in the future.

Service can really make or break a dining experience, and this sadly has...

HIDDEN GEM we booked a table of 7 for my sisters 25th birthday and could not have made a better decision. Upon entering you are greeted by friendly faces and the best atmosphere, it’s a very small restaurant which made the service and experience more intimate and special, we felt very looked after and well catered for with beautiful aesthetics and ambiance it really is a hidden gem. Our server Hannah ( who was EXTREMELY knowledgeable after being hit with our 75 questions 😂) could not do anymore to make us feel special and looked after it made the experience personal and extremely enjoyable. The style of small plates works super well for sharing. I don’t eat meat and as a veggie was extremely catered for, The food came out extremely quickly, it was hot , fresh and delicious. (Which is rare for this type of cuisine now days) Would 10/10 recommend the wontons and shiitake soup. Massive bonus the place is affordable which isn’t too common in the town area. Will definitely be back for date night very soon. Only thing I would recommend is improving the wine list, and maybe adding some deep fried bananas to the desert menu 😝. we did bring in our own bottle so wasn’t a problem. Thanks so much to Hannah and...

We’ve been loyal customers for quite some time and regularly order takeout—often once a week—as we live just upstairs at Tomson. We genuinely love the food and appreciate the quality and consistency that keeps us coming back.

However, I feel it’s important to share that tonight’s experience was disappointing. The service we received from one of your long-standing waitresses left us feeling extremely uncomfortable. Her energy was noticeably unwelcoming—smiling in a way that felt forced and passive-aggressive, creating an atmosphere that made us feel as though our presence was a burden. This is not the first time we’ve felt this way when she’s served us, and it’s reached a point where it affects our overall experience.

We want to continue supporting your restaurant because the food is truly excellent, but consistent negative energy from service staff makes it difficult to enjoy a meal out. We hope this feedback is taken constructively, and that some attention can be given to ensuring all customers feel genuinely welcome.

Rather have friendly staff that’s suits the quality and...