Balata Restaurant, The Fairway Hotel — Restaurant in Gauteng

My wife and I booked for dinner at Balato on 20 November 2021. Our expectations were great as the website research suggested we were in for a classy meal. Our experience was diametrically opposite. The service from the waiter was poor. Our starter was good but we then waited more than 45 minutes for our mains to arrive. At no stage were we informed of any delay by out waiter. When I queried the delay with him he passed it off with a “it’s nearly ready” comment. As he then perceived my frustration, only then did he move to the kitchen to chase things up. The venue was painfully noisy as a big party of guests was celebrating a birthday in the venue. Young children were running around and playing noisily. We do not expect this of a four star hotel. Our mains then arrived but both were sub-standard. My wife’s fish (Cod) was bland and poorly done. My pasta was fair but nothing more. We called for the bill and left without having dessert. Our wine was good but the R430 charged for the red blend was exorbitant. We will never set foot there again. Throughout the evening there was no sign whatever of managerial supervision. That...

Balata restaurant has always been a place to be for me until this day where I had to meet the badiest person. A so called house keeping lady I did not get her name but she is the worse person I’ve ever met there so far treated me so bad because I was #black# harrast and told me that I have no right to move around the premises after I had my delicious breakfast at the restaurant. I don’t see her as a good person to work in that environment she is very racist and makes it so uncomfortable for any black person to be there… # house keeping at Fairway hotel resort and Spa# bad bad lady would never recommend any black person to be in the same...

Overall, a poor experience. The food was tasty, but unfortunately that does not compensate for the service. We had to repeatedly stand up and walk around the restaurant looking for a waiter. (Example: we had been seated for 30 minutes before we were brought menus.) We complained to the Maître D and things improved at that point, but considering the price and star rating of this restaurant I strongly feel that complaining several times shouldn’t have...