Billy G at Montecasino — Restaurant in Gauteng

Zero star actually zero hospitality and management PLUS for most horrid food , service , We had an event scheduled for 6pm in the private dining room which we had individually prepaid ... So, as all the guests were arriving shortly before, there was still an event in our venue where guests where only dishing up up to 15 minutes before 6pm ! Only a couple of waitresses milling about aimlessly , no manager or direction in sight and the restaurant eas super packed so not even a decent area to sit and wait except 1 small table close to 1 event THEN another and then another that was part of another event -a few of us stood about next to a solitary window we opened to catch some fresh air in the heat - didI mention that the A/C was not working due to loadshedding though the waitresses insisted it was until 6:30 in an OVERPACKED restaurant- IN A COVID world!!!

The same waitresses refused to serve us even water because we were not seated (which seats !?)and until I told the one ,Maki to get the manager and some tonics for my sister and I that I would pay upfront for ... the tonics arrived but ALAS-still NO MANAGER !

Around 7, the other event started spilling out and we as guests had to help the scanty waiters clean up ( AGAIN in these apparent COVID times🤷🏾‍♀️)so we can get our event started which it only did shortly before 8...ALL the other event venues upstarts were seemingly also overrun timewise so the waiters were all engaged in cleaning up 4 venues from what we counted- how ? Can only be WORST MANAGEMENT which then domino’ed into WORST SERVICE from the waiters to the buffet serving staff and especially the apparently lone manager who showed up at the end of our hurried programme after 10 when we were just concluding dishing up ...TO DO WHAT ,you ask ?

To accuse the co ordinator of letting people eat without tags ! At 10;30 guy , REALLY !?, When about 30 % of the guests had already left without bothering to eat the food due to the lateness plus the unappetising smell of burnt food emanating from downstairs ....that’s another thing ...other than the pork roast and few slithers of fish , EVERYTHING, but everything was UNPALATABLE...and the way it was packaged you had no desire (except hunger at the risk of food poisoning perhaps) to sample them ...I mean sushi that was so squished together and condensation on the cling wrap, quarter of a teaspoon of coleslaw to show they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel in their servings...THEN worst is again , we can’t order drinks - because the bar is closed of course by 10om AS IF the delay was our doing so NO CONCESSIONS- horrid ALL round, absolutely-almost painstakingly HORRID- WHAT A...

We booked to have dinner on a Sunday night. Paid R280 excluding any drinks per person. Remember this price is heavily subsidized if you have a rewards card and are active in the casino and the casino sends a lot of customers here daily as well. The quality of the buffet was poor in that there was a large selection of items but the quality and type of food available was poor. Note they do not allow any photos to be taken of the buffet food items. I have eaten at buffets in casinos in all parts of the world and I have never seen this. They vigorously enforce the policy and it has nothing to do with privacy as you are not allowed to take photos of the food items on the buffet and why strictly enforce it. They also have security walking through the restaurant throughout your meal experience which does not add to the atmosphere of the restaurant. In terms of the food, standard selection of starter items - some basic composed salads, a very basic tray of sushi, a soup , make yourself a salad section.Nothing that justifies the price , nothing exotic either. Main courses are geared to the main demographic of this casino hence Tripe, Sheep’s Head, carvery of beef and chicken, lamb curry and beef stew are very fatty and bony so stewing meat is used with more bones and fat than meat, some pasta dishes , fried hake style fish , not much other fish, prawn crackers , standard rice items, some vegetable dishes , again nothing special that justifies that price. Dessert - a few small cake portions, soft serve ice cream, fruit salad , malva pudding, none of this is expensive to make. Drinks - there is a good selection of drinks , standard brands only, can also buy 1.5L and 2L soft drinks. They also run some beer promotions which are value for money. Service was simple, they clear plates and glasses and bring drinks ordered to the table. Staff were friendly . This is a double floor restaurant and they have buffets on both floors but they don’t always open both so try and sit on the ground floor in case the buffet section is closed upstairs. This restaurant is massive and can seat 1000 people plus hence if you sit in the wrong place , you can spend a lot of time walking to and from the buffet. They don’t do anything for special occasions but you can bring your own cakes and decor for that table for those. We saw several people celebrating birthdays with their own cakes. Unfortunately I would never go back to this restaurant , you go to a buffet for great food, something different and exciting and not just a wide selection. There are better buffet options at more value for money offering elsewhere in Johannesburg. Just remember no photos are allowed in the...

We planned to have a family lunch for my hubby's birthday and as we felt like a buffet we decided to give Billy G's at Montecasino a chance as it was the best option for everyone.

We were told that we were required to pay beforehand in order to secure our booking, but when we got there they made us wait while they checked for our payment but let in the people paying at the door. Clearly paying beforehand was not necessary and also did not guarantee you a table as we were told to just pick any table.

We were then led to a table and dropped off without any kind of explanation of how the system works, they just assume that you know. We had been informed beforehand that drinks were not included, but there was no drinks menus and our waitress seemed irritated by us not knowing what options they had.

At some point one member of our group went to ask for mustard as there wasn't any among the sauces, and while they were away from the table we were told that we cannot order coffee as "there is no milk at the moment". We requested to speak to the manager who was informed of our request while en route with the mustard and made a very loud and sarcastic response along the lines of "why am I not surprised". We were then told that we could order coffee, the milk was just separate from the bar and had not been moved to the bar area yet.

I had informed them several times while making the booking that we had a baby under 2 with us and required a kiddy seat, we had to ask for one to be brought as nobody bothered to bring one when we were seated.

The food was fine and we enjoyed most of it, even though some of the meat options were a little dry and some of the options could have done with some spicing. On the whole we didn't have an issue with the food, but the indifferent, lazy and sarcastic behaviour of the staff and management will ensure that we will never go back again.

And to top it all off there was an issue when we went to pay the drinks bill where they insisted on adding R37 to the bill but couldn't properly explain what the addition was, even though we could see that all of the drinks ordered were on the bill.

The food is okay if are fine with being treated like an annoyance, otherwise avoid...