Chatoga Spur — Restaurant in Gauteng

Absolutely Disappointed – Never Again!

I honestly cannot believe the service standards at Chatoga Spur. This is now the second time my family and I have had such a bad experience here, and enough is enough.

We sat for more than 20 minutes before anyone even bothered to take our drinks order. The restaurant wasn’t even remotely busy – only a handful of tables had customers, yet most of the other tables were left dirty, full of plates and mess from previous patrons. It gave the whole place an unhygienic and neglected feeling. When I eventually raised my frustration with the manager, all I got was a dismissive “sorry.” No effort to fix the situation, no sense of urgency, and certainly no follow-through. It feels like management has no control over the floor or staff, and customers are just expected to accept poor service.

What frustrates me even more is that this isn’t my first bad encounter here. On a previous visit, my children’s clothes were actually damaged because the Spur staff use safety pins on the kids’ bibs/clothes. Completely careless, completely unsafe – and when I raised it before, I also got nothing but an empty apology.

This place has gone downhill and clearly has no interest in improving. If customer care, cleanliness, and safety aren’t a priority for them, then they don’t deserve anyone’s business. There are FAR better restaurants in Glen Marais and surrounds where families are actually welcomed, looked after, and respected.

I will never recommend this Spur to anyone, and I certainly won’t be back. Absolutely done...

We had a fantastic dining experience at this restaurant, with amazing food and a friendly waiter. Our family of five had a great time together. However, there were two notable drawbacks. Firstly, the table was a bit small, and we had to keep on readjusting our seating to ensure everyone was comfortable while dining.

The second issue was with the bill. Initially, our waiter brought the bill and informed us that we had received a 51% discount from the full amount which was R1700 -we were thrilled about it. However, it turned out to be a mistake. A manager later corrected the bill saying it should have been a R51 discount instead of 51% which we understood. however what infuriated us was that the new amount on the fixed bill was even higher than expected, way more than the initial full amount without the discount, and the calculations were still unclear and confusing because the manager was also unsure. She was so casual about it - making the whole thing feel like it’s not that much big deal at all. We had to wait an additional 30 minutes and ask for additional explanation of why this had happened.

The manager's apology and offer of a R50 coupon for our next visit felt insufficient, considering the inconvenience we experienced. Despite the delicious food, the billing issues left a sour taste, and we will probably not visit this branch again. A simple check of the bill before presenting it to us could have avoided this...

Let me be honest with everybody out there that is reading this review... This is a family restaurant for a big chain of restaurants in South Africa. This is no fine dining experience, no matter from which angle you try to approach the topic. Are they busy on special days such as public holidays? Yes they are, and this is where you will find variations. A special meal deal is a special meal deal, do not expect to get a plate bursting out of its seams with stacks of food, you will have to spend money to experience that dream.

Now the next question on everybody's lips would most probably be: Why did you go there in the first place? I was invited, and I respect the people that invited me. This is not my first choice of restaurant by any means, I would rather support the small intimate, up and coming individual entrepreneur, and once again, please do not think I don't want to support this chain of restaurant, it is just not in my genre anymore.

My variations that I experienced on this busy day was robotic waiting staff, food not being delivered in chronological order, food served cold. A building can house a restaurant, interior decorating styles can identify a restaurant, however, if there is no warmth within, it is just another restaurant to go and have...