Daruma By Oskido Waterfall — Restaurant in Gauteng

High-end restaurants are known for charging more for higher quality offerings and an unbeatable dining experience. I agree that there is nothing wrong with that, however when your experience or expectations are not met it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Daruma oskido unfortunately did not satisfy our taste buds. It was my first time trying out the restaurant in Gauteng with an expectation that the quality of food would be the same standard as in Kzn. So I casually strolled in today late afternoon, greeted by friendly staff in what seemed to be a picturesque setting, it was quiet as one would expect during the trying times we are faced with covid-19 hence we opted to order take out for the very reason, I expressed that I would like to have my order out in 30 minutes which i must admit was well received. My order consisted of a mixed seafood meal with vegetables, noodles, a portion of squid heads, calamari and egg fried rice, salad and sushi to go. Quite enthusiastic to try out the food we unpacked the food dished out and eagerly proceeded to try this "magnificent" meal. I have eaten many times at Daruma in kzn and was delighted that it opened in Gauteng, I never got around to trying out the restaurant so today I felt it apt because I received some celebratory news. To our great disappointment the salmon was overcooked, prawns overcooked, calamari tasted like rubber, the food lacked flavor and life! The sushi was average. The squid heads were dry and hard. The sentiment shared after the meal was that we should have ordered from Ocean basket and paid half the price and we would have thoroughly enjoyed our meal. What an absolute waste of money! I was utterly disappointed in the quality of the meals especially when we paying...

Had such an awful experience. Went there for their date night , the reservation was made 18h30 but we got there about 10 min earlier. Got seated and had to wait a few minutes for the waiter which wasnt a big deal cos they were busy. Waiter came took our order and we ordered from the date night menu. We waited for a bit and then had to ask about our starters, which arrived about 15 min after asking. We sat and waited patiently for our food, at 19h20, our meal was not even started with and yet people that arrived after us, were having their meals prepared before us. I was already extremely hungry and then approached the Manager who said she will sort me out, I still waiting another 5 min thinking they would start preparing my food but instead right infront of me they started with another people that came in after us. When i saw that I decided to leave and I told the Manager i am leaving again they said no they will sort it out but at that point i was so angry and hungry and wanted to leave and get something else to eat. This is very poor service, if you know you having a special, which people book in advance get more waiters or chefs ...to avoid such instances. We have been there at the place 4 times in 2 weeks and this experience was just terrible to say the least. The Restaurant knew very well how many guests they would need to cater for but still did nothing to make amends for their guests to receive better service. We didnt even have a set waiter, we had one person take our order cos they were helping the other waiter....what kind of service is that.. Where does this even happen? Upon leaving the host was even shocked that we had not eaten and this was already 19h30 and our food was...

Why only 3 stars - because food is mediocre., but first to focus on the positives - great ambiance, fun to have the chefs cooking in front of you and the service is impeccable, highly attentive and pleasant waiters.

Sadly though, the food quality doesn't live up to the overall experience. I suppose the many 5 star reviews are due to the cheer leader affect - that the positives distract from the main important aspect and that is the food quality .

The food is basically just four types of a simple stirfry - either lamb, beef, chicken or fish. Sadly both the beef and lamb gets completely overcooked - medium fillet should be medium., not overcooked chunks - it takes skill to ruin fillet steak and you managed to do that.

The chicken wing starters have no specific flavour - whats the point in plain roasted chicken wings - at least add sesame seeds or an Asian sauce to compliment the Asian theme.

Then the seafood platters - be flexible, if someone requests a certain item to be removed offer to add something else - for eg we don't like mussels so asked for them to be excluded, at least offer extra calamari instead, also the crayfish meat being removed from the crayfish and then served in the shell - it tends to be again a tad overcooked.

Would we come back, probably, mainly for the ambiance but will pay more attention to the cooking and next time if you over cook food it will...