KAUAI Cedar Road — Restaurant in Gauteng

I had a weird and frankly unsettling experience here. I placed an order for some wraps and waited patiently—about 15 minutes—before going to check on the status. At that moment, I witnessed a heated argument between a lady named Nhlanhla and a gentleman behind the counter—right as they were handling my food.

It was incredibly unprofessional and uncomfortable to watch. That kind of drama should be handled in the back office, not in front of customers—especially while someone’s order is being handed off. I stood there feeling invisible, not acknowledged by anyone.

Eventually, Nhlanhla placed my food on the counter without saying a single word—no greeting, no confirmation that it was mine. I had to assume it was my order and just take it.

This experience left a bad impression. Customer service is about more than just delivering food—it’s about how you treat the people you’re serving. The food is watery and to think that it used to be my favourite spot. Did management...

Today is World Smoothie Day, and I had one of the worst customer experiences at Kauai Cedar Road.

When I arrived, I was told I could choose from four smoothies for the 50% off promotion. When I chose the fourth, I was told it wasn’t available, and that actually I could only choose from three. I then asked for a vegan version, and the manager, Tandoor Setoli, refused to accommodate this.

What doesn’t make sense is that they replaced whey protein with plant protein in the salted caramel smoothie I ordered (proving they can adjust ingredients), yet for the World Smoothie Day smoothies, I was told I had to pay extra for almond milk—even though removing frozen yogurt or honey would reduce the cost.

The manager was extremely unaccommodating and dismissive, and this is the first Kauai I’ve been to where the service was so poor and inconsistent. I left feeling very disappointed and will definitely not be supporting this...

[Update: Kauai responded personally to this complaint and followed up with me and explained to me what caused the issue and how it would be fixed. Rating changed to 5 stars.]

This used to be my go-to Kauai. Staff are friendly, nice seating area and the best smoothies. But over the last month or so food quality has dropped sharply.

I get smoothies there 1-2 times per week and the last 4-5 smoothies I have had were not properly blended, with big chunks of fruit and/or ice left in the smoothie making it hard to drink through a straw. Once is okay, but 4 times in a row?

To cap it off, today we ordered the new chicken quesedilla wrap takeaway and when we got home it was ice cold. No cheese melt, no warming of the wrap, nothing. Not cool for a R100 wrap.

So we're going to be sticking to the Kauai in the Virgin Active until this place gets its...