Mozambik Ferndale — Restaurant in Gauteng

In 2013 I became a loyal customer of Mozambik. I can remove so far back when Prawn Billeni was only R80 back then 11 year's ago. My memories of the good times spent at Mozambik Morningside back when I lived in KZN I remember the energy of the team, the vibrant music, the soft intimate lighting, the procured and individual service and food that was worth boasting about on social media . That was then... now fast forward to 2024 and we are living in gauteng searching for a nostalgic experience and so we decided to visit Mozambik in Ferndale . Nothing short of pathetic ! Started with the inexperienced waitress Suku left us for a long period after asking her to just give us 2 mins to decide on the drinks . Amidst her disappearance act, I couldn't hear the music in th background and was trying to catch the track , whilst trying to speak to my partner over the loud LEd screen that was featuring the rugby. We didn't guess a shit for the rugby as we just wanted to have a good night however I could tell the staff turned it up for the "white" family that was attentive to the rugby. The lighting was loud and bright, and there was absolutely no ambiance . When the waitress returned, I asked to be seated outside to get away from the loud rugby commentary . We sat outside even though it was cold and rainy just to get away from the bright lights and exacerbated TV volume. The restaurant was dead ! Barely any customers, and now I know why because the restaurant "sucks." Owner, if u are concerned about your bottom line, I highly recommend u spend time in your store. My partner enjoyed his prawns as it never is a fail, hence why we chose Mozambik. However, my steak meant to be medium was done ! The waitress never came to us throughout the entire course of our meal, and neither did the manager Jane. When it was time to pay, the waitress suddenly appeared and asked how the meal was . I told her I was dissatisfied with my overcooked steak, and her response was I'm sorry, next time we will make sure it is right ." There will be no next time ! I tipped her out of courtesy, and not because she was great ! There was no sign of a manager to address my concern, and I sat there sipping my glass of wine, hoping someone would address my concern and guess what no one did, and we left dissatisfied. Uve lost me for good, and I am confident in my statement when I say u have lost many others . I can count the number of customers u had, and it is nothing to brag about. ...

I had an incredibly frustrating experience at Mozambik Ferndale. From the moment we arrived, service was painfully slow. It took 40 minutes just to receive our starter (calamari), and I never even received the cheese roll I ordered. By the time my main course arrived, I was still waiting for my starter, making the entire meal feel disorganized and unpleasant.

Our waitress seemed completely overwhelmed and confused, repeatedly asking us to repeat our order—five times, to be exact. She took ages to take our drink order, and we waited 40 minutes just to receive our beverages. Even worse, 50 minutes later, she came back to confirm our order when we should have already been eating. At this point, I was incredibly frustrated, especially since I am pregnant and had not eaten all day.

The service issues didn’t stop there. We were not given cutlery with our starter or main course, I had to ask for the cutlery. Our child’s meal, which included mashed potatoes, was served without a spoon which came 20 minutes after our meal. When we finally addressed our concerns, we were told that the manager had "stepped out." After being there for over an hour, the manager never once checked in to ask if we were satisfied with our service.

By the time we left, the waitress was in tears, which made the situation even more uncomfortable. I understand that everyone has tough days, but when working in hospitality, basic service expectations should still be met. Unfortunately, this was the worst restaurant experience I’ve had, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone unless major...

We went there for a birthday, The ambience was amazing, the best ive seen from any other branch, apart from the kids running back and forth on the floor above us, making one hell of a racket, and nobody seemed to do anything about this.

The biggest disappointment was the prawns, which we sent back originally because they were served as cold as it was outside. We sent this dish back only for it to have came back microwaved and in the form of rubber bullets.

We sent the plate back, for it to come out exactly the same, albeit hot, still overcooked rubber, which we decided to ultimately accept our fate as we weren't offered an alternative and were told that it was our misconception from the fact "it may have been because the experience was ruined from it originally being cold"

On another note, the toilets are located upstairs in the restaurant, which would prompt a critical issue with those that require accessability, forcing those that don't handle stairs well to walk outside in the cold weather to use the mall's toilets.

Besides this, the chicken was a hit at the table, everyone had a great experience.

I do understand this branch is fairly new, but once they pick up the slack on some of their dishes, as well as the handling of sending dishes back, I would most definitely go back.

I'm looking forward to making this a 5 star rating on...