Saint Restaurant — Restaurant in Gauteng

Absolutely Disgusting Experience at Saint Restaurant- Terrible Service, False Information, and Zero Accountability

My girlfriend and I were excited to dine at Saint on Saturday 15th February at 3:30 PM, but what followed was one of the most disappointing and downright disgusting experiences we’ve ever had at a restaurant. From the moment we arrived, it was clear that this place doesn’t care about its customers or their time.

When we walked in, the staff greeted us with an attitude that can only be described as dismissive and rude. They bluntly told us the kitchen was closed and they couldn’t serve us, claiming they were fully booked. This was already confusing because we had made a reservation in advance. When we politely reminded them of our booking, they treated us horribly—no apology, no effort to accommodate us, just indifference and excuses.

To make matters worse, we checked the availability on Dine Plan, which showed plenty of open slots at any time, completely contradicting their claim of being “fully booked.” Instead of owning up to their mistake, the staff continued to make up excuses and acted as if they had no idea what was going on. The lack of professionalism was shocking.

But the real kicker? They had the audacity to tell us that they had sent out emails informing customers that the restaurant closes at 4:00 PM to prepare for dinner. We never received any such email, and we showed them our inbox to prove it. Instead of apologizing for their failure to communicate, they insisted the email was sent, essentially calling us liars. This level of dishonesty and gaslighting is absolutely unacceptable.

The entire experience was a masterclass in how not to treat customers. The staff’s behavior was rude, unprofessional, and downright disgusting. They couldn’t even bother to take responsibility for their own mistakes or make the slightest effort to resolve the situation. It’s clear that Saint doesn’t value its customers or their time.

We left feeling disrespected, frustrated, and utterly disappointed. This is not just a case of bad service—it’s a complete failure on every level. Save yourself the hassle and dine elsewhere. There are plenty of restaurants that actually care about providing a good experience.

0/5 stars - an absolute disgrace. Do not waste your time...

We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before the reservation time. We had to wait several minutes as there was no one waiting to collect us from the entrance. A waiter noticed us and hurried to assist, leading us to the main lobby to verify our reservation time.

The restaurant was quite visually appealing, with interesting art pieces and lighting features. It definitely establishes the mood and atmosphere for the evening, and one anticipates a pleasant evening of food and wine.

After getting seated at our table, we were provided with menus to peruse. My partner and I looked over the menu, but we were once again required to wait before we were attended to (there were not a lot of people in the restaurant). When we finally placed our orders, we went with our waitress' recommendations: chicken pasta and prawns. Surprisingly, our food arrived rather quickly after we placed our order.

The chicken pasta dish consisted of linguine pasta, creamy peri-peri sauce, cherry tomato, and red pepper, then topped with a bed of grilled chicken. Aside from some slightly charred portions of chicken, this was such a wonderful dish since the pasta was cooked perfectly, the sauce and chicken were well-seasoned, and the flavor in general was outstanding.

Next, we shared the Wood Fired Prawns dish. The prawns were served fresh off the grill, and we had great expectations for these. The prawns were pretty enormous (they looked like king prawns) and looked really appealing. According to the menu, the prawns had been cooked with butter, garlic, lemon, and herbs. The prawns were served with two sides: salad and fries. The prawns were cooked through, but it seemed that they did not absorb the flavor of the sauces in which they were cooked, or that they required a little more flavor (a citrus component). As a result, the prawns were a great disappointment and clearly were not worthy of the price.

Throughout our dinner, our designated waitress was extremely knowledgeable and frequently checked-in on us. I found it peculiar for a restaurant of this caliber that we did not have a restaurant manager check-in. Overall, I walked in with great expectations, which were unfortunately not satisfied in terms of the food we received and service at the beginning...

Went for dinner at Saint last night. The hostess was friendly and nice and led us to our table in a welcoming manner. Ordered the prawn pasta, the sirloin steak with smoked mushroom sauce and a bottle of red wine. Throughout the meal, our waitress only came to clear our plates with her other colleagues, and did not bother checking on us. She also did not smile and just looked like she did not want to be at work.

At the end of our mains, the waitress brought us the menus for dessert. However, we were very full and told her we did not want any dessert when she came back to take our order. She looked disgruntled and muttered something under her breath. When my boyfriend told her to repeat what she said, she acted like she did not say anything and said ‘oh it’s fine’.

We asked for the bill — we paid by card and she was nothing but pushy for tips. When we told her we did not have cash, she immediately showed us her card machine again and asked ‘how much?’. While we are tourists, we understand that tipping is not mandatory and in essence, tips should be given only if we have been rendered good service. We only had bad service so we had no idea why the waitress was so adamant about us tipping her for her lousy and non-existent service?

When we asked for a minute to discuss the tips, she stood near the table and returned after 10 seconds with her card machine again to ask how much we want to give — she was all ready to key in the numbers on our behalf.

This is simply ridiculous? Why should she get tips when she was so rude? We visited the restaurant only because we saw relatively good reviews, but demanding rudely for tips from customers is simply distasteful and not right. If she had provided good service, sure, we wouldn’t have hesitated to tip. But there was no service at all so why should we tip?

The one star I gave is simply for the not too bad food. I will never return again and would discourage others from doing so if you do not want bad service with ridiculous demands for tips....