Ocean Basket Ballito — Restaurant in KwaDukuza Local Municipality

Absolutely disappointed – twice. I decided to give Ocean Basket Ballito a second chance after a bad first experience (too many flies, poor service), hoping things had improved. Sadly, nothing has changed.

I understand there was a special on and the place was busy, but that is no excuse for treating customers differently or with disrespect.

I first called at least four times with no answer. Eventually, I spoke to Ndu, who told me to come at 8 pm because there were six families ahead of me. I asked him to please call me when it was my turn, as I had three kids with me – including a newborn. No call came.

We decided to drive there, and when we arrived, nobody greeted us at the door. We stood there for about six minutes until a waiter walked past and said the manager would be with us soon. Because it was windy and my kids were getting cold, I couldn’t keep waiting. Thankfully, a kind lady helped us check upstairs on the terrace, where there was a table.

Once seated, it took 10 minutes for a waiter, Jack, to approach us. His manner was off – maybe tired – but he wasn’t helpful. After almost 30 minutes with no drinks ordered, I had to raise my voice for him to take our order. He went downstairs, served another table first, and then returned to us.

Our food took nearly 1 hour 45 minutes to arrive. By then, my kids were starving. Jack eventually brought some chips for them, but after another long wait (now at almost 3 hours since arriving), I still hadn’t seen him. I asked another waitress to move us downstairs as it was too windy. She asked who my waiter was, and when I said I hadn’t seen him in a while, she walked away.

Then a lovely lady approached (later I learned she was Beauty, the manager) and said it was no problem to move us. She asked another waitress to assist, but I was shocked when the waitress refused in Zulu, saying it was Jack’s table – not knowing that I understood every word. I was frustrated, walked downstairs, and told Beauty it was fine, I’d get Jack to move us. Beauty realised I had understood the waitress and scolded her. She apologised and assured me she’d deal with it.

Beauty was absolutely amazing – friendly, helpful, and a credit to the branch. The same goes for the other waitress who assisted us later on. But overall, this was one of the worst service experiences I’ve had.

Ocean Basket Ballito, your service is unacceptable. I work in retail, and in my company, even if it’s not your customer, you help. I’ve heard bad things about this branch before – last night, I experienced...

If I could rate 0 stars I would!

Extremely Disappointing Experience — Urgent Action Required

My family and I had an extremely unpleasant experience at Ocean Basket, and I feel it is my duty to warn others and demand immediate accountability.

We waited over 30 minutes for a simple 3-piece of sushi and nearly an hour for our main meals, which were served ice cold and without any cutlery. I attempted to get the staff’s attention politely by raising my hand, but this was ignored. I then had to raise my voice to seek assistance, at which point an employee, Nqobile, looked directly at me, laughed, and then continued to ignore me — a deeply disrespectful and unprofessional response.

In addition, when we had just arrived and I was walking to our table, our waitress physically knocked into me with force, causing me to stumble. Not only was no apology offered, but it was clear from her body language that this act was dismissively intentional. Even when I calmly explained later that such behaviour would understandably affect the gratuity, she offered no acknowledgment or remorse.

When we attempted to express our dissatisfaction to the manager on duty, his dismissive attitude and lack of any corrective action further highlighted the restaurant’s blatant disregard for basic customer care and service standards.

As per the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of South Africa, customers are entitled to fair, honest, and respectful treatment. What we experienced was a violation of Section 20 and 54 of the Act, which deal with the right to safe, quality service and the right to redress when services are substandard or harmful.

The emotional distress and physical discomfort caused by this experience was unacceptable. If I am not formally contacted within 24 hours with a full explanation and apology, I will escalate this matter to the National Consumer Commission (NCC), and consider lodging a complaint with the Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA) as well as sharing this experience with relevant media platforms.

I sincerely hope Ocean Basket takes this seriously. Poor service is one thing. But being laughed at, pushed, and completely ignored as paying customers is another...

I have eaten at the various branches, unfortunately this was the worst experience and I was looking forward to the ocean view.

Meals took forever to come and the kids meal came very early (suspect I got some one elses order plus I didn't order tomatoe sauce with the fishy bites but got that). Waiters walked aimlessly on the upper deck asking if the item they were carrying was the guests order.

I ordered a platter for 2 - sauce seemed watered down, squid tubes were underdone and prawns were inconsistent. Portion sizes were shocking as this was the fish time I had seen it reduced so much.

Vanilla Milkshake is a no no to anyone

I also ordered sushi but the waiter never captured it on the POS system so we never received it and when queried with him, he seemed shocked about it. I told him if he didn't put it through, dont worry about it because we had already finished eating.

The highlight was finding plastic in our food (waiter insisted it was from the prawn, picture attached).

To be fair, this could be a single event where I had a bad experience. I haven't eaten at this branch before so I don't have any other experience to compare it to.

I hope this review is taken serious and the restaurant improves as it has alot...