9th Avenue Waterside — Restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal

6 people attended a dinner tonight at 7pm as a Christmas farewell. Had to pay a R700 "non-refundable deposit" to secure booking. Menu was extremely sparse. It was noted at the bottom of the menu that a compulsory 10% gratuity would be added to the final bill. Enquired about drinks menu as a few wanted cocktails and was told no menu but that only wine was available. The waiter was questioned whether the restuarant was halaal with no other alcohol being served. That comment clearly went over his head. Pressing the waiter, he admitted there was indeed a drinks menu which magically surfaced. My starter was the mussels in white wine which although fresh, was very salty. A couple of others had also ordered starters, two having mussels in curry (!) but it was a tomato based sauce not curry (according to our Indian colleague). Mains menu was very sparse too. My order was the 8 queen prawns at R385 and apart from rice as a side order, no other sauces were offered. The prawns arrived - soaking in the same tomato based sauce the colleague's mussels had arrived in. I sent it back as due to health issues, had specifically chosen the dish because there was 'no sauce'. The prawns arrived covered in a very chilli type spice. It was so spicy that, although the prawns were tender, the spice made my lips numb (and I eat Durban curry). Went to kitchen and asked to speak to chef who had prepared the meal. I complained that I hadn't been given a choice and spicy prawns were definitely never mentioned. This was in front of the waiter and the two chefs. I cautioned them that the customer should be asked or at the very least, provided with information and/or options. I hadn't been afforded that luxury. The others at the table seemed to enjoy their mains (at least they didn't complain) and my husband's swordfish was fresh and delicious - although once again covered in a hot spice. He can't eat spicy food at all and had also not been given a choice. Puddings had a greater selection than starters although the "home made" ice cream was reported to be tasteless. My husband had a pud in some pastry triangle that needed a jackhammer to cut. I challenged the waiter to bring a knife and fork and then made him cut the pastry in front of us. It was so hard that bits flew across the table with some landing on my bag and jacket placed on a chair on the other side. I took this back to the kitchen with the waiter in tow and challenged the pastry chef to try and cut the pud. The knife and fork didnt make a dent. In "compensation", the R700 was refunded to us. The 10% gratuity as printed on the menu wasn't in force so a tip had to be added to the bill. Cost: R5650 less R700 = R4950 Ridiculous!! Thank heaven's my husband's company footed the bill. We were the last table to be served because "there were bigger tables". That was the most expensive meal that we've ever had in SA - even a meal in Reykjavik, Iceland cost half that price and the food delicious with impeccable service. Will never again support this restuarant unless I have direct access to Fort Knox and willing to put up with shoddy service for that price!

Before anyone calls me a "Karen", I've recently visited Iceland and Switzerland - two of the most expensive countries in the world so I have some European experiences to compare this restuarant to. It's...

3rd Review (new Waterside venue): "Heartbreaking" is the only way I can describe this place! Summary:

1. Atmosphere non-existant, lighting too dull, not even the faintest music for ambience, this place is totally reliant on the view of the Esplanade
2. Servers friendly, but....coming back to that later
3. Drinks: Beers were just about chilled, but not cold enough (Waterside draught and Castle Light), Cortado (x5 on the table) was excellent
4. Appetizers: Mushroom tortellini good, crispy calamari too salty but acceptable, oysters good, goats cheese risotto - taste was fine, texture awful - was stodgy and just very like it was meant for a toddler.
5. Mains: Langoustine pasta good - just cold, seafood platter for one was good, duck duo was ok - duck itself was bland but accompaniments helped, porterhouse steak was abysmal - terrible quality meat, flavorless, tendinous, it wasnt even cut properly - and that was an almost R500 dish - also served cold
6. Deserts - as if i even wanted to waste my time and more of my money - uninspiring menu led to just an ice cream order, which was as boring and average as it sounds.
7. OVERALL: To call this a High-End European Restaurant is to call Donald Trump a honest politician with good family values - its just a gross misrepresentation! The cost of our meal was R3500 with gratuity, but was nowhere near that in value. Its actually embarrassing to think this is one of Durban's prime dining spots. The owners/investors need a reality check - would they accept this experience anywhere else, i dont think so. Our Rands deserve better.

2nd Review (old 9th Avenue): We go here often so dont bother with reviewing each time, the food is usually quite good. However this last visit was quite bad: the mushroom soup served was nowhere near the advertised one on instagram - taste was ok, appearance left a lot to be desired. A query revealed that the service was busy so they couldnt focus on making my dish look right 🤔....then came the main course: seafood paella was inedible, in-fact made me gag. A crime to relate it to an actual paella. It was promptly sent back and the lamb rump ordered - lamb which was just flat and flavourless, the second main was the braised beef with mash, which was more of a dish I'd expect from a small diner in a rural setting - simple, overcooked, uninspiring - i mean, its a small piece of meat and a dollop of mash and brocolli (sauce and nuts not withstanding), very un-9th Avenue. I dont know if the lead chef is on leave or absent for whatever reason, but like this is unacceptable from a restaurant so highly regarded. I just hope our next visit sees some return to excellence! To be fair, the manager was profusely apologetic and my wife did get a call back the next day to apologise again, which was greatly appreciated and lessened the blow, however this review still goes up, in the hope it would serve to prevent the usual complacency that besets South African...

A BAD EXCLUSIVE VENUE EXPERIENCE FOR PRIVATE CELEBRATIONS

On the 8th and 9th of July 2022 I planned 2 events for my brother and my niece. We initially booked The Oyster Box for both occasions but due to a change in itinerary we ended up booking 9th Avenue for the 9th of July.

The exclusive venue booking fee at 9th Avenue Waterside Restaurant is overpriced with absolutely no value. If you would like the worst private booking experience then book yourself 9th Avenue. These are the reasons why I will never recommend a private booking for one of their floors for anyone;

No reasonable setup times for decor Strangers walking in privately booked venue No PA system/ sound or event entertainment allowed Too many restrictions for decor Venue did not honour agreed setup times so we only had access to the venue to start setup 2 hours later delaying everything else and causing humiliation to our guests

My worst personal bad experience with 9th Avenue is paying extra funds in error whilst making a couple of deposits to settle the event invoice and getting zero honesty from their end to communicate that I overpaid them. They allocated the funds to gratuity without my consent or approval. I paid cash gratuity to the waiters that served us but the restaurant kept the extra funds paid in error to themselves.

I realised this error when Oyster Box Hotel had the honesty to advise that I had overpaid them with R200 and they requested my banking details to refund extra funds overpaid in error.

Tipping in South Africa is a standard practice that I always ensure I do, however, it is not compulsory by law more especially since I was dissatisfied with the venue and I paid R80500 to entertain 35 guests. The restaurant refuses to pay the additional funds paid in error and I will be challenging the company legally as we incurred more expenses from vendors that needed extra hours that weren’t initially agreed on.

The question is, did they even give this money to the waiters or keep it for the company?

I am not the first to experience this, I know of someone that was also a victim to this unethical practice.

I must commend the staff for doing a great job in terms of the food and hospitality. It is a great experience for couples or smaller groups but definitely a NO GO for private functions. There is no value for the exclusive venue...