Harry James Umhlanga — Restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal

Where do I even begin?

The service - SHOCKING.

The attitude of the waitresses and manager - SHOCKING.

The bartenders - friendly.

The owner - SHOCKING.

I’ve visited Harry James 3 times. I know right? 3rd times a charm as they say…

On all 3 occasions - with friends - we were left waiting for our drinks for over an hour, received the wrong drinks on 2/3 of the occasions, and left waiting for the bill for over an hour. If you feel like punishing yourself and visiting this establishment my only recommendation is that you order your drinks directly at the bar and pay for them there.

My 3rd visit there was my absolute favorite. It was the Rugby World Cup. The boks were ready to take on England, we as a nation were ready to take on England. It was pouring with rain in Durban, but alas, us South Africans aren’t scared of a little sprinkle here and there.

Harry James put up a marquee to provide some shelter for their precious flat screens, bars, and lastly guests. Now where does it all go wrong? The rain gets harder and harder, and one of the bartenders needs to relieve the marquee of all the water it’s captured… however, instead of asking patrons to move into the center of the marquee so they don’t get approximately 50-100 litres of rain water dumped on them, he decides to go ahead without letting anyone know. I will never forget having a gossip sesh with my bestie at our table and suddenly feeling freezing cold water being poured all over me… I was SOAKED. At first I was in shock because I had no idea what happened; and then I realized. The bartender looked at me and burst out laughing then mouthed the words “sorry”. My boyfriend got up and decided it’s time for us to leave, there was no reason to kick up a fuss. Until, we both stood up and the same bartender did the exact same thing and pushed the marquee up and yet another flood of water was dumped onto both of us, leaving us now beyond soaked. Now, I could’ve forgiven this the first time, but a second? The bartender yet again started laughing, I called over the manager who smiled and ran away #coward. I was going to go find the owner, only to realize he was standing in front of me watching it all happen.

Brad and Byron, I hope you never let this happen to a customer ever again. Poor...

Absolutely Horrible.

A Disastrous Dining Experience

I recently visited Harry James, and I can confidently say it was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. From start to finish, everything about the place was a mess.

First off, the system they have in place is utterly chaotic. It took almost 45 minutes just to get someone to acknowledge us at the entrance. Once we were finally seated, it became clear that the staff had no idea what they were doing. There was no clear organization between the kitchen and the waitstaff. It seemed like they were operating without a proper manager or any training at all.

Speaking of the staff, the waiters were terrible. Our waiter seemed completely uninterested in serving us. We had to flag them down multiple times just to get a menu, and when we finally PLACED an order it took 2 hours. Instead of apologizing, the waiter gave us an attitude as if it was our fault for their mistake. Even basic requests like water were ignored. Now let’s talk about the timing. It took forever to deliver the food. We waited nearly an hour for two simple dishes that should have taken 20 minutes max. While we waited, other tables that came after us got served. completely unacceptable.

To sum it up, Harry James is an absolute disaster. They need to overhaul their entire system, properly train their staff, and hire a manager who knows how to run a restaurant. Until then, I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone, not even as a last resort. Save your money and your time—go somewhere else.

Lady in the picture is Olivia - an...

I recently had an unfortunate experience at Harry James while hosting a guest from the UK. Upon arrival, we were informed by the bouncer that track pants were not allowed. However, we noticed another gentleman wearing track pants who was allowed entry after simply rolling them up. When my guest attempted the same, we were still denied access.

We tried to explain the situation, but the bouncer was rude and unhelpful. We asked to speak with the manager, and the bouncer called the owner, who entered the conversation aggressively. When we mentioned we had looked at their Instagram page, the owner insisted the rules were clearly listed there. However, after reviewing the page, I found it difficult to locate the “rules” he referenced.

What was even more troubling was that we observed several other people being allowed in wearing sandals and shorts, yet my guest, who was wearing a premium brand tracksuit, was denied entry despite rolling up his pants to comply with the request. To make matters worse, we overheard a comment implying we weren’t “worth the two beers” we planned to buy. We had a larger group join later, and we spent a significant amount of money at another establishment in Umhlanga.

As a business owner myself, I find it incredibly disheartening to experience such a lack of professionalism. The treatment we received felt discriminatory, and in today’s climate, there’s absolutely no room for such behavior. Racism and unfair treatment should have no place in any business, and I will never return to Harry James or recommend...