Seekombuis — Restaurant in Saldanha Bay Local Municipality

With such a great location Die Seekombuis could be one of the hot spots in the Paternoster area, but certainly not while managed by the current owners. We booked our wedding at Die Seekombuis and they absolutely tried to make it as difficult as possible for us to organise our wedding and to stick to any kind of wedding plan. They kept changing their stories and completely disregarded our wishes in spite of our discussions, planning and requests, and not to mention all the money we spent there. Here are some examples of why we found the owners at Die Seekombuis to be bullies to their guests, to be dishonest, unreliable and to have a complete disregard for the people spending money at their venue:

1.We booked and paid a venue fee, but in spite of that they booked two other functions for the same day making no effort for these functions not to interfere with each other. It was left up to our wedding party to chase people away so we could set up and prepare for the wedding on the day. In hind sight we should have asked for our venue fee back.

2.When we started to set up they suddenly wanted to change the pre-drinks and bread table serving area because they had another table booked there. This is now after having several discussions and planning conversations with them.

3.We asked for cutlery and glasses to be set on the tables beforehand which they didn't do. When they started to serve the food the guests didn't have cutlery.

4.We asked them before the time if we can book and pay the DJ to play until midnight which they confirmed more than once with us. On the wedding evening one of the owners went to the DJ and told him he should stop playing at 11pm and they will then close the bar. This again caused our best man to have an argument with them as we already paid the DJ to play until 12am and this was not what we agreed on. When the guests heard the bar will close earlier they started flocking to the bar to stock up and their bar service could not keep up with the rush.

5.The bathroom area had such a stench that some guests got nauseous just going in there. It was so bad that we consider reporting this to a health inspector.

6.The logic of serving a plate of cooked veg and salad on its own that stood on the tables getting cold while guests waited for the plates with the rest of the main meal to be served on a seperate plate goes beyond me.

7.Upon settling the corkage fee the next morning the one owner was rude and accused us of being unnecessarily difficult the previous evening. Really? After everything they did and all the discomfort they caused?

8.After the wedding, word got out of the terrible service we had and we started to hear more stories from other couple's weddings that were ruined by these owners. They even chased a wedding couple away on the evening of their wedding because they complained.

We are easy going people and chose this venue because of the location and unpretentious appearance, but the treatment we received from these people is shocking to say the least. We will never return or support Die Seekombuis in any way ever again. Hopefully their dishonesty and disrespect for their guests will catch up to them eventually and cause them...

I wish I could give zero stars. We just had the worse ever experience. If you have any other choice, DO NOT SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY HERE!!! We made a booking and when we arrived they had no record of it. Only after making a scene, did they make an effort to get a table together for our large group. We placed an order for drinks, some of it arrived and others in our party waited more than an hour for theirs. They eventually had to go get their drinks themselves from the bar. Then we ordered starters. The snoek pate starters were served with stale bread with black burned crusts. Some arrived after an hour, others waited longer. Same with the main course. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS after arriving we finally received mains. Some of us had fairly acceptable meals, but most were misrepresented. I ordered the mussels on a bed of spicy rice. The mussels were tasteless and served with boiled up white rice. When I asked where the spicy rice was, the waitress informed me that some patrons complained that the rice were too spicy, so now they're only doing white rice. See the attached photos for their pathetic attempt. It's clear that the owner doesn't give a damn. He sits at a table in the enclosed area with friends (smoking!!!) while small children are at nearby tables. In all my life, I've never been as disappointed as I am today. I get that it is peak season but if other restaurants can up their game, why can't they. So angry! Total waste of...

Called the Restaurant on Saturday morning to ask if they serve cocktails which the answer was yes to. Drive all the way to there, asked the barman which was also our waiter for the cocktail menu as he mentioned a few cocktails of his head, but wanted to see what was in the cocktails.

He then walked to get the menu like he said but had an attitude about walking to get the menu. After some time we waited and he didn't come back instead there was another waiter taking our order, we wanted something creamy which they didn't have. We ordered some R&R's and we wanted to order another round but something different. Our waiter came to us and said the barman said he is to busy and won't be making any more cocktails. So by this time the service is poor the barman has an attitude and it is almost if they are doing us a favour by serving our table. The waiter went back and forth and didn't want to bring the cocktail menu for us to order something else. Finally the barman said he will only make the cocktails if we order the exact same, because he doesn't have time to prepare something else and he was clearly not in the mood to serve what was on the menu.

This is such bad service, it takes forever to get service and the barman has an attitude, won't be supporting them, and won't recommend going there either as apparently they don't want business and doesn't care what you want on their menu because they are doing you a favour for...