News Cafe Bloemfontein — Restaurant in Westdene

Firstly, the place has a beautiful atmosphere and vibe. However the service we received was disgusting at best. When we arrived, we were made aware that the only tables that were available were the tables for bottle service. We then said that we were okay with that and then we were seated by one of the staff members. We were then approached by a waitress who claimed that the table was “reserved”. We then told her that we were seated by another stuff member and asked if she may talk to the other staff member to clear up the issue. The waitress kept on saying “No, the table is reserved for bottle service” and that we could not sit there. The waitress was reluctant to speak with the woman who seated us and eventually the woman who seated us came to us politely and explained that there must be some sort of misunderstanding. Eventually, we remained seated at our table because there was actually no misunderstanding on our side and the waitress who told us that the table was “reserved” seemingly made up the fact that the table was reserved.

After the rude encounter with the waitress, she changed her mood towards us and was no longer condescending towards us. However, her service was absolutely pathetic.

She broke one of the champagne classes which can be seen as an honest mistake. She took ages to take down our orders (group of 6). When she eventually took down our order, she only took half of the groups order and left with only taking down 3 peoples orders. She served one of my friends a drink from behind her which led to her breaking the glass and spilling juice all over my friend. As we were still eating, the waitress came with the bill even though we were nowhere near finishing our food. When we checked the bill, the drink that the waitress had spilt on my drink was charged. When we were done paying (one of my friends was still drinking a cocktail) she proceeded to clean the table while we were sitting down. She literally wiped the crumbs that were on the table onto my lap and at that moment I could not believe how disgusting and appalling her customer service was.

Honestly, I wish that there was not a mandatory tip included into the bill. Because I refused to tip for such awful service. We even would’ve received better service at a fast food restaurant. The service was so disgusting, we wanted to leave the place but luckily the music, food and drinks made up for the terrible service we received. So, if you want to go this restaurant make sure you go with a rich older man because that’s the only way you will get treated with an ounce of...

Yesterday me and a couple of my colleagues went to have breakfast at News cafe around 07:30 to celebrate a birthday for 3 of them. While they were fixing us a table we asked the waitress if News Cafe also has rule of no alcohol sold before 10 and she said yes. We wanted maybe a bottle of champagne to celebrate the birthday girls. I jokingly even asked if they can't pour shots into our coffee and the waitress said she can't do that because when she's billing us it's going to pop up putting her into trouble then we said ohk and carried on with our breakfast. Around 8:30 4 white guys came in others went to sit outside while the other went to order. I can't say what they ordered but alcohol was also there I know this because the waitress passed us with 4 tall glasses of beer. We called the waitress to ask how come they get to be served alcohol,at first she said they paid a bribe then changed and said they are their bosses. When she realised we were not buying her story she said she's going to the manager to ask if we also can order alcohol( I truly doubt if she indeed spoke to the manager because the excuse she came with was absurd) She said the manager said those guys are from SAB and they are allowed to drink when ever they want she also went further and insulted our intelligence and said their liquor licence depends on those guys. Maybe your waitress doesn't know this part but SAB doesn't issue liquor licences and I would assume well established place like news cafe with branches all over South Africa wouldn't be operating without a license. By this time we've heard 3 very different excuses of why those guys were sold alcohol and we were denied. I would really hate to involve race in this but it's obvious we were discriminated because we are black. There was 7 of us who saw this happen and they kept on serving them more alcohol until we left and we left around 09:50. It was still not 10 yet. There's a huge part of me that doesn't want to believe this wasn't about race but the excuses given leave me no choice but to believe this was the case. I'm not going to lie the food was nice but this incident ruined our day especially for the 3 colleagues who were supposed to be enjoying their birthday. I feel like a fool because I...

Terrible Experience at News Cafe Bloemfontein on May 2, 2025 I recently had the misfortune of dining at News Cafe Bloemfontein, and I must say, it was one of the worst experiences I've had at a restaurant in a long time.

The staff was completely inattentive to our needs, and when I asked the hostess for her name, she gave me a fake one - "Emmanuela". What's even more shocking is that she bragged about giving me a false name, which left me stunned.

The hostess's behavior was rude and unprofessional. She forced us to close our bill and leave, and to add insult to injury, she took our drinks from our table before we could finish them. The reason? Apparently, she wanted to give our table to "upper-class people".

It's clear that the hostess is classist and shows no respect to young people unless they fit her idea of "upper-class". This kind of behavior is unacceptable in any establishment, and I would not recommend News Cafe Bloemfontein to anyone.

The lack of service, combined with the hostess's attitude, made for a terrible dining experience. Unless things change drastically, I would advise others to steer clear...