Pajamas and Jam eatery — Restaurant in Western Cape

Summary: Pretentious and overpriced. Don't go unless you don't care about price or service. I guess it's instagrammable at best?

We had a very odd experience at Pyjamas and Jam on Tuesday, 23rd of July. My partner took me there for a coffee post-beach walk. We decided to sit indoors as it was raining and we selected a spot near the fireplace. We were told it was booked in an hour and an RSVP was added belatedly. We did mention, we would be less than an hour, just wanting a coffee and pastry. But we were flat out told "no", we then tried the next table and were told that was booked in an hour and a half, my partner asked if he could ask the manager for permission to sit there. Again no indication or plate saying RSVP on the table. It was added belatedly. We both felt awkward and seeing this, a random gentleman then offered us his table which was close to the other fireplace. He then tried to get the bill to leave. It was totally bizarre, but no one would come near him to get the bill. It sounds nuts, but it felt like we didn't fit their aesthetic for customers and needed to leave.

If you enjoy snobbery then by all means go here. At that point we both felt so uncomfortable we decided to leave. Just an awful vibe and terrible to feel so unwanted and judged. I've never had this experience before and certainly won't go there again. I spoke to a friend afterwards who said she'd had an incredible experience her first time and then her second time a similar one to mine. Neither of us have plans to go back. Fair warning, pretentiousness abounds.

Edit: my brother convinced me to go back with his friends on Saturday the 27th. The tea was so weak and the flavour of the tea leaves - I think this teabag may have been older than me... I had to ask for an extra teabag which was then charged to the bill for R24 (for a seriously bad cup of tea) and then I asked for cheddar in place of jam and I was told there was no charge... guess what. There was a charge- add on another R20 for some grated cheese. My brother and partner asked for the flat white special - a flat white and an oat biscuit, when they asked to add the biscuit, and a whole new flat white and biscuit came out. It was just bizarre, like any small way to add to the tab happened. It was like deliberate misunderstanding. Just don't go there. You walk out...

My friends and I unfortunately had an extremely bad experience, if not, the worst waitering experience we have ever had. We booked in advance and were celebrating our friends 21st birthday, thus clearly in a good mood. After being seated we were told that our waiter would be with us shortly. Our waiter Jessica only came to us 15/20 mins after sitting down, we proceeded to order our drinks and when our drinks came we asked about the selection of cakes. She proceeded to tell us that we can go to the front and look at the cakes, which was weird since the conference table behind us did not have to do the same. 2 of my friends ordered their selection of cakes, received it and so me and my friend decided to try a bite of one of our other friend’s cake. We loved it and wanted to order the same cake. Our drinks were finished, but our waiter never came to clear it up or ask if we were okay or needed anything. After finally getting her attention we ordered the cake, she came back and told us that there were no more left of that flavor, we then ordered something else. Atleast 8 mins went by and another waiter walked past us with the cake that we wanted, taking it to the conference’s table. The cake we ended up getting unfortunately had a piece of plastic in it which was very unpleasant and a health issue. My friend later asked for a glass of water, the waiter proceeded to tell us that we can go do it ourselves at at the front, we were shocked and when another waitress passed us we asked her the same and she kindly got us a glass of water. Lastly, we were trying to get out waiters attention yet again trying to get the bill and had to ask another waiter again to bring it to us. We recieved the bill, which had a mistake on it, paid and left. This was our first time here, my friend was really exited to celebrate her birthday, but unfortunately we will never come to this establishment again. For prices that high, I would expect the service to atleast be reasonable, which it was not, at all. Definitely dont recommend this...

Disappointing food. The menu is very limited. The prices were high. I didn't see anything on the menu that sounded great, so I got the minestrone, thinking I was playing it safe. It was horrible. It was bland, nothing like any minestrone anywhere else, and lukewarm. For a restaurant with so many baked goods, the minestrone did not even come with any bread. Just an overpriced green bowl of unappetising mush. I had my wife taste it to get her opinion and she said it was nasty.

My wife couldn't find anything exciting on the menu either, so decided to try the falafel bowl. She said the 2 little falafels were lukewarm and flavourless. The little puddle of hummus was better but too little to make much difference. She also was surprised that the bowl did not come with any bread or a pita or anything.

My son rightly turned his nose up at the food, so we had to feed him something and my wife and I needed something to eat. There were literally more types of cake on display than food on the menu. We got 2 deserts and then 2 more. My wife liked the lemon bar. I thought it was okay but a bit too sugary. The chocolate brownie was excellent. We then got a custard pastry that was okay, but not great, and a chocolate brownie cheesecake slice that was good, but not great.

The deserts saved the meal, but were twice the usual price for deserts. R90 is a lot to pay for a slice of cake by itself. Everything was overpriced but the atmosphere was great and the staff were polite. I can see taking someone here for tea or coffee and a piece of cake if you don't mind overpaying. However, I would not recommend going...