The Lawns at the Roundhouse — Restaurant in Western Cape

What a disappointment. The waiter tried his best unsupported by the management who actually were not very visible and definitely were not managing the flow of work. Order taken incorrectly served pork belly instead of sardines. Decided to let it go as we had waited so long. Waited over 45 minutes for main courses and only received after asking the manger to follow up. We had 2 Wagyu burgers and chips and a trout. We also ordered 2 Greek salads to come with the main. WOW the worst ever. The chips were so cold not even warm we asked the waiter to test the chips and he agreed with us. I am strongly of the opinion they reheated and sent out the same chips again but we had finished the burgers by the time they arrived. I did not eat the chips as way too dry and not very nice. The trout arrived 10 minutes later we had finished the burgers so our friend ate alone. The salads eventually came after we had all finished the mains. I think in all my time here this has been the worst restaurant experience ever. The wind was heavy on the day and in front of another waiter a glass was blown over on our table and broke there was no help and no removal of the broken glass by the waiter (not out waiter)who saw it happen. We cleaned it up and eventually asked a waiter to take it away. Additionally the waiter at another table after the patrons had left spilt beer on the seat and never cleaned/wiped it up so the next patrons will have a rather sticky time of it. I mentioned it to the manger who said he would clean needless to say it was not cleaned. Terrible management by the 2 mangers who were never visible and when you complain have no solutions except to say sorry. Cant imagine how this will survive if such bad management persists. Who really want to pay good hard earned money for this...

We made a booking for 6pm for my daughters 16th birthday on the top lawn as she wanted to view the sunset with her 11 friends. Having paid a R1600 deposit, when we arrived, we were informed that a group, who had come for lunch, was still occupying our table. Unlike logic dictates, where the group occupying a booked table gets asked to move as a booking is coming in, it was us who had to move. We were then relegated to the bottom lawn in the kids play area next to the jumping castle and right underneath the single speaker that seems to provide music for the entire venue, so we had to constantly shout to hear our conversations. Alas, no sunset was visible and even though we were told that we would be "well taken care of", once seated our waitron disapeared and after 30 mins we still had no drinks. Service was non existent. After finally managing to flag someone down. Drinks were ordered and took another 20 minutes to arrive. Not once were we checked on or asked if more drinks were needed. We had to ask random staff if we could order as our waitress was only sporadically seen. Finally half our tables' order was taken and the rest only realised a food order was taken when the food for half the table arrived. Then the rest got to order. Seems, if it's a tourist trap, service levels go out the window. The food was average at best and for the price, really not worth it. My burger patties, being almost as thin as McDonald's ones, still managed to be raw in the middle, so just happened to be flash fried and turned. We only managed to get one round of drinks and didn't even try for dessert. We had to ask 3 different staff members for the bill, which finally arrived after another 25 min wait. Absolutely...

We arrived on a perfect evening, views of the bay are beautiful. The menu looked promising and we ordered starters (pan fried squid and a mediterranean bruschetta starter). For mains we ordered the Seared Tuna, Prawn Linguine and Sirlion Tagliata. We ordered cocktails and looked forward to enjoying our evening and the perfect sunset.

It was unfortunate that the mains arrived at the same time as the starters. That was not the idea and we asked if we could enjoy our starters first so the service staff took the main course back to the kitchen.

The starters were disappointing. The pan fried squid (R135) was cold chewy and quite tasteless. The bruschetta was a sad and limp piece of ciabatta smothered peanut butter thick with basil pesto and a few tomatoes (R135).

We were quite taken aback at the nonexistent levels of service and I asked to see the manager. No one arrived.

The mains then arrived, the Tagliata was cold, overdone and disappointing (R 260) and the seared Tuna looked good on the outside with toasted seeds and salad. Inside the tuna had been frozen then thawed and looked gray and grim (@ R325) The prawn linguine was however tasty and my daughter enjoyed it . The “rustic chips” ordered as a side was the only item that arrived hot and were a 5/5. The Greek salad side dish which was to accompany the main course arrived after we had finished eating. Lettuce leaves were wilted, no olive oil or balsamic and served with a little beaker of yogurt.

Overall we had a good evening thanks to the perfect weather, location and company. The dining experience was loveless and service mechanical and inattentive. Corporate soulless hospitality - underserving of...