The Strangers Club — Restaurant in Western Cape

@strangersclub thank you for addressing and acknowleding the below situation by reaching out and looking into the unfortunate experience we had. We hope going forward that your hostessing system will be smoothed out and will treat everyone fairly and as valuable customers.

I am posting on this on behalf of myself and my partner due to our very unfortunate experience and discriminatory behaviour that was directed at us at the Strangers Club in Green Point. This was a place we used to frequent and buy local goods from the store inside so I personally feel very frustrated, hurt and angry from what has happened.

On Saturday the 19th of November 2022, around 11am when we arrived at the restaurant, the hostess (Maria) asked us to wait at the door to be seated since the restaurant was "full". This seems to be a new system they've now introduced.

She came back and informed us that there were no available seats inside and we had to be seated outside. She directed us to a tiny round table against the wall on the veranda. We asked again if there was nothing open inside and she confirmed. We sat outside but it was uncomfortable due to the table being skew. We could see through the windows that at least 2 tables were open. Maybe these tables are reserved even though there were no reservation signs. My partner got up and walked inside to see for himself and to our surprise, no reservation signs were displayed and few additional tables were open. We addressed this again with the hostess but her response was “There are tables for parties of 4… you cannot seat at these tables.”

Shortly after, a white South African couple walked in with menus in their hands, looked around searching for a convenient table and sat at the table that was for 4. Then, another white South African couple walked in and sat at the other table that had 4 seats. This unfortunately made us realise that they were given preference and did not have to wait for the hostess to seat them. We asked for an explanation from the hostess why this has happened but she had no answer.

What made things now a 100x worse was the managers (Samantha) response. My partner explained to her what had happened but she did not apologize. She said that this is a new procedure she had been put in place and that this error was "a glitch in the system".

My partner responded and replied that this was unacceptable and that holding us at the door and practically stopping us from having a table inside is discriminatory when other parties are allowed to walk in and choose any table they would like. To make matters worse, Samantha told us that since we're so upset, she would make sure that a table is available to us every time we come to The Strangers Club, which to us, just came across as more condescending.

It was simply said to her that we do not need her to have a table reserved. We wished she would've at least acknowledged the situation and simply told us that she will make sure that this never happens again to any one at the Strangers Club going forward and that this establishment does not have any racial prejudice and does not discriminate.

Samantha was not fazed and was complete insensitive to the matter at hand. She then went to the cash register, handed the bill for payment and kindly said: “Goodbye and see you next time” and swiftly addressed the following customers, as if nothing happened. We felt so uncomfortable that we left without ordering anything further and still had to pay for our beverages even though the manager knew how upset we were.

All we actually wanted was acknowledgement of the situation, an apology at the least. Cape Town establishments and especially restaurants are unfortunately known for this kind of discriminatory behaviour towards people of colour and so we were very disappointed and offended.

A simple act of giving a table or not having to wait to be seated and a preference given to certain race can be very insulting and damaging and seems like they think we would not pick this up or notice it. WE NOTICE IT AND WE SEE...

I can't even rate the food because we didn't even get a chance to eat here. We asked for a table for 2 and were asked to wait about 10 to 20 minutes. no problem. However, when we asked to order drinks while sitting on the outside veranda, we were told that we had to take them as take away drinks and there as some issue with adding them to our possible future tables bill or some other such nonsense. Is there a law here in CT I'm not aware of? It got to a point where the amount of silly things we were hearing forced us to leave. I've never been to a place in JHB that has these stupid rules so we couldn't be bothered. The staff was very friendly and only following policy but it's a waste.

Update: The owner or whomever replied to me would like to think a 1 star is a bit harsh but what would you score a restaurant if you cant even get in to eat there? We are in CT for a limited time and would not be able to go back - if the service was rotten and we couldn't even try the food, what else should I score them on? And a private message would not have solved the problem either so I felt that everyone should know about these rules and that the 1 star...

I've stopped myself multiple times from writing a negative review but it's hard to feel like a welcomed guest at The Strangers Club. It is a five minute walk from my house and is a beautiful space so I often meet friends there for a quick coffee or bite to eat and while the food is tasty the service and the vibe of the place is terrible. The staff at the front who should seat you are never there but are quick to shout at you when you poke your head in to look for service. They close at 16:00 during the week but I've had the bill brought to me without asking for it at 15:40 and the card machine brought at 15:50 to settle the bill. I have no issue with the waiter coming past and asking if we need anything else as the restaurant will be closing soon and then asking if they may bring the bill, but I do find it incredibly rude to just have it brought to the table and then the credit card machine brought before 16:00 without a word. On more than one occasion we've had furniture (bar counters & tables) moved around while we were still eating. Unfortunately it is hard to feel like a...