Village Hub Scarborough — Restaurant in Western Cape

Our 1st visit to the Hub was a disappointment. We were staying locally and had walked to the beach and fancied a drink. We love Coffee shakes and were delighted to see they were offered, however there was no price on the board next to them, but we saw other drinks were between R35 - R46. First issue was they had to check if there was ice cream and disappeared for a bit. Then returned with a plastic 5 litre box with a hard and icy looking lump in the bottom. Charged R70 for a takeaway “drink” that definitely wasn’t a shake. What we received was, 3 slightly coffee flavoured, (with an undertone of a chemically, almost perfumed taste), bits of ice all through it and hardly any ice cream. Mine had tiny particles of plastic which I had to keep pulling off my tongue. I thought it might be sugar, so even tried to chew on one bit, but it wasn’t chewable. When the manager arrived he immediately told us that “no one has ever complained before”, tried to convince us that a shake does indeed have ice chunks in it, and when I didn’t agree, doubled down saying he’s been in the “industry “ for years, implying he knows better. He also made out like I needed to calm down, as though I was being aggressive, when I disagreed with him. The gaslighting was interesting to say the least. His whole demeanour felt a bit patronising and defensive. When I asked what justified the price of R70 for a plastic cup of of ice, some coffee and a bit of ice cream in a takeaway cup, he didn’t have an answer. We’ve been to many sit down restaurants and always order coffee shakes, delicious ones and have never paid even close to R70 for it. He then told us we couldn’t get a refund on our card, then said we could get a refund, but only if we left banking details on a piece of paper. He was fighting with trying to do the right thing, against his need to let us know we were the problem. We REALLY wanted to like the place. The shop inside looked lovely, the pastries looked great, the rest of the staff were lovely etc. we wanted to come back another day for breakfast or lunch, but sadly left with a sour taste in our mouths. I highly recommend the coffee “shake” gets removed as a choice as it’s clearly not a shake at all. I would’ve given 1 star, except that as we didn’t have anything else, I didn’t want to put anyone off the entire place due to one...

2Watsonia Ln. Scarborough.

I love this little centre. We always stop over when we are in Scarborough, which is quite often.

The little shop sells such interesting items, including some craft materials and handmade items. The handmade items are ridiculously priced though.

They sell these leather shoes and it literally has no soles. Just the same upper leather that’s used at the bottom of the shoes.

Seeing that it is genuine leather, I would think it should cost maybe R350 to R400 and some people might think it’s asking a lot. The price they charge is a whopping R1350 and the only places you can wear it without hurting your feet is on the beach and in maybe in your home. I guess it’s so expensive because it’s handmade.

Another example is the knitted scarves they sell. It’s a longish rectangle knitted in the simplest garter stitch and has no fringe or tassels on it. I am regarded by many as a professional knitter and this scarf is not knitted very well at all. A grade 2 kid would be able to knit it. The price charged is R178!! That seriously is daylight robbery.

Be that as it may, they do sell many interesting items such as a whole range of creams and lotions, homemade necklaces and pastas. This is the type of shop that tourists would love for it is just too expensive for the majority of Capetonians.

Even though I’ve pointed out two of the exorbitant prices, I cannot rate them with less than 5 stars as no one is forcing anyone to buy from them. And they do offer so many good options.

The staff is so amazing and ofcourse the location is one of the best. Even their restrooms are...

Hugely disappointed in our experience today. Having initially gone to the Scone Shack as we had all missed breakfast in order to enjoy their legendary scones. 35 minutes of waiting to even place an order (they had not anticipated the numbers of people out to enjoy what Cape Town had to offer on a public holiday and were seriously under staffed), caused us to give up and head for The Village Hub. By now it was close to lunch time but all 3 of us still wanted scones! I took the precaution of asking one of your staff if scones were available before we sat down. We were assured we could have scones so placed our order for 3 scones and 3 hot drinks. Only when the hot drinks were placed in front of us were we informed there was ONLY ONE Scone available. By now we were beyond hungry so without even looking at the menu, 2 of us agreed to settle for croissants with jam and cheese. Drinks were long finished by the time these arrived so the whole experience of enjoying a coffee and scone/croissant was lost. But then to find we had been charged R20 per croissant PLUS R8 for jam and R20 each for a pile of very ordinary grated cheese was just the final nail in the coffin of what should have been a lovely family day out. Just feel so let down and we are not people with a lot of money to spend so just feel so let down and ripped off. ...