The Sweet Service Award goes to Pick ‘n Pay Camps Bay, and its manager Chris, for the kind gesture of offering some paper clips from the office of the store, when it did not have any paperclips in stock. The Camps Bay store is one of my least favourite because of the poor service experienced week after week, so the gesture was a very welcome surprise. The service at the tills is usually poor and the staff disrespectful. Numerous complaints to the Pick ‘n Pay Head Office have made no difference at all. On Twitter numerous Camps Bay residents have voiced their frustration at the poor service of this store.
The Sour Service Award goes to Bosman’s at Grande Roche in Paarl. A recent visit started with the predictable battle to get through the boom, the operator wanting to know why I was there! On arriving at the terrace, two staff were packing away umbrellas, no restaurant staff coming outside to greet the new arrival, although they had been alerted by security. I was then asked if I had come for dinner (at 5 pm)! I was given a terrace menu, and I asked about their sparkling wines. The cheapest (and only one) served is a Silverthorn, at R85 per glass, which I declined on price on principle! The German waiter Tom seemed very irritated and aggressive in his service, yet inappropriately familiar in addressing me as if we had met before. He stretched across me to lay the cutlery on the table, even though he had more than enough space to come around. The Apfelstrudel came with a teaspoonful of ice cream, and when I commented about it, Tom brought another tiny ball. German hotel guests sat on the terrace with bare feet, and Skyped on their iPad full blast, without consideration of other guests. I was forced to sit close to the guests, as all other tables had been set up for the dinner service already. The service was disappointing for a hotel with 5-stars and the restaurant being on the Eat Out Top 20 Restaurant shortlist. The reaction on Twitter of the hotel to our Tweet was inappropriate: “Thanks for the feedback. Bosman’s is only open from 7pm for fine dining. We like our guests to feel at home. Enjoy the evening”!
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.
It was a recent article by Nick Lander, husband of renowned wine critic Jancis Robinson and restaurant critic in the UK, about restaurants in hotels he had visited in Dubai that made me consider once again why hotel restaurants fare so poorly in patron support and in the Eat Out Top 10 restaurant awards in our country.
