Kream Restaurant (Mall of Africa)

Thursday, February 8th, 2018

Reviewed by Viknesveran Reddy

My partner and I had booked 3 days in advance. We had arrived promptly and was escourted to our seats. It was a table at the corner of the restaurant, against a wall, with pillars on either side and a fire hydrant. The seating felt so claustrophobic and there was hardly any circulation of air that we both felt like we were stuffed in a heated oven. The waiter at hand did not ask if we were comfortable or okay. She left. Upon her return we then asked her to check if there were available tables, upon her return she said there were 2 tables available to choose from (bearing in mind that the restaurant was virtually only about 30% occupied at that time) we were about to move but soon after another employee came along and we were then told those tables were booked. They asked us to choose from the upstairs area. The waiter escorted me upstairs, there were lots of tables available. But the person in charge upstairs had told us the tables were reserved for the people that were already seated outside, because it started to rain. How is that fair? Why did they need to get first preference when they had already chosen their lovely seats outside on the balcony? I had to walk back down to my corner seat. The manager was making her rounds to introduce herself and discuss their off-the-menu specials. She introduced herself to us and never asked if we were comfortable or okay before trying to recite out her specials to us. I was literally sweating, with sweat rolling off my brow. I had to stop her to tell her the situation, before she decided to do anything about our situation. The same 2 tables that were previously unavailable to us then automatically became available. So we moved. Which we were thankful for. Our main course was delicious but our starter was quite disappointing and frightening. We ordered a snoek parcel. 2 tiny little spring rolls with stuffed snoek. While my partner consumed hers, she found a piece of bone, the size of her pinky finger in the parcel. This happened while she was chewing and almost had it stuck in her throat. I called the manager and asked her protocols involved with serving certain type of fish and having fish pin-boned (deboned). She agreed. I showed her the bone found. Her face lit up and her eyes went big. She was obviously shocked and embarassed. She just took the plate and left. There was no proper apology as well as providing a replacement of the meal. We didn't make a fuss off it. Knowing my partner could have been hurt or worse by the fishbone. And that these are pricey meals I.e. fine dining that we are supposed to enjoy. I took a photo of the bone. We ordered mains. In hindsight of all of this, the waiter provided to us, had to be reminded numerous times for various things that we had asked for throughout our evening here. This was quite a daunting and tiring experience. Even through all of this. We gave a sizeable tip and thanked them before we had left. The ambience and lighting is lovely. But the service and food was quite poor owing to the fact that they are supposed to be a fine dining restaurant with the highest service and quality rating from all of the restaurants within Mall of Africa.