Times Square Umhlanga ruined a carefully planned birthday dinner. The private dining room was not ready for my 16 guests despite numerous pre-event emails, several calls and an actual pre-dinner visit to the venue. The set menu I had paid a 50% deposit for was completely foreign to the single waitress that was assigned to my event. The first thing we were informed of was what was not available on the menu, even though the menu had been selected and confirmed at least 2 weeks prior to the event. Getting management to respond appropriately is an impossible mission. I am still waiting for the person behind the published booking email to respond to communication. On the night of the disaster, I called the published number and the phone rang on a desk in the office. The person who is supposed to respond to the call had not been to the venue in a while, I was told. I wouldn’t advise anyone to book that venue for an important occasion unless you are also going to supply your own staff, and ensure that all ingredients are available. Courses were served in stubs and drabs and there was literally a 5 hour gap between starter orders and desert orders. Those guests who managed to eat appreciated the quality and taste of the food. To quote one of my teenage guests ‘it’s a pity that the service is so terrible because the food is really good when you finally get it.’

Best food i have ever had there chicken buggers are amazing. Iall ways give my complements to the sheff !

I decided to try out Times Square restaurant in Florida Road. I Googled their number and alarm bells should have went off when I saw a rating of 2.67/5. I regret not reading the reviews. On arrival with my girlfriend, we were greeted by the Hostess and seated. We waited over 15 minutes for waiters/waitresses. The restaurant was not completely busy. I called the manager that was walking past and asked for menus. We ordered drinks and starters. I informed our waitress and the Hostess that our table is unstable and uneven and was rocking. A simple solution would be to stick a piece of cardboard or paper under the legs. I even informed the manager to do that. Nothing was done. We had the starter at 7.15 PM and our dirty dishes were on our table until 8.30. Our mains arrived at 8.45. We order a variety of sliders and kebabs. The food came to us cold. The patties were cold and not even close to be warm. I returned the food and asked for our bill. Apart from our experience, the couple next to us suffered the same fate. A bottle of champagne was sent to their table and their glasses arrived 20 minutes later. Their starter arrived 90 minutes after the order was placed. Times Square is a promising restaurant, but service delivery really sucks. Guys, I suggest that research be done before trying out new restaurants instead of trusting a single review.