Lacuna Bistro – The Maslow Hotel

3 Reviews on “Lacuna Bistro – The Maslow Hotel”

• Erin Jemma Byrne

  What a horrible experience. My fiancé and I decided to book for the new 5 course high tea at the Maslow hotel this past Saturday. We have been to many hotels for high tea and were expecting a lot from this one. Unfortunately we left very disappointed and felt like we paid a lot of money for what we received. We arrived at 12:55 for our 1pm booking and were told we were early. No problem, we were prepared to wait, we were shown a table and then forgotten about. At 1:15pm someone eventually came to us and told us the sushi is ready and we can go get some. Sushi was only the 3rd course of the menu, but no problem, we were starving by now, so decided to go get some. There was very little sushi in comparison to the number of people that needed to eat it. We then realized there were no plates, no dishing up things, no condiments, etc. and had to wait at least another 10 mins, standing around awkwardly for this to all be brought. After having a few pieces of sushi we were now starving and it was now 1:45pm. The only other savory item that was out, was some rolls, so we decided to go see what they were, even though we were unsure if we were supposed to eat them, as no one came to tell us anything after the sushi. The mini rolls were filled with egg mayo, smoked salmon and very dried out cheese & tomato. By now my fiancé was very annoyed that he was going to pay R320 for some dried out mini rolls. We had been there for more than an hour and were still starving. At this point in time, someone came around and offered us some tea. Now there were supposed to be different teas matched to each course, so we were confused what to choose. We were told to just take what we like. Fine, but I could now clearly see there were no 5 courses existent, unless you consider the massive wait in between the difference between courses. I kept thinking that the kitchen is just running late and that the rest of the food is coming now, but when we looked at the open kitchen, nothing was being made in it and the chefs were laughing with each other at the top of their voices. Eventually my fiancé got up annoyed and went to go find a manager. The manager told him that some more hot food will be coming. We continued to wait for at least another 30 mins before 4 chicken puffs were brought to us. These looked like the sort that were store bought and not made by the hotel. They were not on the menu, but we were just glad for something to eat. After another 30 min wait we started to wonder if that was all that was coming, but then 2 pancakes with pulled pork and 2 small pieces of fried fish arrived. By now we were really annoyed at the food being served as it was not what was promised from the menu. We then got up and went to get some desserts. We started to eat them when the guy told us the last hot course is coming now. We received 4 mini beef vetkoek. We finished our dessert, wanting a slice of rainbow cake, there was no knife or dishing up utensils to be able to dish up the cake. So we left it.By now we were really annoyed and decided to leave. For us the main problems were the lack of communication of when or if food was coming, what to expect, etc. The breakdown in communication was very annoying for us as we didn’t know what was going on. We also found the staff to be unprofessional. The menu advertised was not what we received and we were unhappy about this too. There were no scones with fig jam, no cucumber & cottage cheese knots, no tomato & caramelized onion quiches, no lemon meringue tarts, no choux, no koeksisters, the list can go on. We barely received anything that we were supposed to. I would not recommend this high tea to anyone. It was the worst we have ever been to and will never be back. What a complete and utter disappointment.

  October 9, 2020, 2:35 am

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• Priya

  This is actually a 2 part review. My friend and I went to the Maslow for high tea since, you know it’s the Maslow. We waited in the lobby for about 15 minutes waiting for someone to help us or even acknowledge us but that was not the case so we left. Thinking that this could have been an off day we decided to try again but with a group of 6 ladies for high tea. Same story. We were placed at the bar instead of bistro and being told it was busy or booked when there was plenty of space available. The waiter was really slow and seeing as though we only had a specified time it didn’t help. The stuff we got served was really disappointing. For 6 ladies we only had 2 x 3 tiered trays for the savories and 1 plate of sweets. The food itself wasn’t great at all and we didn’t have most of it. We were actually still hungry after leaving there. I would never go there again, nor would I recommend this place to anyone.

  July 28, 2020, 2:35 am

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• Mukhtar Dharsey

  Very average food experience. We were only 2 customers that arrived early. Service was slow. Food average and overpriced. Had the potato leak started with poached egg. Poached egg was hard boiled when asked for runny. Had the Norwegian salmon and umami prawns. Prawns had shells on even though we asked if it was deshelled. Mash was clunky and salmon was over cooked. Quite a young vibe when we were there and not as noisy as the bar area. Unfortunately Cannot recommend.

  May 7, 2020, 2:35 am

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