On this day I was not going to our usual place for food, drink and the Formula One in Johannesburg, as our usual crew had alternative arrangements. So I headed down looking for a sports bar, I discovered Champions Sports Bar in Silverlakes.
The first question I asked them was if they were going to broadcast the Formula One live (they were showing the day before’s footage) and if I was going to have the sound on as the visuals were all on mute. They gave me reassurance that it could be arranged.
I happily tucked into the booth with a screen with the Formula One on and everything seemed very good.
The Décor was all typically sports bar with all sorts of sporting paraphanalia. There was an upstairs where the pool tables are located. Plush booths, and when visiting the washroom, there are TV screens there so you don’t miss a single piece of sporting action.
Everything seemed very good… service for my drink was on time and I placed my food order. I had ordered a steak.
Once that was out the way the Formula One was about to start. There was only two other table in the establishment at the time. The main big screen was rugby being shown and I asked if they could put the sound on for my booth.
A “waitress” showed up and told me that sound would only be available for the event on the big screen.
I told them, I had specifically asked when I walked in if the sound would be on for the Formula One and you had agreed that it could be done. The “waitress” apologised and said there was a misunderstanding. It was very clear I was there for the F1 as I has draped in F1 gear, so it felt like I was deceived from the word go just to get an extra seat in the house.
At this point, I couldn’t go anywhere as the race has started and to find a place to see the race in Pretoria, I could envisage was going to be a serious challenge in rugby country.
What highlighted this establishments unprofessionalism was an altercation that followed.
A nearby table of motorcyclists had a friend that left the table with a bottled beer. The waitress went after the friend to explain that the drink had to be consumed on premises. The Friend gave her lip in the car park and she meekly returned to the motorcyclists table and said that the remaining guest would be responsible for their friends drink as he left without paying.
A rather loud argument ensued with an exchange of colourful language. The “waitress” that came to explain things to me about the “audio” issues turned out to be the Manager of the day. The entire way the situation was handled brought this establishments reputation to a low. The Manager could not even defuse the situation and the table was livid and making their thoughts very well known to everyone in the establishment.
Our waitress tried to apologise for the disruption and asked if everything was okay with me, I voiced that apart from watching a Formula One race in silence when they promised me audio… I was not entirely happy but was fine.
The steak was fine… but I have had better, some credits is that it at least was not overcooked. But the service was poor.
As soon as the top ten cars crossed the line, I collected my gear and left. The bill was even settled early.
To my mind, the food quality, menu great décor and an awesome concept cannot help poor unprofessional service. Especially on the level of deceit.
For that reason and that reason alone and the unprofessionalism of handling unhappy clients. This establishment’s rating sinks to a low 0.05 of 5.
I will not be frequenting Champions Sports Bar again under any circumstances, as they were anything but their name sake.
Champions Sports Bar
Shop 32, Silver Oaks Crossing
Hans Strydom Drive
(012) 809 2307
The Southern Africa Restaurant Review 