The Chocolate Garden

I live in Joburg but I recently hosted my baby’s first birthday party at The Chocolate Garden in KZN after a high recommendation from a close relative. I was so disappointed by the lack of management and organization we experienced on the day of the party.

1.) Due to a high number of delivery trucks offloading supplies for the various events occurring at the venue, our decor service provider was held up in the congestion at the gate and unable to start our party setup on time. The delay was horrible. We were forced to begin the party an hour and a half later than planned with guests having already arrived.

2.) We didn't have space to setup a jumping castle as promised because of two other birthday parties happening on the same day and close to where we were. One of them occupied the space that was initially allocated for us. I don't blame them though because there were no demarcations from the venue management to indicate the jumping castle/ inflatable space for each party. Our kids were so let down as they sat and watched the other children enjoy their inflatables.

3.) Also, the private party area was not enclosed even though there is a gate to do so. We had strangers walking in and out of our party several times.

As a first-time mom, I was looking forward to this celebration all year and wanted the day to be perfect and memorable for our family but it was just filled with stress and disappointment.

Shew service was bad today. Walked in at 12:30 in the afternoon, waitress didn't have menus, took us to a table near the geese with the previous guests leftovers still on the table. She said she will be back to clean the table, we didn't see her for the next hour. The other couple seated next to us got up and said they were going to another place as they weren't getting served. Then we discovered the gate at the back was wide open and my 5 year old almost went out onto the road. Another Indian lady who sits at the front desk came to take our orders, she was even worse. We ended up moving to another table for safety of the kids (Also had the previous guests leftovers still waiting to be cleaned up). My wife spotted the Indian lady who then took our orders. She messed up the kid's orders (incorrect meals which the kitchen had to rectify), so my wife and my food waited their with our kids drinks, finally the food came with the first waitress who said she will bring my coffee. She brought the coffee without milk and said "Ooh I hope the coffee is not cold". What a joke! The Indian waitress came through again and she then promised to bring the milk. We didn't see either waitress until we went to pay. I had the coffee black. Lol. We went to pay and the Indian waitress was relaxing at the front desk, the black waitress was behind the counter on her phone whilst the 2 male waiters were vigorously making drinks. I normally give a decent tip but this time I didn't.
Sorry Chocolate Garden, you have a lovely place for kids but you need to up your waitress service.

An absolutely beautiful and tranquil place. Great for kids. Excellent service. Food was good too.

The Chocolate Garden is such a beautiful spot to spend the day at. The staff were so lovely and friendly, which always makes my experience at places feel so much better.

Our waiter was also nice, he took our order which didn't take very long to arrive. Our food looked so lovely and tasted good too. He warmed our drinks up for us because it had gotten cold and was very helpful.

My kids absolutely loved and enjoyed the play area and the animals. They were having so much fun and were entertained, which allowed my hubby and I to have some uninterrupted time together.

My kids did not want to leave, so I will definitely take them back again. It was well worth it and a lovely experience. I would highly recommend visiting them.

There is also accommodation and venue hire available.

If you come here please have the caramel salted milkshake. It’s definitely tranquil and beautiful here

The Chocolate Garden, love this place ❤️
A beautiful venue for a function or just enjoying a scrumptious meal. Welcoming service, clean toilet facilities, kids play ground and especially love the age old tortoises, ducks and rabbits.

Cute animals and lovely setting. I had the potato rosti breakfast which was very good. Hubby raved about their croissant which is freshly baked per order. Will definitely come here again.