Equinox at Hotel Sky Sandton

A fantastic experience overall. Thank you all. Thanks Brenton, you're awesome.

I hosted a birthday celebration at Equinox at Hotel Sky Sandton for 15 people. Overall, the food was lovely, everyone enjoyed their meals, and the ambience and views were beautiful and very suitable for a celebration. Unfortunately, our experience was negatively affected by an issue regarding our birthday cake. Before the event, I contacted the restaurant on more than one occasion specifically to confirm whether we could bring our own cake and balloons. I was told that we could, but I was never informed that there would be a cake-cutting fee. When we were ready to cut the cake on the day, we were unexpectedly told that we had to pay R250. I questioned this because the fee had never been communicated to me. I then spoke to the manager, Mark, and explained that I had contacted the restaurant beforehand. Unfortunately, the conversation became argumentative rather than the matter being handled professionally. The fee was eventually reduced to R125, which we paid simply because I did not want the disagreement to continue during a birthday celebration. What was particularly concerning was that the R125 appeared on the final bill as “cream tart puree”, even though we had brought our own birthday cake and had not ordered this item. My concern is not about the amount itself. If there is a cake-cutting or outside-cake fee, customers should be clearly informed of it when making their booking, especially when they specifically ask about bringing a cake beforehand. I genuinely enjoyed the food, ambience and setting, but the unexpected charge and the way the concern was handled unfortunately took away from what should have been a special and enjoyable birthday celebration. I hope management will review both the communication of additional charges and how customer concerns are handled in future.