Date night ended in horror for a young couple after vuil oily water splashed on them while they sat down to have a romantic dinner at Ocean Basket at the V&A Waterfront on Sunday.
The Surrey Estate couple says they were in the restaurant for five minutes when they were doused in the oily brown substance.
The water came from the fire sprinklers overhead and they were not told what had triggered it.
They say instead of apologising and trying to make amends, the manager treated them with disdain and asked one of the waiters to take their details.
“We went to have lunch at Ocean Basket in the V&A Waterfront on Sunday, we got seated and about five minutes later we heard a sound and a burst of water mixed with oil started to explode out of the pipes in the roof,” explains the woman.
“The entire restaurant was chaotic after the burst.
“My husband and I rushed from our table and ran to the door not knowing what exactly was going on and what was coming out of the pipes.”
She says after they safely exited the restaurant, she looked at her husband and saw his face and clothing were covered in a black liquid.
“Both our faces and our clothing were filled with this oily water or whatever it was.
“We were in such a panic, I feared that it could be cooking oil, but how did it end up in those pipes that are meant to extinguish the fire?”
She says the manager was totally unsympathetic to the situation.
“Our clothes are ruined and the oil is not coming off,” the upset woman says.
“This spoiled our entire day and not only that, we had to walk through the mall to get to where our car was parked covered in this filth.
“We had people staring at us and some even stopped to ask what happened.
“The manager was throwing sarcasm and said he had no idea how all this happened and that the centre management will investigate.”
She says their damaged clothing, which included Adidas-branded tops, takkies and facemasks were worth over R6000.
Ocean Basket manager Christian Neagu was also sarcastic when the Daily Voice visited the restaurant on Tuesday to find out what happened.
“People got wet. There is not much to say, the sprinkler system went off and people got wet.”
Asked to explain why the water was so oily, he said: “I do not know what is inside the sprinkler which obviously helps with clearing the fire, so there was some stuff in the water.
“I do not control the system so I do not know what was inside. We are waiting on the investigation by the Waterfront as this was not our fault.”
Asked if Ocean Basket would be reimbursing the couple for their ruined clothing and shoes, Neagu said a decision with regards to this would be made after the Waterfront’s investigation is concluded.
The couple has asked not to be identified as they have received “hate and abuse” online when they posted their story to complain on the online consumer watchdog HelloPeter.
The V&A Waterfront failed to respond to Daily Voice queries at the time of publish.