Asara Wine Estate & Hotel

While the hotel is beautiful and the employers are very kind, the service is terrible. At the restaurant the orders took too long, the waiters kept forgetting things so we had to keep reminding them. When we called from the room to reception for laundry and other things they always said they were going to send someone and never did. It’s ok if I had to go and pick it up or leave the laundry but they offered to go and never came. And the thing that I think was the worst is that I schedule a couples massage, the day of the massage my partner was sick so I went to the reception to tell them it was only me, they told me ok that it was no problem. I got charged for the couples massage instead of one because they said they had a cancellation policy of 24 hours that they never told me even when I went to cancel it and it clearly wasn’t true because it says on the paper 5 hours prior!! The person at the reception told me that they couldn’t do anything and I had to pay because there was no proof that I did let them know, basically they told me a liar when they were lying about the cancellation policy. I didn’t get a refund and got treated really bad. Terrible service and terrible communication between the reception and other employees. It’s so sad because is a really beautiful hotel and like I said the employees besides that are really nice. They receive you very kind but it goes down from there, the service was worst with every day passing. They really need to work on that.

From the very first minute, entering via the immaculate tree lined driveway, you are aware that you are visiting somewhere very special. Asara is a wonderful experience, made even more wonderful by the staff throughout the estate. As we arrived we were greeted by the 2 amazing attendants (I think one was called James- they were both from Malawi), these 2 guys were fantastic, a real credit to Asara, nothing was too much trouble. The scenery here is out of this World and as you walk across the courtyard you immediately feel yourself relax. This could be Provence in spring, the smell of lavender and herbs just adding to the whole experience. In the afternoon we spent some time around the pool which was lovely, really peaceful, the pool was lovely and cool, very clean, plenty of towels and they had a bar with a barman on call all day, I appreciated this level of service, even with just a handful of people around the pool he was always ready to serve a drink. The room was lovely and spacious, the balcony offered amazing views across the lake to the mountains and offered lots of space and comfortable chairs. The rooms were clean and the bathroom was big and luxurious (shower was huge). This was a room you could relax in, the only downside on our visit was a family close by with 2 kids screaming with the TV full blast. My advice would be keep this wing child free, this place is big enough to do that without ostracising anyone. We visited the restaurant 3 times (Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast), the food was superb and the service was really good. I have to say I was impressed. If I was being really picky I did feel that some of the dishes were a little odd. I had the salmon starter which was served with wasabi puree, pickled cucumber etc. I imagined it to be Japanese flavours/style but it was actually just a large fillet of salmon, cooked slightly under (which i'm fine with by the way, I prefer it this way rather than over cooked and dry) with a wasabi paste that had no flavour, absolutely no bite, very little if any wasabi in it, the cucumber was pickled with vinegar (i'd expected Tsukemono, the sightly sweeter Japanese pickled veg). I had a Honey Pork with no honey, I think the honey may have been on the pork before it was cooked but the sweetness had gone, surrounded by pears and bean paste and a shallot, it was just a strange taste combo, personally it didn't work for me but I appreciated the ambition. We did the wine tasting with Kalvin, that was great and well worth doing, would highly recommend. Overall we had a great visit and would definitely come here again (in fact we are already planning our next trip). I was concerned about a few negative reviews but I have no idea what they were going on about. I am lucky enough to have visited well over 300 luxury resorts around the World and this place is easily in my top 10%. Asara is a relaxing, beautiful resort with amazing staff and just 5 mins from Stellenbosch.

A good place full of tasty wine and food with a great view,will definitely go back if I get a chanceI loved it ...,...................