The short version: beware of Stacked Diner’s brazen deception.

Picture it.

A wintry afternoon in Cape Town. Skies, grey. Stomach, rumbling. A lunchtime craving arrives on schedule. Carbs, today’s your lucky day!

I fire up the OrderIn app and start browsing.

A burger? Nah. Pizza? I don’t think so. A wrap? Um, no.

Hold on, what’s this, Belgian waffles you say? What sweet temptation. Let’s do this!

A Belgian waffle for R24 sounds awesome. Onwards!

Oh nice! It’s a 2 stack for R24. Even better. Day made.

I mean I know they’re cheap to make, and Stacked Diner is a fast food joint, so I don’t expect the 2 waffles to be artisan quality at this price, so everything’s rosy. Let’s add this baby to the cart and get it delivered!

Hold on. Error. I have to add a topping. That’s another R12.
Not happy, but ok. Can I check out now?

Not so fast. I also have to add a sauce. But I don’t want a sauce. That’s another R12. WTF?!

OK so now my R24 2 stack waffle is costing R48. With forced toppings and sauces.
Dodgy, but let’s wrap this up.

Don’t forget the R10 delivery fee, which is standard for all OrderIn orders. No problem.

Can’t stiff the driver, so we’ll add another R10 as a tip. My total is now R68.
I pay. Waffles, I now await your glory.

It arrives. I rip open the bag to see this. THIS!

WHAT THE ACTUAL?

Where is the 2 stack I ordered for R48? This is HALF a waffle!

Thanks for the R12 banana. Shot for the ration of maple syrup.

But where the sweet hell is my 2 stack waffle?

There isn’t one.

This is it.

Because the recipe to success, if you’re Stacked Diner, is this:

1. Advertise a 2 stack Belgian waffle for R24, but force unsuspecting dimwits (customers) to pay another R24 for toppings and sauces they didn’t want.
2. Cut a waffle in half. Put the other half aside for future dimwits.
3. Cut the remaining half in half again.
4. Carefully layer two halves over each other. This is because we can pretend that this qualifies as a ‘2 stack’ that we advertised.
5. Laugh all the way to the bank and wait for more orders to roll in for half waffles. I mean 2 stacks.

With three food delivery services available in Cape Town, the choice of what you order for lunch or dinner has exploded. But it’s obvious that some restaurants are exploiting the opportunity by using dubious pricing and descriptions in delivery apps to lure people in, rip them off, and not think twice because the customer isn’t in the restaurant to complain.

Well guess what? I’m complaining.

Are you listening, Stacked Diner? You should be. And you should be ashamed.

I hope others doing the same are too. This stops here.

Cape Town deserves better, and if you’re not going to deliver it, we’ll happily go elsewhere.

UPDATE

After the disappointing experience over lunch time, I decided to try again this evening and see what other Cape Town restaurants with Belgian waffles on the menu had to offer in the same price range. I quickly found an option for exactly the same amount (R48) from RocoMamas.

Here’s how it went:

Firstly, the R31 price tag originally shown matches the price of the item
you can add to your cart. No forced toppings or sauces for an extra cost.

Secondly, it’s clearly labelled as a ‘half waffle’ for that price.
But I chose the full waffle to compare value for money for R48.

Right, so we’re comparing apples with apples. Waffles with waffles. R48 with R48.

So let’s see what arrived.

Jackpot! Now THIS is a waffle!

In fact, it’s what I would describe as TWO waffles.

THIS is what I’d expect from something called a ‘2 stack’.

And, ironically, RocoMamas just describes it as a ‘full waffle’.

With 3 times the amount of ice cream. Oh, and free syrup too.

So this time, I got:

• crystal clear pricing and descriptions, with no forced extras that cost extra
• a portion size that matched the description – and, in fact, over-delivered
• value for money and a great experience

This is how you live up to expectations and keep customers coming back for more.

Great job, RocoMamas. I know where I’ll be ordering from in future.