APOLOGIES :)

I seem to have missed more dinners than i thought lol.  My apologies to everyone...I will do my best to stay on top of things :)

Lets see....December was Chai Yo in Canal walk. We had a lovely table outside on the water...did get a bit cold as the evening progressed, but we had great fun.  Their sushi is delicious - as is every on their menu.  If you're a steak and potato person, this is unfortunately not the place to go, but give it a go if you're looking to try something different.  Sushi, Curry, chicken...take your pic.  I just loved the way they presented all their food - almost made you not want to eat it :)
Special thank you to Nicole...our christmas cookies were absolutely delicious!!!!!

January - Bring 'n Braai at our local pub (The Cue Inn, 92C Monte Vista Boulevard, Monte Vista) - even had crayfish tails!! No complaints about the food here as we did everything ourselves lol.  Had a great evening!!

February - Eastwoods, Edward Street:  Loved the place itself eventhough our food arrived cold and the steaks werent the best cut.  This is more of an after work meeting place though i would say.  Go there for a few drinks with friends and enjoy the lovely Tapas on the menu - especially the poppers :)

March was Rick's Cafe in Gardens.  Stunning place with a relaxed yet vibey atmosphere.  Food was delicious and portions huge.  The also have great specials on cocktails...but we missed that by about half an hour :(

April - Slattery's (oude westhof):  Definitely one of the worst dinner outings.  The fact that there were only 2 other tables maybe should have warned us, but being a Tuesday night we didnt take notice of it.  The best thing about the evening was our seating outside.  It was a lovely evening outside under the stars.  The food took forever to get to us.  Half the steaks were over done - no one dared send it back as we had already waited over an hour for the food to arrive.  The chef did send out 2 portions of steak (free of charge) but by that time it was a bit late and all the unappetizing steaks had already been half eaten. They also didn't have some of the "home cooked" meals available.  2 of our dinner guests were sick the next day (not sure if it was the Salmon which had quite probably been standing a few weeks).  Then we had some drama when we left with 2 tyres that was being let down.  Suppose its not the restaurants fault...but we wont be going back there in any case.

Thats it for now...sorry for the extremely short reviews....but not so easy 4 months down the line :)
see everyone at our next dinner

ALBERTO'S - DURBANVILLE

Date:  3 November 2010
Hosts:  Johan & Antonie
Group:  10 people

If I had to pick 1 word to describe last night ... it would be FAIR. 
Venue was nice...we were seated outside - got a bit chilly towards the end, but we wanted smoking seating so cant blame anyone for that :)

From what i saw it looked like a nice, cosy meeting place inside for a few social drinks after a hard day at the office.
The service was good.
For most the food was delicious - Their portions are fairly big (I definitely understand why they have options for 'half' portions on some of the items :)

The steaks, with the exception of one, weren't done as ordered.  Rare & medium orders came out well done.  On the flip side...the eisbeins are huge and definitely value for money!


All in all we had a good time once again :)

THE BARNYARD, WILLOWBRIDGE

Date:  5 October 2010
Hosts:  Lida & Nolene
Group:  14 people

We decided to take the group to The Barnyard for their Awesome 80's show.....and it was absolutely awesome!!  Well done for putting up such a great show!

The atmosphere was stunning and they had us up and dancing between the tables.

We had platters made for the tables (sadly no one took photo's of these) - so this time no one could (or would have dared) complain about the food as we had organised it ourselves :)

I definitely recommend watching a show at the Barnyard!!!

THE MOUNT, DURBANVILLE

Date:  3 August 2010
Hosts:  Don & Rita
Group: 8ppl

"Durbanville's hidden jewel"- definitely!!

Probably the best dinner to date!!!!! Venue absolutely stunning (not too difficult to find)...food fantastic and the service excellent!

For the first time - we were all seated round a big square table where we could all see each other and have a conversation without shouting to get the person on the far ends attention.   This made for a stunning atmosphere!

Starters to try:   Trinchado (no off-cuts here),  Snail sandwhich (tastes better than it sounds lol), Kanonkop firecrackers, Grilled Calamari & Stone bread....all delicious.

Mains were fairly big portions and definitely the best steaks we've had. 
Wasn't easy deciding on what to have though....Curry, Espetada, Seafood.....or one of their famous steaks. 
They also have a variety of specials for the day & some delectable desserts for those with a sweet tooth.

Everything was done to absolute perfection - well done The Mount!

We will definitely be going back for seconds :)

http://www.themount.co.za/

KRUGMANN'S GRILL, V&A WATERFRONT

Date: 1 June 2010
Hosts: Gillian & Chris
Group: 9 people (+Mike :)

Lovely venue. We were seated in one of their 'private' rooms - perfect for bigger groups as it's nice and quiet. They also have a cigar lounge with a variety of cigars available.

Service was great and the food EXCELLENT! They are not cheap, but the quality of the food is well worth it!
Starters were lovely - Chef's tasting platter is worth a try and big enough for 2 people to share. The tomato soup looked and, I was told, tasted equally good! They have their own unique sushi menu - not a very big variety, but very interesting.
For mains, I had the stacked chicken - couldn't finish as the portion was huge. Steak (with the exception of 2 steaks that came out cold) was delicious and done to perfection! AND they have the big fried onion rings - Mmmmmmm yum. Burgers were also quite big and very tasty.

For desserts we settled for our normal coffee's and Irish coffee's.

One thing they need to look at is updating their website - as they still have their old menu on there...with the old prices.

We had a lovely time and I will definitely go back there if I want to spoil myself with a nice meal and a good bottle of red wine :)

JIMMYS KILLER PRAWNS - TABLE VIEW

Date:  4 May 2010
Hosts:  JJ & Elzanne
Group:  14 people

Last night was well worth venturing out into the cold and rain for dinner club. 
Food was fabulous and the company equally great!

Starters were lovely - Bets even had Malva pudding as a starter which I though a GREAT idea as I never have space for dessert :-) Their sushi is stunning and fairly priced (pity we didn't go on their sushi special night...next time :)
They have a build-your-own platter menu or a choice between set platters.  On it was everything from mussels, grilled halloumi, spicy chicken to fish and calamari.  Everything was tasty + the platters included a plate of their famous prawns!
The other favourite was their Surf 'n turf - VERY decent portions.
Even their steak was delicious and done to mouthwatering perfection.

We went to Jimmys Killer Prawns 3 weeks ago for lunch and I was a bit worried after raving about their food, that we'd be disappointed when we went there again.  I had no need to be worried, the SERVICE & FOOD WAS ONCE AGAIN EXCELLENT!

ADEGA - WILLOWBRIDGE

Date:  6 April 2010
Hosts:  Dave & Bets
Group:  10ppl (including some friends from overseas)

What was meant to be a nice dinner at Hussar Grill Willowbridge turned out to be an AWESOME evening @ Adega !!!  Confusing?? Let me explain...
We arrived at Hussar only to find that they have seated us in a non-smoking section after we'd booked a month in advance AND confirmed twice with them telephonically. First their extractors weren't working & then someone else came and told us that it's because they close their smoking section in the evenings??? Would have been nice if they had told us that over the phone, but it was obvious that they were fumbling around for excuses.

Anyway we went in search of another restaurant in Willowbridge and found Adega - who were very accommodating and even opened the one section to get us in.

Food was great and the service excellent (thank you Henriet)!

They have quite a variety on their menu & we got so lucky landing up there on a Tuesday because they had 1/2 price on sushi, oysters for R4,90 and great specials on steaks and prawns!  Everything was delicious except maybe for the lamb shank that was a bit tough.  I haven't seen so many empty plates in a while :)  They were also very leanient when it came to the menu and even made up a special starter for Rita.  No one ordered dessert - there was just no space after all the juicy prawns and steaks.

We haven't been that lucky with recent venues and I'm very glad we went there.  I'm sure we'll keep Adega in mind next time we want to go out for a nice supper. 
(oh corkage R25 and I must add that I LOVE their red wine glasses - I'm sure the whole bottle would have fitted in one if we tried)

STUNNING EVENING, THANKS EVERYONE :)

MAESTROS, MILNERTON

Date:  2 March 2010
Hosts:  Simon & Annabelle
Group:  14people

I think we've officially found the restaurant with the worst service.

As most of us had been to Maestro's before, we were looking forward to last night's dinner as we'd all only had good experiences there and the view from the restaurant is stunning!  The view hadn't changed but as for the service...  They had 1 waiter serving our table of 14 AND the whole smoking area!  It took extremely long to get our drinks - bonus points for those of us who took our own wine and didn't have to wait :) 

Their menu is very interesting and we kept ourselves busy reading all the different names given to dishes...Steaks with names like Lindsay Lohan : rehab to Angelina Jolie. 

Starters was ok when it eventually arrived  - maybe a bit over prised for the size of some of the starters.  R46 for 3 stuffed calamari tubes??? 
Mains:  I must say the burgers looked lovely.  The Veal Picata & the Mussels Riesling were 2 definite winners!   Not all the steaks were done as requested and because of there only be 1 waiter (I'm assuming that was the problem) - most of the food arrived cold.  The one piece of steak was just sinew  - needless to say the dogs got their 'doggy bag'.  The line fish was ok - not very tasty.

After several complaints from our host for the night - the owner came to apologise to our table (which was greatly appreciated) yet it didn't make the slightest change in the service.   Even the Kahlua coffee's we ordered was sent back as there was NO Kahlua in the coffee?!?

I can't think of anything else to say about the venue so I would like to end of with a statement that someone made last night:  The whole reason why we're doing the dinner club and the blog (besides for the good company) is to try out different restaurants, to see if they can cater for bigger groups and to give feedback to anyone who's interested. Hopefully it also gives the restaurant owners and managers an idea of which areas need improvement on if any and to give praise to those places who impress us every time!

ASHLEY'S, GOODWOOD

Date:  2 February 2010
Hosts:  Lisa & Schalk
Group:  12 ppl

So...do I start with the food or the restaurant?

Lets do food first.  They have specials on every day of the week - everything from Seafood to Livers &; Mash.  Tuesdays specials are 500g ribs with chips and the liver with mash - GREAT value for money however I still can't get myself to like the idea of eating livers. Starters were good, although a shrimp cocktail is just not the same when there's no avo (did i not see tons of avocado's in the shops?), the snails looked lovely and I was very happy when I saw that they actually give 2 skewers for the mushroom starter :-D Mains were big portions and only half of us actually managed to finish our food - very uncommon for our group.  Fillet Royale - Delicious! but also very rich so be prepared.  They didn't have any pork schnitzel available, but the veal schnitzel was good.  Pasta's were lovely. (sorry guys no pics of the food this time round as we all managed to forget our cameras at home - the exception being Rita who only 'discovered' her camera while we were having after dinner drinks lol)

Then I suppose we're onto the Restaurant then...
It's a typical family restaurant.  They seated us at tables of 4 next to each other - we couldn't push the tables and benches together as no one would have been able to get out unless the whole row gets up.  This was therefor not a very social dinner as you could only really speak to the 3 other people at your table.  Being a dinner club - we like to be social and catch up on what everyone's been up to over the last month. This is also why I can't really comment on everyone's food, as I had no idea what food was ordered by the table on the other end.
Their ladies toilets were definitely not cleaned regularly (I'm not even calling it a restroom)- both basins were blocked and half full with dirty water, the towel roll to dry our hands was also sopping wet - needless to say, we were not impressed.

The overall service was good except for 1 or 2 problems with orders that came out wrong. 
Ashleys is what it is - a family restaurant with great daily specials. 

LA MASSERIA, DURBANVILLE

Date:  5 January 2010
Hosts:  Don & Rita
Group:  10ppl

Our first dinner of 2010 :)
We had a small group this month, but still managed to eat and drink enough for 20ppl lol.
La Masseria is an old house that they've converted into a restaurant.  Big venue with a lovely outside section.
The food was good - don't ask me to name anything by the menu names as it was all foreign to me :)
No one had starters aside from the bread baskets on the table.
Being an Italian restaurant, their speciality is pasta and home made breads - I had the trio of pasta which was lovely and way to much food!  They have a 'bottomless' meal where you could choose from a selection of foods set out on a table inside.  It looked lovely although we would have preferred more warm foods in this selection as everything from the chicken to the mussles and meat were all served cold, only the pasta was warm.  Didn't stop a few of us from going back for seconds :)
The veal topped with parma ham also looked delicious and the Dorado topped with a tomato salsa was very tasty!

If you're looking for a cheap night out and a quick meal, this wouldn't be the place to go as even their pasta's start at R85per plate and white wine per glass R22 - R35
But other than that, the service was good and quality of the food excellent!

LA ROMANTICA - HIGH STREET

Date:  1 December 2009
Hosts:  Johan & Lida
Group:  18ppl (2 NEW MEMBERS  - welcome Dave and Bets :)

Our Christmas dinner was loads of fun!
Great choice of venue and good company!  I must admit I was a bit sceptic after hearing comments regarding their poor service, but we got excellent service from our waiter Jaco.  He was a great waiter (it can't possibly be easy looking after such a rowdy bunch) and a good sport, he even joined in when we started singing Christmas Carols :) 

Everyone's food was served at the same time...still warm :) The food was well presented and tasted as good as it looked!  Their fairly priced menu caters for all tastes and includes everything from Sushi and Seafood to Pasta, Pizza & Steak!

My sushi starter was deliscious and great value for money! Other starters incluced soup, livers, fried camembert and garlic snails...
Mains:  This was a problem for everyone as there were so many mouthwatering options!! Jack Daniels and Mushroom steak, Old Man Steak (still confused as to why it's called that lol), Creamy pasta, T- bones (very tender and juicy as were all the other steaks) and stuffed Chicken breasts.  My steak was slightly overdone, but hey I'm probably just picky :)  Everyone else raved about their food and I was amazed at how quiet our table became while eating....that's a sure sign that the food is great!

Thank you to Lida who organised small Christmas presents for all the guests - we really appreciate it!

I'm sure if I speak for everyone when I say we'll definitely be back for more!!!

A TOUCH OF MADNESS - OBSERVATORY

Date:  3 November 2009
Hosts:  Chris & Gillian
Group:  12 people

The venue was lovely - old house with a courtyard & a bath lol.
I think everyone agrees that it was nice, but from their website we expected a lot more.

Most used line of the evening:  Sorry we're out of stock

One of our group members had to change her main course as they had run out of Rump steak - and the rump was delicious!  We also managed to get 1 piece of Malva pudding before they ran out of that..and not even to mention the beers which they must have had 1 bottle of each in their fridges. 

But if you look past that, we had a very enjoyable evening and everything from the stuffed mushrooms to the lamb and curry was delicious!

Venue - lovely
Food - good when in stock
Service - average

We made the most of it and had yet another great dinner!

BRAZA - Canal Walk

Date:  6 October 2009
Hosts:  Hugo & Mariette
Group:  10 ppl

We were a small group this time round, but we still had loads of fun :)  Venue was nice and cosy with the heaters and the service was fair. 

The ladies each had a Margarita to start the evening off with :) and the guys opted for Lupini (sissies)

The starters were good - snails looked delicious, the Giblets were very tasty - even I tried one, the Trinchado however was a bit bland - I would have preferred it more spicy.  The starter Espetada (chicken livers wrapped in bacon) was also a very different, but nice start to a meal.

Mains:  2 of us tried the Braza house Chicken - topped with mushrooms and a beer sauce YUMMY!! The Beef Espetada was tasty, maybe a little dry as we are used to Espetada being served with garlic sauce dripping down the skewer.  The Portugese steak (served in the traditional way with a fried egg) was tasty and tender.  The Prawns were tender & juicy.  They don't really have anything on the menu for our only vegetarian :) but they put together some rice and grilled vegetables for her.

To sum the evening and the place up in one word : ENJOYABLE. 

Spring Dinner @ ONS HUISIE, BLOUBERG

Date: 1 September 2009

Host: Arlene & Manny

Group: 16people

Our second dinner was a HUGE success! The venue was great, the service top class (A big thank you to Roxanne - manager on duty & our waiters Pedro aka Coco & Du Toit) and the food - EXCELLENT!

Between us we tried everything from Roosterkoek to Steak. We had Pickled Fish and Fish cakes for starters...yummy! Most popular main dish was Fish & Chips - grilled & fried both looked and tasted delicious (I had some testers lol). The calamari was tender and juicy, Seafood pot looked amazing , the salad, pasta, steak, EVERYTHING was good. Alma "The Vegetarian" had Uncollected Mail (Veg & cheese filled pastry pockets).

Everyone received their food at the same time (unlike our previous dinner) and the only complaints I heard the whole night was that everyone ate way too much :)

We also had a birthday in the group (his birthday is actually today, but we started celebrating early;-) Happy Birthday Simon - we hope you enjoyed your birthday dessert treat :)

Thanks to Arlene for picking a great venue! We will definitely visit Ons Huisie again!

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CAFE, TYGERFALLS

Date: 4 August 2009
Group size: 20 ppl (full house)

Our first Dinner was a great success and I'm sure everyone's feeling the after effects of all those Irish coffee's and Dom Pedro's :)

We booked their outside smoking tables and with the heaters on we were warm and cosy. The restaurant itself wasn't very full as it was a Tuesday night and I don't think many people dared go out in the cold.

The music was great, the company excellent & the food...well lets just say we didn't all receive dishes of the same standard & quality. Service was a bit slow as we had only 1 waiter for our table of 20 and we soon learnt that it's much quicker to go to the bar ourselves. I must say the bar staff were very friendly and efficient.

Starters: Not everyone ordered starters, but those who did really enjoyed it. I had the Jelapeno Poppers ...Yummy! But then again I'll eat nearly anything with chillies :) We were a bit unhappy with the bowls the food was served in - some of them were badly chipped and this is not what we expect from this restaurant.

Mains: The Calamari & Lamb cutlets (definitely value for money) looked delicious and from the comments last night, it definitely was. I had the Chicken Quesidilla - The chicken was very tasty and I can only say that I now know why they have the option of 'half' portions :) The majority of our group ordered their famous Cuban Steaks. Now for the let down....The first people to receive their food had finished eating & had an after dinner cigar while some of us were still waiting on our food to arrive. I understand that they can't send all the food out at exactly the same time, but it shouldn't take 20 min - half hour to serve one table's mains. What do they do when the restaurant is full? People who ordered Medium to Rare steaks received their steak Well Done & cold. Ok I saw 2 steaks that looked delicious and was done to perfection...but that was it.

We booked the table well in advance and surely when you receive a large booking you make sure that you have sufficient staff on duty?

In my opinion -Buena Vista Tygerfalls is not equipped to deal with larger groups of people.

It wasn't all bad though and we finished the evening off with some coffee and more wine :)
_______

IN THE END AN EVENING OUT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT....AND I CERTAINLY HAD A GREAT TIME IN THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS :)

Our first evening

Hi everyone.
As you all know our first dinner evening will be on the 4th of August.

Place: Buena Vista Social Cafe , Tygerfalls (Tygervalley Waterfront)
Time: 19h00 for 19h30

http://www.buenavista.co.za/home.html

We will be at Cue Inn for some pre dinner drinks :) if anyone is interested in joining us.

Please let me know by the 27th of July if you will be attending.

We hope to see you all there...it's going to be great fun.

Hi everyone

Welcome to our dinner club. We will be posting photo's and details about our monthly dinners on this site. Please feel free to add your own comments and photo's. If there's any problems please be patient as this is my first blog :)

Everyone will get a chance to choose a restaurant of their choice (we'll draw for months to make it fair)
Invited members only
We would like all members to come to at least 6 dinners - I know we all enjoy eating ;)
We all know how we like our restaurants...close, not too expensive, smoking section, food, wine & more wine lol

Elzanne