Butcher Block Namibia — Attraction in Khomas

Very Disappointing – Poor Management and Declining Food Quality

I’ve enjoyed Butcher’s Block in Windhoek before, but this last visit was truly disappointing. The food quality has dropped — my wife’s meat was overcooked and my sister’s dish was so heavily overspiced it was hard to enjoy. My meal was fine, but it never made it to the plate — because it was accidentally served directly onto my lap.

Yes, the waitress dropped my food on me, ruining my jeans and sweater. I understand mistakes happen, and to be fair, she was clearly new and very apologetic. She even offered to pay for a dessert out of her own pocket, which was incredibly kind and showed real character on her part.

What shocked me most was the manager’s complete lack of professionalism. He was on the floor, walking around and chatting to people he seemed to know, yet he never once came over to apologize or even acknowledge what had happened. That is unacceptable. When something like this occurs, it’s the manager’s responsibility to step in, take ownership, and at the very least offer a sincere apology.

Sadly, that never happened. The waitress handled it better than the person who was supposed to be in charge.

Between the poor food and the manager’s indifference, this was a really disappointing experience.

Update

After their public reply to my review, I emailed Butcher Block to clarify that the manager never spoke to me after the incident and to point out that their Google response read like it was AI-generated — generic and not specific to what actually happened. I have included a screenshot of the email I sent.

It’s now been almost 3 weeks with no reply to my email. This just reinforces my impression that their responses on Google are more about keeping up appearances than genuinely addressing...

We had a very creepy and unpleasant experience with Butcher Block in Windhoek. Our family had breakfast at Weinberg estate and we took our two dogs with us. On the way back to the car, we were approached by one of Butcher Block’s employees who said he thought our dogs were pretty. We thanked him and continued walking. He then continued talking to us, saying how delicious our one dog looked and how he would like to eat her. He then shouted that we should give her to him, repeating how delicious she would taste. We walked away as fast as we could and put our dogs in the car, and went to talk to the shift manager at Butcher Block. The employee was also present during this discussion and repeated that he would like to eat our dog. The manager briefly apologised but then defended the behaviour, saying that this was the employee’s tradition and that other people would not have been upset by this encounter. We unfortunately will not continue being customers at this establishment and are utterly shocked by both the behaviour of the staff and the reaction from the manager. Our complaints were not taken seriously at all and we do not feel comfortable bringing our dogs anywhere near the Weinberg...

The atmosphere of the place was top notch and service really good. However the food or atleast mine disappointing to say the least. I ordered the chicken prawn curry, asked if I could have it without the prawn the chef confirmed. Description in the menu read delicious and I'm a curry lover. 1st the dish arrives with savoury rice filled with green and red peppers oh and it's yellow rice. Send it back and asked since when do you serve curry with savoury rice. 2nd curry arrives I believe they tried to make it over but it was a total mess. Thin strips of chicken in some tasteless watery sauce. Absolutely no flavour nothing. I had two bites and send it back. The chef did taste and agreed it was not the standard however I still paid over 190 for not eating. I'm totally disappointed that the chef did not offer to remake my order or atleast take it off my bill. And my bill was over NAD2000.00. It was my 1st time there and will certainly be my last. Everyone says you should have had steaks because the restaurant is known for steaks, but why have something on your menu that your staff cooks can't manage. I was there Thursday...