Clarke's Bar & Dining Room — Restaurant in City Centre

Clarkes is an all time favourite in my books. From the atmosphere, to the staff, to the main reason we are here, the food. I cannot emphasise this enough but the food is out of this world. No frills or anything fancy but classics done right, and with a little twist here and there. I have been a happy customer of Clarkes for as long as I can remember, and to this day I have never even had an average meal here, it is consistently good. I don’t know how they do it, they’re always busy and yet they always exceed the expectations.

Clarkes is located on the lively Bree Street, I think it is in the perfect location. There are a lot of seating options. There are tables outside next to the street, which is wonderful on a warm day and an excellent spot to people watch. Then there is seating inside, it has a sort of diner/old school cafe feel to it, incredibly inviting. Then there is a courtyard, and even more seating in the back area at the bar. It’s crazy to think they’re always full, even with all this space! However, my favourite spot to sit is at the counter where you overlook the open kitchen. I love watching the chefs at work, somehow they’re incredibly calm and collected even though they don’t stop moving.

I am a regular, so I’m just going to share my ultimate favourite dishes. They’re both sandwiches. Just a note, they serve them from 11am to 3:45pm. So, definitely come between those times if you’re eyeing out one of these bad boys, but all their food is incredible so you won’t be disappointed. I cannot pick which one is my favourite as they’re both very different. The one is called Sabich, and it is heavenly. It is a vegetarian sandwich and it is absolutely stacked with filling. It consists of hummus, aubergine, cumin carrots, beets, salted cucumber, tomato, cabbage, yoghurt dressing (R111) and I always add a pickled beetroot egg (R15). Honestly, I was sceptical the first time I ordered it but I was pleasantly surprised and I haven’t had this sandwich 4 times, in the last month… and I live in Muizenberg. It is absolutely stunning. It is quite a mouthful, but I have no problem with that. It is fresh and zingy, then you’ve got the lovely creaminess from the hummus and yogurt dressing. Now all of this deliciousness in between two slices of golden buttery sourdough. Twelve out of ten. Now, to my second favourite sandwich, Smoked pulled pork with housemade kimchi and mozzarella. I think that speaks for itself. This is incredibly indulgent and delicious. The slightly spicy kimchi cuts through the richness of the pulled pork and mozzarella, making it a perfectly balanced dish. I dream about this sandwich. I don’t think I need to say more. I can highly recommend these two sandwiches, and if I can make a suggestion. Go with a friend, order both, and share. I think it would be a good balance of flavours, making it a truly wholesome meal. They also have an all day breakfast, which is absolutely scrumptious. Last, but definitely not least, they have burgers on croissant buns. Enough said.

Overall, Clarkes is absolutely fantastic, and I cannot recommend them enough. I always leave with a full belly and a big smile on my face. Their coffee is fantastic, and if you don’t feel like caffeine, their pineapple water kefir is delicious!

Thank you Clarkes, I’ll definitely...

Sigh.

I usually don’t write reviews but no ways? Here’s the honest review everyone needs of this place:

We ordered mimosas which tasted & looked so diluted. A mimosa is supposed to be MCC with a bit of orange juice not orange juice with a bit of MCC. The freshly squeezed OJ that’s on the menu cannot be the same OJ used for this mimosas.

Now for the food. I saw someone write a review saying that the food looks good but taste wise, it leaves a lot to be desired and I have to agree. The prices at this place are literally insane for the portion sizes. I’m used to paying more than the average because that’s what food usually costs at Cpt restaurants, but at least make it worth it? We ordered a side of fries which came a while after our food and that on its own has its own story. I’m not sure if the kitchen forgot about our fries (because both meals didn’t come with fries so you had to order them on the side). We were in full view of the kitchen and when the fries were ready and the kitchen was telling someone else (so not our waiter) to serve them to us, he remarked “but they’re so small” and refused to serve them. Our waiter ended up giving them to us and we refused them. There was someone sitting across us who not only got a bigger portion of chips, the chips also looked better than our burnt chips which looked like they were there least favourable left overs.

With all of that aside, I would like to thank our waiter Ebenezer. He was super attentive and always ready to assist. He was the only highlight to our experience. If you see this, you’re doing amazing!

Too much focus on aesthetic instead...

HORRIBLE! - don't go there with a big group (don't even go there - the waiters are horrible and have not understood that service is key). The staff can not handle a busy night without totally screwing up and most waiters have no clue what they are doing and are all over the show. Firstly the drinks took ages! Secondly, they took wrong food order plus did not even ask 2 people at our table for their order, thirdly...they forgot drinks the whole night and kept dropping single drinks in 30 min time (scotch with ice was served melted after it stood there for 30 minutes), we had to run after waiters to order and no waiter is assigned to your table (table for 8 which was a reservation), forget 5 out of 8 meals (plus in the beginning brought wrong order for another table, gave us one of their burgers and then messed up their order). 3 hours later only 3 of us had eaten (one meal which came was cold and had to be returned Tomato soup was good but had to be warmed up and the sandwich with melted cheese was by then firm again). Throughout the whole night they ignored the table and we could also see other tables getting upset. Lastly they put things on the bill which we did not order (Careful extra charge for hot sauce which was NEVER mentioned by the waiter!) plus we had to beg them to take our money to get the f* out of there (payment took another 30 minutes). Customers must really enjoy sitting and waiting to love this place. All of us will never come back and it was an absolute waste of...