Tapas Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in Eastern Cape

Went to Tapas today, rather disappointed. The restuarant sprawls across 3 buildings, and was around 50% full, seemed very popular with small families, many kids enjoying the entertainment and the Easter Bunny. We did not book, and so we were told that the many unoccopied outdoor tables were reserved, and therefore not available. More about this later. We were shown some rather dismal tables instead, and chose one near the kitchen and bar, in order to not inconvenience waitrons. First order was two beers and a milkshake, which took an inordinate amount of time to arrive, about 30 minutes. Our waitron aplogised, explaininhg that there was some blockage at the bar, someone was in the way of the taps, performing some related maintenance of sorts. Out trio decided on both the seafood and bread platters, which also took an inordinate amount of time to arrive, this time the problem was the kitchen which was "extremely busy" despite the restuarant being 50% full. Nothing great here folks, standard fare, hugely overbreaded frozen fish goulions, some calamari, fried onions and some prawns, with a few chips on the side, and the bread platter had some stale-ish dips, hummus was not present as promised on the menu, bread was standard fare. Food wasn't exactly bad, but not great either. Pretty much meh. The "seafood platter" (at R800) was supposed to feed 5-6 people and the bread platter (at R180) 2-3 people. Portion sizes are clearly not their strong point. Our table was also not provided with any spoons to dish up the tapas spreads, so we simply dived in with our individual knives. Thank goodness we were family! Basics like salt, pepper and tabasco sauce seemed to be "special order" only, we actually had to ask for it. Surely this is not the bar, or the kitchen, but the waitrons' responsibility? To be honest, on dropping well over R1 300,00 (less tip) for food and drinks for 3 people, I honestly expected better value for money, obtainable at most other places (like PEDSAC for example), where the fish (at worst) was swimming yesterday and not freshly frozen like at Tapas. On leaving, we noticed that all the outdoor tables which we were not allowed to use (no booking) were still unused, which suggests that our hosts lied to us about them being booked. The Sangria was the star of the show though,...

Over December we visited about three separate times, and our experience greatly ranged depending on who we had as a waitron.

The first time we visited in December, I had booked an outside table on the 1st of December using their online form for the Santa/Kids Rock event. I received both email confirmations - one on the first, one on the morning of the 15th of December but arrived to find no table reserved - fine, it happens, not the biggest train smash, except that once a table was found for us, instead of an apology as I'd shown the "hostess" (who had told us she had personally done the table bookings) my confirmation emails and an attempt to call on 14th, she became defensive and lightly hostile, & said she'd speak to the manager. Fair enough. We then were seated inside as there were "absolutely no outside tables available". We never saw her again after that, despite asking if we could move to an outside table once one became available, and had to flag down a waiter ourselves.

Our waiter was an absolute gem, and checked the Reserved tables outside - a couple of which were reserved for 4pm or later - and let us move so we could be able to see the kids playing. Understandably, the kitchen service was extremely because it was season but well worth the wait! Our waiter was incredibly attentive & communicative on waiting times, despite the busy-ness of the restaurant and after our first impression, quite frankly a breath of bubbly fresh air.

We found ourselves back there the following week, still during season so in our planning we were prepared to wait a bit for our food (a bunch of tapas, all made to perfection), and found that it was quiet - a pleasant surprise - and our food was out in record time. Our waitress was friendly and chatty.

Our most recent experience was also awesome - we found ourselves back there the first Saturday of Jan for a midday meal. Service and food were great, again.

If it weren't for our initial experience and the previously mentioned "hostess", & waiters at the front occasionally being quite brusque ("Can I help you?" & "Hello?" vs "Hello. Welcome to Tapas. Would you like a table?" etc), I would...

This was my first time at this restaurant and it was a super vibey place with a really nice atmosphere but the food was a let down. I ordered a few different tapas dishes like the salt and pepper calamari, ciabatta with cherry tomatoes and cream cheese and my daughter had the chicken strips and chips. The calamari was not what I expected when you think of salt and pepper calamari tapas. The basting wasn’t crispy on the calamari and the rings were pretty big and just bland also the sauce was just mayo, like the crosse and blackwell brand mayo. Really not pleasant to dip calamari into. The ciabatta and tomato tapas were really dead average. Bland and just all round not what I was expecting again and then the kiddies chicken meal was dry. The chips looked and tasted like they were made and then just fried again and again- the same mayo served with the calamari was on this dish.

The Bloody Mary cocktail had way too much pepper and just not as a blood Mary should be. I ordered a chocolate milkshake with my daughter who is 2 and it came as a huge adult milkshake which was surprising.

I had 3 different waiters which is always frustrating because when I tip, I tip well so I prefer having one.

I recommend this place for drinks, perhaps other cocktails are better but I will not order food...