Rick's Cafe Americain — Restaurant in Gardens

This is an old time favourite spot of mine. I remember visiting Rick's when they were still in their old building. I stumbled upon them the first time after leaving a group of VIPs that I was chaperoning at Fat Cactus and needed a bite to eat.The owner was sitting on the 'stoep' in front and we started chatting and ever since then, (sorry FC) I used to take our groups here, all the way to the roof top. The vibe is best at sunset in my, always want to have fun, opinion. They have happy hour from 3pm (I think) Please check. Think Cuban, Moroccon, American and Mexican-fusion. I have traveled a bit myself and Rick's Cafe Americain - Restaurant & Bar, Cape Town reminds me of my travelling days. The decor is stunning, and something different. This business has survived so many set backs, (nevermind c19) but due to the owners dedication and passion, his love for good food and his staff, they have survived every single one of them. I love the new location! Just look at the view. Table Mountain goosebumps. I have been visiting them for the past 13 years (gosh correct me if I am wrong) and have always had absolutely amazing service and delicious meals, prepared with care and love and plated with detail. Do yourself a favour and try their platters! Mondays is burger special day, buy one get one free on selected burgers. Well, on all of them,except the double patty one. It was delicious, also the best Aperol spritzer that I have had in a long time. Thank you, Charles for the great service and care. Meals are super affordable and try to go when the lights are all on and the Cape Tonians are out. You will, just like me, drive from the other side of CT to visit, and leave with a massive smile on your face. Take friends, places like these are meant to be shared...

Let me start my review with a positive. The staff are outstanding and unbelievably friendly. Sadly, the food was disappointing. We had the tapas platter to share and followed it by sharing the lamb tagine.

The tapas platter had both hit and miss elements: the hummus was good and the fish cakes were tasty. However, the chilli popper was soaked in cooking oil and seemed out of place in a Moroccan themed restaurant. The lamb koftas were dry and the chicken kebab lacked spice. We awarded the platter, with all its ups and downs, 6.5 of 10.

The lamb tagine was a utter letdown. It is best described as a well-cooked piece of lamb shank, soft and tender and falling off the bone, covered in a tasteless brown gravy thickened with corn flour with a handful of over-cooked broccoli and butternut squash thrown in for good measure. There was no spice nor aromatics in the dish and I felt it no different to a boarding school beef stew; except that the boarding school stew wouldn't sell for just over R200.

We shared our culinary concerns with an extremely polite and courteous manager. He listened intently and promised to bring our comments to the attention of his general manager. He did offer us free dessert and the chocolate mousse was intense, rich and delicious. Even my partner who lost his sweet tooth at birth took a liking to the rich and tasty pudding.

Come on guys, revitalise the food! It's a let down when compared to your wonderful staff...

I usually go and have such a great time. Today was a disappointment, even so, on my birthday. Our waiter Daniel was great! But... The mussel meal came with a small bowl of sauce and bread enough for a quarter of those mussels. 15 minutes after we ordered, they let us know they can't do fried chips when it's loadshedding. And NO warning of the sides we can't order because of it. The fish meal came with its indicated veg, but they confused the menu so badly, coming back with 2 incorrect sides - there was eventually ZERO side provided. This means for the price, we received 3/4 of the meal on the menu - RIDICULOUS. When they couldn't give us mash, the manager (I think) came to explain how the deep fryers don't work in loadshedding - that's not our problem actually. And when she came back to "apologize" - turns out she told us a sad story about how they burnt the potatoes but not ONCE used the word sorry. Then we asked for more bread for the mussels and even told the waiter not to toast it - in the interest of time. They ended up toasting it and taking 10 mins longer - it's like our requests were not heard or the treatment of the scenario was not up to even average standards. Sorry Rick's, you just lost my faith and the 3 others I brought there for the first time. Props to the really great waiter though, as well as the taste of the food - great...