Baluchi Grillhouse — Restaurant in Gauteng

I am not sure who the people are rating this restaurant but there are a few acute and disappointing problems. I’ve been to the restaurant downstairs a few times and only once had a decent experience. I once had my rice arrive about 5 minutes before it was time to leave, I ate my curry with a spoon like a madman. I ordered a karak tea that was so bad, a westerner with five roses box tea could have done a better job. I reluctantly went for dinner 2 weeks ago and had another horrible experience. Seems the owner is trying to save on salaries and had 2 waiters on a Saturday night which means that the daft system of changing your table light from warm light to cool white repeatedly to get a waiters attention doesn’t work. Hire more waiters, save money on pointless table lights. I ordered a steak that arrived undercooked on a lettuce leaf from 1995. It was so limp and colourless I had to drop it off at the hospital for an ECG. My side of salad came with no dressing, lemon juice, salt, pepper or vinegar. Just dry chopped vegetables with feta that had been cut up in the morning and left out to dry. When I asked for salad dressing I was given peri peri sauce. My cousins chicken was raw. It’s 2024, people like artisanal food, but we want it cooked properly. When we complained about the chicken, no apology, we had a reluctant “we can put it back on for you”. Excuse me, is it too much to ask for my food to be cooked properly. It’s expensive, undercooked l, poorly waited on and disappointing. Ignore all the “shillfluencers” giving rave reviews. Do yourself a favour and go eat a garage pie. It’s cooked, reasonable and you get it on time without having to act like an Emirati doing a light show to get a waiters attention. There’s also a huge tripping hazard as you get to the top of the Machu...

Upon arriving at the restaurant on Valentine’s Day, we stood unacknowledged at the front desk for over 15 minutes as staff passed by, and the owner dined with guests, showing no concern. Despite the occasion, several tables remained unoccupied.

Service was virtually nonexistent. After finally being seated, we waited an additional 15 minutes for menus and were subsequently overlooked. We managed to get a waiter’s attention to place our order. The starter, a mussel pot, took more than 30 minutes to arrive and was excessively sweet. Approximately 1.5 hours after our initial arrival, our main courses were served. At this point, we noticed multiple cockroaches crawling around the establishment. We immediately left our table and approached the front desk to request the bill and speak with the manager. Upon explaining the situation, the manager responded with indifference, saying, “And so?” After discussing health and safety concerns pertinent to a food establishment, he consulted the owner, who glared at us before conversing with him. The manager returned, stating we only needed to pay for our drinks, without offering an apology. The owner resumed her meal with guests, also without any apology.

The service and attitude displayed by both the owner and staff are deeply concerning. For a food establishment, such conditions are alarming.

I strongly advise against visiting...

We visited for their limited Valentine's day menu. The service was absolutely terrible, we waited 15 minutes just to be seated, and then another 15 minutes to order. We had to get up and grab forks and knives and condiments from another table after asking a waiter and being ignored. We ordered the creamy prawn starter, it was very tasty, but the portion was really really small for R130. The fillet steak was pretty good, although the french mash potatoes were just regular mash potatoes. The beef ribs were average. I was almost willing to forgive the bad service because the food was pretty good, but then we saw a massive cockroach crawling up the wall, and then another 2 while walking out. Seems like a health and safety hazard, definitely won't...