Cesco's Midrand, Carlswald — Restaurant in Gauteng

The Cescos brand brings a long tradition of the typical South African take on Portuguese food. My first experience of Cescos was at the Randburg (Strijdom Park)restaurant and that was always above and beyond my expectations, hence my love and support of the brand. The opening of Cescos Carlswald was a double edged sword for me. It meant the closing of a pub I loved, 'The Baobab' (not it's name when it closed but a name by which I knew it) and the opening of an absolute favourite for me when it came to Portuguese food. Having spent a lot of time and money, justifiably at both the Randburg and Centurion restaurants I had very high expectations and I was really impressed with myself that I had inadvertently bought a house 900m away from the Carlswald restaurant 6 years before it opened. In the first two weeks I was there 9 times.....My honest impressions. Cescos is and always has been about the food, the vibe and the crowd. Initially the Carlswald branch hit the mark on the crowd and the vibe but missed the mark on the food. The first Trinchado I had there, not good, the first Prego, dissapointing. Chicken livers tasteless. BUT. These were merely teething problems. The food, after the initial opening has improved to level that puts the other Cescos restaurants on the back burner. Something changed and the food is now there best I have ever had at Cescos. Chicken livers with a breadroll and butter, too good to deal with. Beef Prego, the best ever, Trinchado with chips and a bread roll is top of my list. Chicken for two, the chef that preps that, should get commission on every chicken sold. I love the place, always a good vibe, I always feel welcome, the waiting staff are friendly and very efficient, but the food tops it off. I easily walk away there having had a ball, well priced drinks (well stocked bar), execellent staff (Cathy and Cica) and to top it all, excellent food at an excellent...

We’re fans of the chicken and prawn platter. Ordered on Wednesday, the chicken was tiny. Ordered again on Friday, and raised the size of the chicken with the lady that took my order. She said that they use spring chickens for orders during the week, and full size chickens for orders on the weekend. I was a bit surprised as the price is the same, and the menu doesn’t say anything about this? She said Saturday prices are R30 more per platter (which I haven’t seen on the menu), so I ask can I pay the R30 more for the bigger chicken, she said no, the system won’t allow it… really makes no sense. I asked to speak to the owner, she said he’s travelling and not available, so I requested that he call me on his return. Feedback was disappointing, the platter is always good, but the discrepancies recently in what you get is...

First visit to place was nice, nice location. However when tried to visit with a freind to watch the cricket world cup match on 30 June 19. We wer told we not allowed as to come in as the car park guards were instructed by management not to allow any new patrons in. Freind and I was dissapointed. There was a gentleman that just left as we tried to get in to park. Gentleman advised us "Be Nice, and then they will let you'll In". Disapointed as during the week before, freind and I spent R1000 on food and drinks. We assumed that this was a nice chill out place, we...