Urban Playground — Restaurant in Maitland

This was one of the most horrible nights out I’ve ever had in Cape Town thanks to Peter, who I assume is the owner/chef. I’m here to ask that you please don’t support this person’s business unless Peter takes accountability for their bad behavior. We all have bad days, he had opportunities to apologise/ make up for his behavior but he chose not to. So I will share my experience here. The restaurant is very small, we were there over the first weekend in Oct 2022, the other guests that night were a lovely group of women celebrating a baby shower. The women hired a photographer to take pictures. While the photographer was busy setting up, Peter yelled at this photographer from the kitchen, telling him to “eff off” and get out of the space because he was in the way. All the customers were visibly shocked and uncomfortable. When Peter came to check on our table, I mentioned we were fine with the photographer, to which he said “but he was in my way.” I replied, that’s understandable, but that he didn’t have to use choice language and be inappropriate, that he made us all very uncomfortable, that he could have taken the photographer aside and spoken to him. Peter then put his hand on my shoulder and told me this is his space, and he can do whatever he wants. I’ve never been spoken to like this in my life. I was so surprised by his response that I froze, had I not been with a group of people that planned this event I would have left immediately, and in retrospect, wish I had. One of the ladies at the baby shower came past me after my interaction with Peter and thanked me for trying to say something, recognizing I too had been spoken to very inappropriately by this man. The rest of the evening was very uncomfortable, it was obvious the lovely staff were trying to compensate for Peter’s behavior. Towards the end of the evening Peter wanted to take photos with everyone, as he came from the kitchen with the camera, I noticed the discomfort on several of the women’s faces as we made eye contact, including the one who had spoken to me earlier. Many of them left the space to the outside parking as he took the photos. As he went back to the kitchen he took photos with one of the lady’s small children, I was paying close attention to all these interactions, and he did not appear to ask permission to take selfies with this toddler. He has been posting these photos to social media, trying to show "a good time," although everyone was very uncomfortable all night and it wasn't a nice evening. Unfortunately, in South Africa we encounter a lot of people like Peter, my hope is that we can share our stories of establishments like this and choose not to frequent them, or share to give people the opportunity to be better, because if he can treat paying customers the way he treated us, I am scared to imagine how he treats his staff and others. Anything nice to say about the food and other staff was overshadowed by this terrible...

I'm not a fan of verbose reviews but I'm not sure how to describe Urban Playground in a few words. I've been wanting to visit for so long I felt like a kid on Christmas morning parking my car last night. I'd done my homework so along with my BYOB bottle of wine I came clutching a Castle quartz for the chef. Peter (said chef) met me with the hugest smile and it wasn't only because of the beer. I challenged any restaurant in CT to match their level of hospitality. Even if it is your first visit you are treated like a regular. Everyone chats to everyone. It is seriously like one house party. The staff are made up of the chef trainers and their students from Sense of Taste Chef School. Bryon, one of the former, was our server and was just amazing. Case in point there was a spaghetti and meatball special but we'd already ordered. So within minutes he brought us meatballs to sample. We had the teryiaki beef pizza and the pork belly. Best pizza I've ever eaten and I say this knowing I'm offending another establishment I've praised as the best in the city (sorry James). The pork belly was moist and so delicious. Portions are huge so I get to enjoy leftovers tonight. On our way out one of the other patrons insisted I take a slice of her vegetarian pizza home to try. Where else would this happen? Their slogan is Cook Eat Love and they 100% live up to their purpose. They are living proof that abusive Gordon Ramsey type chefs are not an asset to a business. Justine Anne Bowman and Melanie Hopkins Whillier we're going next. I'm prepared to put my you know what on a block they'll win an Eat Out...

Food is okay but it can be better...

Walkie Talkies were delicious, however the over garnishing of micro herbs and big dollops of Greek yoghurt killed the dish.

Eisbein was cooked perfectly but lacked flavour and spices within the meat and tendons. Saurkraut side was disappointing as the "twist" was purely lemon juice that substitute the acidity of vinegar. Bare in mind you need that acidity to balance the fattiness of the Eisbein!

Thai Pork Belly dish was overly sweet as a whole. Sauce was sweet, sushi ginger has a kick to it but still sweet, and lastly the use of sushi rice didn't work out for me as that sponged up all the sweetness.

Because I am Chinese, we didn't intentionally want to order any "Asian" dishes that evening as we initially wanted pizza but they ran out of the base Napolitano sauce. And by this I was heavily disappointed on how the Thai Pork Belly dish was served with the chopsticks standing upright in the rice, that was a massive shock as we Asians, only put something upright in a bowl of rice is during times as an offering to a deceased or offering to a deity. I understand the menu is inspired by various Asian cultures, but also please don't forget to do some research on how to plate a dish with respect.

Lastly our meals tasted sweet, we were scared to...