Barristers Grill & Cafe Newlands — Restaurant in Western Cape

Took wealthy clients there tonight after great recommendations, but it was a disaster and most embarrassing evening. Barristers was busy as always for a Monday night. We were seated and had to ask to move tables due to the unbearable din in the area furthest back in the restaurant. Were moved to a much smaller table which suited us just fine. After our drinks arrived and about 20 minutes after arriving (we arrived at 6:55pm for 7pm reservation) we ordered our steaks. About 40 minutes later our waiter came by the table and said the food would be a few more minutes. 45 minutes later still no food and tables that had been seated after us were already eating and almost done. Waiter came by and again said the food will be a few more minutes. I asked for the manager who was dismissive and said "We are dealing with it" and then promptly went back into the kitchen. 105 minutes after we had ordered food started to arrive, but the waiters had no idea whose food was whose. Three filets, one Medium, one Medium rare and one Medium Well done, plus a sirloin Medium Well done. The food they put in front of my wife was missing the onion rings and when she cut into it the filet was very rare-apparently they had barely got done cooking the food 105 minutes after we ordered it. My wife could not eat it as she does not eat rare steak. Pointed it out to the waiter who wanted to redo it, but with the time taken the first time to get the food we declined as it was now after 9pm. The other two filets were both medium rare and the sirloin was medium rare- disgraceful from a steak restaurant. No apology from the manager or the waiter for their shocking service-it was obvious that the waiter forgot to put in our order when it was given to him and had he apologised for his mistake and taken some blame we might have overlooked some of this. However my clients are elderly and to eat a steak dinner after 9pm is difficult and plainly disgraceful since we had made the reservation for 7pm. When the bill came there was also no credit for the raw steak so consequently there was no tip for awful service. My clients were gracious towards my wife and I but Barristers I brough them there because of your name and I intend to never return because of your shameless behaviour and I will gladly inform others of this. Get your act together because there are numerous other choices of places to eat and you are no longer at the top...

We had a great experience for Christmas dinner this year except for one or two small things

First the good - the restaurant was nicely decorated with a subtle Christmas look ( which is what we like). They had placed us in a room of couples and fours so the background noise was pleasant - people chatting amiably with no one dominating. The large groups - which tend to be noisy enough to drown out a couple’s conversation - were elsewhere so that was an absolute plus. There was lots of room between the tables and the service (Nina) was excellent - friendly, efficient and attentive. My main course - a fillet steak was superb and the dessert excellent. Admittedly they had run out of the cheesecake on the menu but the chocolate cheesecake with berry coulis that we did get was really delicious. No complaints from me.

Second, the not so good. The mushroom soup to start was not great. The broth had the smell of boarding school food and neither of us enjoyed it at all. There was a tomato soup option though so perhaps we should have chosen that. The most off-putting part of the day, and close on being a deal-breaker for a return next year, was how long we had to wait between the second and third courses. It was somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. In fact we seemed to be the last couple to get our food despite being one of the first tables to arrive and to get our order in. Now I do understand that if you are making steaks for so many people, it is time consuming but there must be a solution to avoid the long wait. Maybe they could have two sittings an hour apart.

I do hope that next year they come up with a plan to reduce the wait for the main course - I think 45 mins is probably the max for a couple though a large crowd might not mind a longer wait. We would like to go back next Christmas but not sure my behind has the stamina to resist numbness for four and a quarter hours.

On the whole, though, we really enjoyed the experience and almost all of the...

Went for a Monday evening supper with friends, the attraction being that they offer a free course in return for each main course ordered on Mondays, as long as your table consists of a minimum 3 diners - but you would have to be 4 diners to get 2 free courses etc. Hope that makes sense....it didn't initially to us.

We waited ages for our food; having arrived at the front end of the evening, we weren't served until nearly two hours later. We watched other tables who came in after us getting their food earlier, which is always guaranteed to annoy a hungry customer. When our dishes arrived, two of them were luke warm, veering on cold.

One of our table complained that her food was substandard and "a mess of a dish". She had ordered a burger and it did look like it was falling to bits - a sneaky taste of her burger bun made me wonder if the chef/buyer had ordered the cheapest s/he could get their hands on. Not great.

The wine was fine, the service was very pleasant - but the standard of food and the output of the kitchen simply wasn't good enough. The food we ordered was hardly complicated or 'gourmet', so there really was no excuse.

Our feeling about the place as a whole is that it looks like something a film company would choose if they needed to shoot scenes in a late 1980s or early 1990s bistro - it's stuck in a time warp, it seems to be trying to look old and historic, when in reality it's a rather cheap and outdated pastiche. The menu and the wine list, similarly, are looking like they're in need of a refresh. It is situated in a bit of a gastronomic desert, but enveloped within an affluent and quite middle-aged residential area - it must be trading on past reputation, rather than current quality. They're obviously not short of customers. They also have a tarpaulin wrapped terrace, which looked very dark and dingy as we passed by. Sadly I think we might give this place a...