Teez Lounge Gugulethu& Butcher — Restaurant in Western Cape

Traumatising experience

I have heard so many great reviews and promotions for Mzolis and was so looking forward to trying them on on my birthday! So I got there 29 September 2016. First of all the service at entering the place, We got to the meat ordering section, asked one of the people serving of the process followed since its our first time here. The woman was not friendly, not helpful and practically brushed me off. Then I asked her about the cuts of meat she just said it's all the same, lamb, beef, pork and chicken. Like how can the cuts be the same! Then we looked closely and made out which part is what. Then she sat down, the guy who was preparing the wors took over and was busy coughing with his mouth open. I was so traumatised! Then we ordered from him and were told the process by him and told us to go to the till. Then we got to the till where we were ignored blatantly, the woman at the till kept talking to other people, dismissed us and didn't respond to my greeting or greeted me. Then she just reached for the slip and didn't even know the flavours of the vitamin water I ordered. Then we took our tray to the back for the braai. We were told to wait 20 minutes and come check. When we came back, our tray hadn't been touched, other people who came after us had their food braai'ed! Then we decided to wait as they braai, as we waited the guy was about to take another tray after ours and we had to say ours is first and it was placed already in the front line. Then he took our tray along with another. Thereafter the other plate came out before ours, over an hour later of getting there we got our food. The service is the worst and honestly I think they stand tall to serve white people better, then their known customers and then they don't care about the locals and they probably thought we were just locals because we were black. I won't even get into detail with the hygiene, it's another long story! I was...

MOST IMPORTANT INFO FIRST Stay safe: Behind Mzoli's is a church and behind the church is a narrow passageway. Stay clear of the passageway. It's a crime hot-spot. If you expose your mobile phone there, it will be snatched by an armed assailant. Men have a tendency to urinate in the passageway, and that's unsafe to do even for locals. Somebody pretending to urinate beside you could end up pulling out a switch-blade to rob you. STAY AWAY FOR THIS ALLEYWAY. There are toilet 🚽 facilities at Mzoli's, the queues to enter the dirty toilets can be long, but atleast they're safe.

Don't accept help at the ATM. Beware of pick pockets.

Aim to leave at 7pm as it tends to get darker thereafter. Ensure you're in a group while accessing the vehicle. Don't expose your mobile out on the busy main road en route to and from the car. It's a wonderful place to spend a weekend at. Saturday and Sunday's are when the place is at it's busiest. Most locals will recommend coming here on a Sunday.

On the weekend, expect to wait up to an hour for your meat to be ready. Somebody in your group will have to will have to be the one doing the queueing while the rest enjoy the atmosphere outside. You're guaranteed a table if you buy meat. Your meat, if alot, will be carried to your table or else it will be handed to you take to where your friends are. If the meat is too heavy for you to carry, that entitles you to a table and any table with no meat on it will be cleared for you and your friends.

There's usually a DJ present. Popular among LGBT community- be yourself.

There's always Caucasians on weekends at Mzoli's, this has become a common sight. You'll have a great time if you don't flaunt valuables. Enjoy the delicious meat, have a drink. You'll have a blast.

If you're not one for crowd's, try Maphindi...

We got there around half past two and the place was packed. No one could tell us the procedure for entry or getting food. There were people everywhere. We were starving. Eventually we paid our thirty rand entry fee but then found out we had to join the queue to buy meat for it to be braaid. We didn't want to drink on empty stomachs so the wait in the queue was interminable. Three hours later we made it to the doorway of the butchery then the queue didn't move again. After twenty minutes we called it quits because we realised that by the time our meat was finally cooked we would only get to eat around six. I was at Mzolis eight years ago when it was still sort of a new cultural experience and it was a great experience, no queuing and while it eventually got packed, it was still pleasant. Maybe it was because of the jazz festival weekend but it's become a bit of a tourist trap. I won't go back again unless the food system becomes...