Leading a busy lifestyle juggling a business and a family there is nothing more fabulous than getting out on a Friday evening and especially on a Sunday Afternoon, some where the sky is clearer, the mood lighter, the wine crisp and the food not only worthy of its price but memorable.
As in, "that was so great, I will definitely be back".
I have now been living in Johannesburg for 9 months, and on a Sunday we tend to take a drive to the Magaliesberg / Hartebeespoort dam area and I have to say that the prices are heavy, the last lunch cost us between R500.
00 and R600.
00, my kids ate off the kiddies menu and we did not even have alcohol, this was for two courses, and to be honest the food was late, cold, and not bad, but mediocre and not memorable - we would not return.
I must comment that this is not just in Johannesburg, I have had many mediocre meals on the Garden Route and in Cape Town I have had both breakfast and lunches I would prefer to forget.
I must mention that there have been one or two treats thrown in-between and for these we are grateful.
We have been to numerous restaurants, steak and burger, Pizza and Pasta - good and bad, Seafood and Curry.
I have to say that I am yet to be blown away, the curry place came close, the service was good, it was night and they tolerated my children (they are pretty well behaved though) and the food was good, and in this case I will return.
For the rest the service was friendly but in many cases inefficient, the food was mediocre, to not great, to pretty damn awful, to over-priced and let's never go there again.
There is a pizza place we will go back to because the Pizza is good, but I always leave disappointed as I never order Pizza, so I am scratching my favourite foods off the list, the salad and the vegetarian pasta's and the healthy options as well no one seems to get it right.
There is an abundance of frilly lettuce out there, baby spinach leaves, rocket, fresh basil and much more, but when I order a salad in any restaurant I get, iceberg lettuce, hard bitter black olives, not even Calamata, pre-made bucket bought Greek salad, this morning's tomatoes, cut way to long in advance and tough feta cheese.
There is nothing easier than tossing a few fresh mixed salad leaves (the varying colours and crispness just make it so much more friendly and palatable) onto a plate, sprinkle with a few soft large Calamata olives, generous chunks of Danish feta, one fresh, plump firm red tomato, a few slices of crisp cucumber, and served with virgin olive oil and red wine or balsamic vinegar, heaven forbid I am not even asking for sun-dried tomatoes, or a sprinkle of capsicums.
Any of us women who have catered for guests or in my case catered for a living, know that the margin on food is pretty good, so we know when we are being jilted...
The bottom line is that as long as we as consumers are prepared to accept, mediocre service and mediocre food, this will continue to be the norm.
If only people realised that a little extra goes a long way, that to be civil is the easiest thing in the world and to smile can make all the difference.
Somewhere along the way we became prepared to pay top Rand for second best and we accepted mediocre as our norm.
When was the last time you were blown away or disgusted? Let me know we will gladly critic them in the magazines.
This article was published on the Brides Essence Magazine Website, September 2010.