A cross looking Gordon prowls through Maze Prague, also closed under Phil Carmichael's direction.
Maze at One&Only closes.
It has been rumoured for months, speculated about, whispered between foodies, journalists, bloggers, gossipers and last but not least, staff.
Finally the inevitable has happened. The old horse has finally been taken out and shot. The knackers in this case were not the owners or management, but Cape Town customers who have given this restaurant a resounding thumbs down for a variety of reasons.
The main one was poor value for money. Or at least that was the perception. Secondly, the quality of the food and service was not up to scratch for such a such an exalted international brand.
Thirdly, when you add the raft of international and local poor PR that Maze and Gordon Ramsay has garnered you could be forgiven for thinking that the man has balls of brass, or very deep pockets, for staying open for so long.
Whatever about the balls of brass, the deep pockets are only allowed go as deep as the owners will let them. In this case enough was enough, and they decided to pull the plug on this obviously loss making venture before it ate into any more of the reserves of the International Empire of the Gord.
But let’s look at the facts. The signs that all has not been well have been there for quite a few months.
1. On nights that they should have been busy Maze has been deserted. A bit like an international airport terminal lounge after the last flight has departed. There is no space more lonely and atmosphere sucking. I have counted as little is 15 diners in a space built for 170.
2. Executive Chef, Phil Carmichael, was rumoured to be throwing in the towel after the World Cup. This he has done.
3. The Sous Chef has secured himself a new position.
4. The restaurant General Manager, has also thrown in the towel with Maze, and after her holidays will return to the O&O as the Bar Manager. Hardly a vote of confidence on Maze’s future.
The last rumor set my alarm bells ringing. I heard that a South African chef was to replace Phil Carmichael.
The Gord waves goodbye to his Cape Town fans.
I took the view that they’d have to get a talented person in, and who would do this job as a hind tit to the marketing brand of Maze?
A decent chef would only come to the One&Only Cape Town if they could have their own identity.
This could only mean one thing; Get rid of Maze.
Now they’ve done it.
So, the next story, who will take over the Maze space?
For now they are calling it the restaurant at the One and Only. Watch this space.
In the meantime have a read of my review of Maze, below, and also the hilarious high jinks surrounding the visit of the Gord to Cape Town recently.
Posted in 
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OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM ONE&ONLY CAPE TOWN.
Dear Clare,
Your media enquiry regarding maze by Gordon Ramsay refers.
We can confirm that Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited’s engagement as a consultant to One&Only Cape Town has terminated.
As a result, the restaurant at One&Only Cape Town no longer trades under the maze brand, but the restaurant will remain owned and operated by One&Only Cape Town and will continue to offer daily breakfast, lunch and dinner. All employees who worked at maze Cape Town are employed by One&Only Cape Town and will not be affected by the transition.
Regards,
Etienne De Villiers, PR Manager,
One&Only, Cape Town.
And so Maze closes for all the wrong reasons. Poor comms of what the place was to begin with:should have left the “Ramsay” element out.
Any inkling as to the reason?
@Michelle. as Mackspill says, the place was “a bit like an airport terminal after the last flight has departed”.
Ouch!!!!! Have to agree though.
Let’s hope the new brand can find staff who actually know how to use the equipment!! I know!!
Wow! This is hectic!
It starts.
Say what!
i’d say the new restaurant will be called plate.
and it should have been in the first place, Maze was a last minute dot com idea, thrust upon the hotel by Mr. Kerzner himself.
this is where i believe owners should take a back seat at times and let hotelliers run hotels.
such a shame, as the product could have been soooo much more with sooo little ego needed.
Hi Jonathan,
Apparently it is beng imaginatively called The Restaurant. Maybe a sort of blank canvas against which the new “Brand” that comes in can paint his culinary genius. I saw the lunch menu ; burger, sandwiches and pizzas……….
well, it got it’s pr, and as they say, any pr is good pr… or… is it?
wouldn’t take much to fix the place at all.
take out the attitude, put in some brains, stir twice and hey presto!
but if you digest the whole management as a whole, you’d understand why the whole hotel is yet to find it’s place, look at top shelf management there for instance.
they fly in a couple of expats to do the dirty work of setting it up, go through a few sales execs…… (no rooms sold? how can you if the sales exec changes quarterly?) financial issues…. where’s the financial controller I hear you say???? dig deeper, deeper and wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you could write a book about the place, depressing isn’t the word for it at all.
it would take a brave, brave chef to put his proverbials on the chopping board at this place, and one that has an iron clad contract to boot!!!!
Mad web page I has it with my Iphone visits