Lovely. Pic courtesy of Being Brazen.
When the Grand first opened they got hammered for bad food, bad service, poor attitude and more.
Heck, I couldn’t even get in, so useless was their booking system. So I gave it a wide berth for a long time, but happened to be driving past Green Point the other day at lunchtime and decided to call down to see if I could have lunch.
First impressions are terrible. Pools of stagnant water, pothole warning signs, nervy car guards. Building site meets township vibe.
But once you park and walk inside it’s not hard to be seduced by the shimmering sand set against the deep blue sea. A delight on a sunny day.
What’s the bottom line? A charming waiter, slightly haphazard service, fairly decent food and generous servings of wine ordered by the glass.
This place is not about the food though, it’s about the setting; St.Tropez, meets Ibiza, meets Porto Cervo meets Khayelitsha-on-Sea.
If you are prepared to take your chances with the food and just chillax with a few beers, or a bottle of wine in an ice bucket, then this is the place for you.
They allow kids, but no dogs (which they used to).
Apparently a very large one ate a lot of food off peoples tables a while back. A sort of canine baboon.
My camera had a crash today, so I filched these wonderful pics from Being Brazen, a cool blog that we are going to vote for as a finalist in the SA blog awards.
Please follow this link and vote for her!! www.beingbrazen.com/2010/02/grand-cafe-beach.html
Food up to R80 for starters and up to R170 for mains.
The Grand at Granger Bay.
021 425 0551
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…but the sure charge as if it is all about the food. I agree beautiful setting, but hallo, I think a reality check on prices might be in order.
Well you could always drink the tapwater…..if they’d only give you some.
Thanks so much for the mention and the photo credit
Have a fab week x
This place is simply called “The Grand Cafe & Beach”. The “Rooms” refers to their sister establishment in Plettenberg Bay. It should be called the “Great Big Bad-Attitude Bar by the Sea”. They sell some great-smelling candles in their pricey boutique.
Hi Keith, On their menu, when I was there, they included “Rooms” in their name. I’ve only been there for a long lunch and it was nice……….I’d worry about going back when it’s busy though.
I went nervously with out-of-town friends to The Grand Cafe & Beach yesterday. The last few times I’d been there had all ended badly – all to do with seriously bad service levels. I warned my friends that the blogs were STILL full of bad experiences and that it would be wiser to choose another establishment (perhaps with a better blog record). They were having none of it as they had heard and read what a wonderful setting the restaurant was in – and the day (yesterday) was a cracker. FYI, the food I’ve eaten during previous trips to The Grand has been well above-average and worth returning for – it’s just been difficult to get – on time, or at all. This time, I’m pleased to say, the service was incredible (and the food fine, too) and I put this down to our waiter, James, who ran around his tables until the sweat ran. We got there at 12 and left at 7 – and NOTHING was a problem for James. If management at The Grand (who were completely invisible on the day) could find more waiters of James’ calibre, their bad blog days would be at an end. We had an exceptional day – and will be back…but only as long as James is our waiter (‘cos I’m still a little suspicious that without him attending to us, we may have got some of the same ‘ol same ‘ol service – hoping I’m wrong, though.)