Hunger is definitely one of the banes of my life. It doesn’t matter how much you eat, you always get hungry again. You can stuff yourself till you are in pain and can’t stand the sight of food, but in a few hours time you’ll be hungry again. The big problem with hunger is that it makes your eyes grow. You have heard the adage, ‘don’t go shopping on an empty stomach’. Well, it’s very true. When you are hungry, everything looks so damn tasty (especially at Woolies). You end up buying twice as much.
This was the problem we had when we ate at Braza in Century City. Braza is a new franchise restaurant owned by the company that owns the Ocean Basket. They are aiming to offer value for money Portuguese fare in the same way that Ocean Basket offers value for money seafood. I would say they are doing a good job.
It was about 2pm and we hadn’t had anything to eat up till then. We were so hungry that our eyes were the size of 4 stomachs. We looked at the menu and EVERYTHING sounded like just what we felt like eating. So, we ordered mains and starters each. I ordered the Chorizo sausage (R25) and my dining partner ordered the Chicken Livers (R18). They both came with a Portuguese roll, which meant that by the time we had finished the starter we were full. Nonetheless, motivated by the tastiness of the starters, and not to be intimidated by something so trivial as satiation (is that a word?) we awaited the mains.
We both ordered the same thing, the Braza House Chicken (R43). It’s enough for 2 people: 3 chicken breasts, veggies and potatoes all smothered in a rich, creamy garlic and wine (I think, can’t quite remember) sauce. We had to eat quickly so that the feeling of fullness wouldn’t prevent us from finishing the food on our plates. It was very tasty, any lack in that department would have afforded us an excuse to not eat it all, but no, it needed to be eaten.
The menu is typically Portuguese, offering espetada, peri-peri chicken, prego, ribs, prawns, sardines and all the other things you would expect to see. The prices are very reasonable and the food is very tasty. The service was average, but they are quite new so that might improve. I did not even look at the winelist so can’t tell you much. I would say that it is definitely good value for money.
We rolled out of there feeling very uncomfortable. I swore I wouldn’t eat for a week, but lasted only till breakfast.
Comments
6 responses to “Braza Review”
I eat there often when on shopping trips, its also a great way to feed the whole family (great food, big portions for little money).
Tips: try their Caiperinha… its made with Real Cashasa and costs around R12 bucks. They also have a platter special R100 bucks for their prawn and Moz chicken special – its fantastic and fees 2.
Dax, their wines are cheap too. Next time you are there ask for Robbie and he might give you free drinks…
Last night (14 June 07) was the worst restaurant experience in my whole life. Firs of all, we got at Braza Restaurant last of a group of about 26 people. 30 Min later no waiter assisted us with drinks.
Ordering food was chaos. It was like a vegetable market n Cape Town! Waiters yelling “chicken livers” “chicken livers” and you had to put up your hand when they yelled out the food you ordered. I was the unlucky one toe have bitten on something hard and I left the table for the bathroom to get it out of my mouth and see what it was.
A yellow halfbitten cracked fingernail about 5mm long!!!! in my chicken livers!
I put it in a tissue to show my partner and we decided to leave the situation because we are invited by other people who happens to be his boss.
For mains I orderd the angelfish. It was like a hard piece of rubber. (Gedroogte sout-snoek sou beter geproe het.) First off all it would’ve been better served warm and eating utensils would’ve been nice. I waited for 10min to get a waiter to get me a fork and a knife. Lucky for me he brought a steak knife for the very dry fish. The fork he gave me was dirty and I started wiping it of whith one of the wet wipes, when another waiter came by and I asked him for a clean fork. The dirty fork stayed there on te table whith the wet wipe around it and so did all the empty glasses and plates.
The food was served and everybody was eating exept for one woman. They FORGOT her food! Everybody finished their meal and the waiter brought hers in a doggybag. When it was time for dessert the kitchen was CLOSED! But somehow somebody organised to open it for deserts.
We ordered coffee and 45 minutes later we got it but no milk. Eventually when the milk came my coffee was cold.
We were about 26 people and there were about 6 waiters around us. I never saw a manager. The service was so poor I will never go back to Braza
That sounds terrible, it’s unfortunate you were there with your partner’s boss because you should have given them hell. Thanks for warning us.
Might I suggest that you send a copy of your comment via their feedback form on their website http://www.braza.co.za/feedback.asp
Maybe they will do something about it.
I was with Ellaine and the group of people. I have been to my fair share of Restaurants and I was appalled by the service. I have never been to a restaurant where you wait 40 minutes for a glass of coke! I’m not going to write too much about this as I know I will never ever go back there. Surely that when you have a table this large you should put reliable waiters on call or have them at the table, there was one young women who took my order and I can say it was done swiftly but as for the others… I ordered the Beef Espetada and asked for a sauce with it, the waiter assured me this was not necessary as it came with one. It was like eating leather ( I asked for medium rare) My girlfriend ordered the Chicken Espetada and I could of used it as a weapon. Surely its not that difficult to stuff up a chicken like that. I will say though that my starter was very good but very cold. There are a vast number of things that i could carry on about but one that shocled me was the fingernail in the livers, If i had known about that I myself would have said something to someone regardless who was there, as thats just plain disgusting! The lady who sat opposite me never even got her food, once everyone had finished eating their meals she asked one of the waiters where her main course was, he promptly went down the stairs to find out what had happened. Around 15 minutes later he came back ( we never took your order I am sorry ) So when suggested a doggy bag as she was not going to eat whilst everyone was chatting and socialising.
I am utterly amazed by this place, i still cant believe it.
Anyway i just hope that the next person has a better experiance then i did.
Cheers
I’m amazed at the poor service these people had, as we have only ever had amazing service and food from them.
I drive about 40 km weekly, just to have a Mojito there!
It is simply the best in Cape Town.
Enjoyed your info, just a pity ons cannot connect to braza.co.za!