Last night I went to try out Gibson’s Grill in Tokai. It was a mixture of positives and negatives. First impressions were good, the place was full and that fact combined with the warmth of the terracotta coloured walls created a nice ambiance. The service was fine, no complaints. They have jugs of cold water with ice and lemon on the counter and they fill your water glass whenever it looks empty. That was great, not having to get a waiter’s attention just for a glass of water.
The wine list has an adequate selection of wine and is reasonably priced. A number of nice bottles priced from R55 to R75. I think the most expensive ones were around R120. The menu offers a selection of seafood, meat, chicken and vegetarian and is not as reasonably priced as the wine list. A steak plus sauce could set you back up to R100.
One of us had the Mussels in a creamy white wine and garlic sauce. The sauce was very tasty but for R35 you expect more than 5 mussels. The Trichado starter was very average. Also very small for R35 and not very hot nor very tasty. For mains two of us had the Chef’s Skewer which is basically an Espetada. 300g for R75 plus another R10 for the sauce. After removing the fat and sinew, I still found myself having to do a lot of chewing. I had a headache in my temple from all the chewing in fact. My other companion had the ribs. He said they were good but nothing special. We managed to clock up a bill of over R500 between 3 of us with only 2 bottles of wine.
In conclusion, Gibson’s Grill is average. I reckon if you are just popping in for a plate of pasta and a glass of wine, you will have no complaints. But if I’m paying that much for meat dishes, there are other places I would prefer to go to.
Gibson’s Grill
21 Tokai Road, Tokai
Tel: 021 712 7022