So, its that time of the year again where we all have our year end functions. Some of our friends working for large corporate companies are lucky enough to be treated to weekend breakaways, all expenses paid of course.
Owning a small business Hanria and I opted to take our staff, 5 in total with their better halves to the Carnivore restaurant in Mulderdrift. Muldersdrift? for those who do not know where Muldersdrift is, its +/- 60km from Pretoria toward Krugersdorp.
In 2005 we stayed over at the Misty Hills Country Hotel for a night and had an excellent experience at the Carnivore Restaurant, hence our decision to treat our staff to this meaty experience. This buffet style restaurant offers (offered) a huge selection of meat that are "spitbraaied" (barbecued) over open flames and served at your table. The meat includes various game like, ostrich, crocodile, giraffe, impala and many other.
We made our reservation for 10 on Saturday 18 November 2006. Everyone was exited at the prospect of trying out the various meats on offer especially the exotic game meat.
Hanria and I arrived to be greeted by a non-welcoming gentleman at the "reception" area. Luckily we called everyone to tell them where our table was located as it is quite a large restaurant, so the rest of the party did not have to deal with the unfriendly gentleman.
After about 15 minutes we managed to find our waiter and order some drinks. This slow service from Bongani, our waiter was to carry on for the rest of the evening. i do understand that popular restaurants are very busy this time of the year but my logic tells me that one would employ more waiters in order to keep up your service level at this time.
We had our starters, also after waiting quite a long time, of pumpkin soup and freshly backed bread. Tasty as I remember my visit in 2005. Then it was time for the main course and we could not wait to tuck in. When starting your main course, a selection of salads and sauces are placed on the table. On my previous visit our waiter explained the salads and "pap and sous" as well as which sauces we should use with what the of meat presented. This time...nothing. Not even the waiters serving the meat offered any assistance with what sauces to have with the kind of meat given. Now..that might sound like a petty complaint, but what if I came from Germany or Russia and did not have a clue what these bowls of food on my table was.
I also noticed that the same selection and quantity of salads and sauces was placed on tables of 2 and 4 patrons but we were only offer 2 helpings for 10 which in the end, especially with the sauces proofed to little.
Loads of beef, chicken and pork sausages kept being offered to us throughout the evening. Only once were we offer Impala and after specifically asking for crocodile and giraffe we were offered these meats. Some people in my party actually took a stroll to the "cooking" area and saw that there were many other game meat on offer. Meats like Sable, Kudu, Impala and other..but we did were not offered any, even after asking.
After our meal we had a few more drinks and everyone expressed their disappointment in the whole experience and taht made me feel embarrassed for suggesting the Carnivore for our yea r end function.
The cost is R160 per person and it surely did not proof to be value for money. Maybe one is paying for the experience but I surely did not have the same experience as what I had in 2005.
So, my search for value for money will continue.
You may visit the Carnivore website at http://www.rali.co.za/
Owning a small business Hanria and I opted to take our staff, 5 in total with their better halves to the Carnivore restaurant in Mulderdrift. Muldersdrift? for those who do not know where Muldersdrift is, its +/- 60km from Pretoria toward Krugersdorp.
In 2005 we stayed over at the Misty Hills Country Hotel for a night and had an excellent experience at the Carnivore Restaurant, hence our decision to treat our staff to this meaty experience. This buffet style restaurant offers (offered) a huge selection of meat that are "spitbraaied" (barbecued) over open flames and served at your table. The meat includes various game like, ostrich, crocodile, giraffe, impala and many other.
We made our reservation for 10 on Saturday 18 November 2006. Everyone was exited at the prospect of trying out the various meats on offer especially the exotic game meat.
Hanria and I arrived to be greeted by a non-welcoming gentleman at the "reception" area. Luckily we called everyone to tell them where our table was located as it is quite a large restaurant, so the rest of the party did not have to deal with the unfriendly gentleman.
After about 15 minutes we managed to find our waiter and order some drinks. This slow service from Bongani, our waiter was to carry on for the rest of the evening. i do understand that popular restaurants are very busy this time of the year but my logic tells me that one would employ more waiters in order to keep up your service level at this time.
We had our starters, also after waiting quite a long time, of pumpkin soup and freshly backed bread. Tasty as I remember my visit in 2005. Then it was time for the main course and we could not wait to tuck in. When starting your main course, a selection of salads and sauces are placed on the table. On my previous visit our waiter explained the salads and "pap and sous" as well as which sauces we should use with what the of meat presented. This time...nothing. Not even the waiters serving the meat offered any assistance with what sauces to have with the kind of meat given. Now..that might sound like a petty complaint, but what if I came from Germany or Russia and did not have a clue what these bowls of food on my table was.
I also noticed that the same selection and quantity of salads and sauces was placed on tables of 2 and 4 patrons but we were only offer 2 helpings for 10 which in the end, especially with the sauces proofed to little.
Loads of beef, chicken and pork sausages kept being offered to us throughout the evening. Only once were we offer Impala and after specifically asking for crocodile and giraffe we were offered these meats. Some people in my party actually took a stroll to the "cooking" area and saw that there were many other game meat on offer. Meats like Sable, Kudu, Impala and other..but we did were not offered any, even after asking.
After our meal we had a few more drinks and everyone expressed their disappointment in the whole experience and taht made me feel embarrassed for suggesting the Carnivore for our yea r end function.
The cost is R160 per person and it surely did not proof to be value for money. Maybe one is paying for the experience but I surely did not have the same experience as what I had in 2005.
So, my search for value for money will continue.
You may visit the Carnivore website at http://www.rali.co.za/
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