Backyard Grill

The Backyard Grill & Lounge

3/7/2014

Shisa nyama in the city! Personally – I do love a braai, but if you fancy enjoying some grilled vleis – then The Backyard Grill in Sea Point offers a great alternative to enjoying one of our favourite South African pastimes (it’s no coincidence the t-bone is shaped like the African continent!).

The restaurant – squeezed between hair salons and Chinese shops - offers a laid-back beach-chic interior, and a spacious outdoor grill area. They boast a good seafood and meat menu, and you can select a dish from the menu or get creative, and your meat is cooked on the outside grill. Corkage is R30/bottle – but we made special arrangements with the owner Jason to enjoy our own wine; the first ever Constantia Valley red wine to be made from organically certified grapes.

The concept is not entirely new; you select your meat from the counter, and it’s priced per kilogram. You also then have a choice of typical braai sides - roast baby potatoes, garden salad, garlic bread, mielies etc.

We started off with a plate of tender ribs; generously soaked in the signature basting sauce. Tasty – and certainly kept the wolf at bay. This was followed by three platters of rib-eye, fillet and rump. The fillet came out tops for most, with the other two cuts not getting any rave reviews. The Tough Crowd ™ felt we were forced into the owner’s meat selection, to make things easier. We like choosing what we want to eat, not what the owner thinks we should have...

It was a refreshing change from the more formal restaurant vibe though. It’s loungy, comfortable and friendly, and Jason has gone to lengths to source quality meat. Unfortunately TBGL didn’t exactly shoot the lights out for us. It’s a great place to gather for a tjop and a dop, and has a nice homely braai-at-your-mate’s house feel, but Carne can rest easy that it will not be dethroned by the Young Turk.

Overall:    6.5 (average of scores)
Steak:      6.6
Sides:      5.9
Service:    5.8
Value:       7.5

4 Comments

Fellla

3/7/2014 08:26:26

Our host’s dedication to Steak Night can't be questioned and even though he's got a lot on his plate and was given hosting duties at pretty short notice, he went above and beyond with his efforts.

I thought the Backyard Grill was a nice call. I'd heard good things about it and had it up my sleeve for my next hosting gig, and enjoyed almost all of it, except the crucial element of the steak. It had a different feel, quite homely and felt like a very good braai at a mates house, I like that.

Hosting: 5/5 - Full marks for the ground-truthing recce and for briefing the owner.
Steak: 6/10 - Disappointing. All 3 cuts didn't do it for me. I found the meat tough and dry. Needed shaush, and steak should never need shaush. I liked the ribs though, but ribs is ribs.
Sides: 4/5 - Different, but I liked them. Potato salad and roasted veg, a welcome departure from the Saffa Steakhouse Staples of chips, creamed spinach and butternut.
Service: 3/5 - I liked that the owner served us, but found him to be too rigid, to prescriptive, telling us what we were going to have.
Value: 4/5 - Not bad, but not cheap considering that we brought our own 'flavours' of wine. Thanks for picking up the tab guy

Thanks for a great night, boys!

3/7/2014 08:27:05

That was one of the best steak nights I've had in a while. Comfortable and relaxed setting, and some of the best oaks in the work to hang out with. The score doesn't do the night justice, but if we are rating restaurants, then the score is the score...

Steak 7/10 Certainly not the best in town, but more than edible
Sides 3.5/5 Right time, right place for those sides. Agree that chips were noted to be missing
Service 3/5
Value 3/5 If it were not for the 6 bottles of Zonnestraal's finest we might all be singing a different tune

Top effort, and thanks for the Shiraz! Here's looking forward to Friday afternoon pizza lunches.

Son

3/7/2014 08:27:30

Steak - 3.5/5 - rump did nothing for me, fillet was great
Sides - 3/5 - loved the potato salad, but what no fries or onion rings...
Service - 3/5 - tough crowd, but I like choosing what I want, not what the owner thinks we should have...
Value - 4/5 - you cant go wrong with R280 odd for a SN - thank you for the dinner guy

Great night as usual gents

3/7/2014 08:27:51

Quick review from me...

Steak: 6/10 - Was a bit too braai like for me with a couple charred pieces. The fillet was pretty good though.
Sides: 2/5 - Nice change from the usual chips, onion rings and spinach but still not great taste.
Service: 3/5 - Owner was quite keen to look after us but can't remember the waiter bending over backwards. In fact can't even remember the waiter...
Value: 4/5 - Thanks for picking up the tab but price was pretty reasonable per head regardless.

The Backyard Grill & Lounge

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