Dale’s Black Angus Grill

5/26/2013

It was a dark and eerie night; the Mother City shroud in a thick spooky fog. Dead leaves swirled through the dark streets, as we drove deep into the night. It was perhaps fitting; as it was our first journey beyond the shadows of The Mountain. Beyond the shire…

Another Steak Night was upon us.

We had pretty much exhausted the local top steak restaurants, so it was time to journey out. So...welcome to The Paddocks, Milnerton. Home to Dale’s Black Angus Grill, which as its name might suggest, is a specialist steak restaurant. It’s located in a tacky shopping mall, which has to be my least favourite setting for a restaurant. I loathe shopping passers-by leering at my food, clutching their Pick n Pay bags.

Fear not though, as the restaurant is an open double-storey with only a few tables spilling out in ala café style.

Search for ‘best steaks in Cape Town’, and Dale’s comes up near the top most of the time. Their chateaubriand is highly rated, as is the Special Reserve 21 - "The Best Steak you'll ever eat".

Really. Big claim. A weighty claim for The Tough Crowd ™. You may well have said “My name is Candy and I lurv bukkake”. It had to be done; there were nine orders for the Special Reserve.

It is a side-seared rib cut steak (matured for 21 days) topped with herb butter, and everyone agreed their beef was beautifully tender, and cooked perfectly. The big boys chose the 400g cuts, but my 250g steak was more than enough. Perfect gradation and bursting with flavour.

Was it the best I have ever tasted though? No. But I will give it the - "The Best Steak you'll ever eat in Milnerton".

Still, it was an excellent meal. The service by the efficient and courteous staff was very good. And at R300 each – including some starters, dessert and vino – good value.

Overall:   7.2
Steak:     7.4
Sides:     5.0
Service: 8
Value:     8

7 Comments

Fella

5/27/2013 07:24:21

This Bish-snob should get to Millerton more often. I've had two great experiences there - the Millerton Market for AfrikaBurn was a revelation and now Dale's Black Angus thereby the Paddocks.
The shuttle was a great idea, making even the commute to and from the Steak & Wine Club function full of laughs and good times.
Steak: While my side-seared (fillet) rib cut was very, very good, it wasn't - as Dale (and Trymore) promised - The Best Steak I'll Ever Eat. I would give this steak an 8.5 but Dale loses a point for over-promising and under delivering - 7.5/10
Sides: The plate was tiny and the chips were pretty arb. I was OK with that veggie skewer but maybe with a bigger plate they could fit more on than a cube of butternut and a mushroom. 2.5/5
Service: The service was pretty damn good. Trymore was a lovely bloke. Not so sure about Sebastian eavesdropping from under the stairs. How long had he been there for? But full marks for leaping out to defend the shitty bog in the ceiling. 4/5
Ambience: I'm not a fan of shopping centre restaurants generally, and Dale's was a quintessential one, but it had a pretty good vibe and seemed to pull in the non-Old Diocesan punters. I did notice that we were the last to leave AGAIN, not sure if it because it was late or because we cleared the joint out AGAIN with our loud banter about bukkake. 3/5
After dinner mint: Fantastic, as always. Whipskys at Orphanage were pretty good, although we did make it look like a gay bar when the 10-strong Tough Crowd™ pulled in. 4/5
Overall: 21/30 = 70% - a very solid night, like my stool this morning. Good work, Reno. Top debut effort there.

Happy Friday, ous!

5/27/2013 07:25:34

A rather slow morning is indicative of a good steak and wine club function...

Good opener for Reno. Taking us into areas of Cape Town that certain Bishops boys have never frequented! I must admit that the shuttle did an additional dimension to the evening but it was great not to have to take any chances or use Goodfellas etc. Besides the fact that we have to cast the net wider in 2013 to find and proclaim the 2013 Steak Club winner!
A very slow start for me this morning is definitely a result of a 400g steak and a few jars!

Ambience - 3/5 - good steakhouse vibe. Shopping centre setting a bit dull, toilets kak but generally a good table and it was busy which is always a good sign
Steak - 4/5 - Phew!!! A big call on the "best steak ever". Mine was good but not in the "best ever" league... The herb butter and basting was very good
Sides - 3/5 - chips were not great. Prefer them to arrive on the table versus your plate. Not a huge fan of the veggie skewer and the onion rings were so-so
Service - 4/5 - Trymore? He couldn't have tried harder! Good service and good on the owner chatting to us.
After dinner - 4/5 - Not a crazy night but fun nonetheless - a whiskey at Orphanage is always a pleasure for us married with children folk. Excellent kak praat always guaranteed!

A stable 18/25 / 72% score!!

Good work Reno!!

Lekker naweek ouens!

BD

monk

5/27/2013 07:27:16

Not feeling very clever or particularly witty this morning. Probably due to the additional home ting; but offset by beating Kev at FIFA for the first time ever (twice).
• Steak: The 1335th Special Reserve steak, served to the 3333rd customer for May ‘13, was indeed very tasty, but alas not the best ever. As per Fraser’s suggestion – maybe change to “The Best Steak You’ll Ever eat in Millerton”. Plating was average; and the plate itself too small. 8/10
• Sides: Chips were plentiful, but average. Veggie skewer was a nice effort – but looked a bit lost. 2/5
• Service: Trymore was enthralled by our ‘ricks conversation, and I bet he wished he studied accounting at school. Good man - 4/5
• Value: R305 for some starters, saucy steak, and pudd counts as value to me, and at £21.1 definitely so for the guys fresh off the boat. 3.5/5
• After dinner shenanigans: Always good – and enhanced by good lags in the shuttle. I hoped nobody vommed in the back; an additional R450 cleaning charge is applicable.
• Overall: 7/10

Olas

5/27/2013 08:36:44

Good solid steak, but nowhere near approaching the ‘best ever’.
Good banter though, and as always a great evening out.

J Shannon

5/27/2013 08:37:32

Great night. Good to see all of you. Felt like I was an honorary guest from overseas rather than one of the CT guys. Even let Lloyd win a few games of FIFA. Price you have to pay for a roof over your head. Ha!

Nice one. Looking forward to becoming a regular.

Finchy

5/27/2013 08:38:11

First steak hosting night under my belt - phew. Definitely a tough crowd but nonetheless good company and lots of laughs.

Unfortunately I don't have previous steak nights to compare scores but thought the standard of that place was pretty high...

Steak - "The best steak you'll ever eat" was always gonna fetch some criticism but since it's all about the taste and not about the marketing, I was quite happy with mine. I've had some pretty good steaks in London in recent times and this wasn't as good as the best I've had and actually the sauce for me was good, but not fantastic. 7/10.
Sides - Was quite happy with my sides. Chips were great and veggies tasted good although too small a portion. Being served on the main meal plate was a bit out of the norm which is weird given we never serve sides at home on seperate plates! 3.5/5
Service - Trymore certainly game for a laugh even when we tore into his name with shouts of "Must try Harder" bellowing through the room. 4/5.

Value - Again only London to compare with here and that seemed like pretty good value to me. 4.5/5.

Overall 7.5/10. Not a bad starter!

Thanks for a great evening!

Souta

5/27/2013 08:38:39

The Paddocks, just a few furlongs from the old Milnerton Racecourse was a bit of a stretch out of the comfort zone for some. There had been some hype of this venue before,...and Dale pulled no punches with "The best steak you'll ever eat in your lifetime, ever". Mighty ballsy of him putting it in print with Steak and Wine Club Function Tough Crowd™ about to sample his fare.

The table placed under the stairs, a strategic move some might say, allowed for Sebastian to defend his poor toilet location and perhaps give him a few pointers on how he could up his game should he get another visit from the Tough Crowd™. Sneaky bastard.
On the whole the experience was not earth shatteringly brilliant, but I'm sure the nouveau set of Sunset Beach and those folk out Table View way would disagree. It is however, a little harder to convince the well healed and certainly well traveled members of the Steak and Wine Club Function.
So here's my take:
Steak: 7/10 (-1 for the overclaim)
Sides: 2/5 - vast room for improvement, kem 'en
Service: 4/5 - Trymore doing what his name badge says
Value: 4/5 - yup, I'll give 'em 4, but only just.
18/25 or an above average 72%.
Thanks boys, - until the next time. WHO'S UP?

Dale’s Black Angus Grill

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