Sunday, 14 October 2012

Rate Naija: Café Royal


CAFÉ ROYALE, Intercontinental Restaurant
267A Etim Iyang Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos.
+234-1-2714155 

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been to Café Royal quite the number of times so I might as well get the post about 'em over with.

I like Café Royal. I really do but...I just don't love it. I think the key reason is the food-to-cost ratio. What do I mean by that? Well, picture it like this: there’s nothing like going out to spend your hard-earned (for some of us, anyway) money on a meal and feeling like every single penny was worth it by the time you put your knife and fork down (or ask for some water to wash your hands--again, for some of us, anyway).  You know that feeling, right? It’s like that, damn, that was some good shit and I’d spend some good money again on that good shit in a heartbeat. 

I’ve gotten that great feeling in some places but I’ve never had the feeling at Café Royal . Like, the amount of money I have to spend on food in Café Royal to almost get that feeling is, more often than not, never justified to me by the end of the meal. The best it’s been is “well, that wasn’t bad at all, for once” and that was this one time when I had their blueberry pancakes, yum!

Anywayyyy, on to the verdict:

 
Pros:
- Great layout, décor and set-up. Their outdoor terrace upstairs is nice!
- Good customer service. It might lag a bit during peak periods but even then, they stay on top of it
- Blueberry pancakes (and I’m sure all their pancakes too)!!!! Light, fluffy, yummy. I’ll continue to be a repeat customer for this alone.
- Wide variety of food. Seriously, it’s like they’re trying to give Cheesecake Factory’s library book menu a run for its money. I always have decision paralysis when it comes to ordering.

Cons:
- The fact that most of the wide variety of food is…mehhhh
- Food-to-cost ratio sucks! They’re mad pricey, yo and if I’m shelling out obscene amounts of money, I sure as hell want more than a “meh” o_O (speaking about prices, go with back-up cash in hand as their card system is wonky at times)
- Fair warning, the crowd here can sometimes be uppity – (typical clientele tend to be entitled expats, prats et al) so if you’re looking for a place to let your hair down (assuming you have any), this might not be the place for you

Ideas for improvement:
Not sure that I have any or rather, that they need any. It seems like whatever they’re doing is working for their clientele…just not for me, most times

3 stars out of 5

L.

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