The Lower Deck Bistro at the Blue Peter has never been one of my favourite spots in Cape Town, although it seems a lot of our friends like it - I know this because we keep getting invited to things there. :) Usually these "things" are informal lunch-time meetups or sundowners, but this time it was an evening birthday party.
Although the birthday party itself was lovely (we got to see a whole lot of old friends we hadn't seen in ages), the experience pretty much sealed my impressions of the Blue Peter as A Place I Don't Want To Go To Again. As you may be able to tell from the photo, there weren't a lot of other people at the venue. In fact, there weren't really any other people at all. In fact... yes, I think you get the picture. This struck us as rather odd, given that it was a Saturday night.
Apparently the first members of our party to arrive had been told (at 6pm, before they'd even placed their first drinks orders), "Last rounds are at 21h45... as long as you know that." An odd start to the evening, wouldn't you say? By 20h00, after we'd finished our pizzas, it had become clear that the manager and his waitrons were rather keen for us to move the party elsewhere. We were obviously the only customers there by that time, and they'd presumably decided that getting an early night was a better option than wasting their time serving just one table. They hovered near the entrance, glancing over at us constantly, and the waitress passed a remark at one point that she was "just worried, because no-one's drinking", which wasn't true, of course - we just weren't drinking much alcohol. ;-)
All in all, it became pretty weird and uncomfortable, until we eventually left at around 9pm; and Paul and I certainly won't be going back if we can help it. If you don't mind being watched by the manager while you sip your latte, or having the waitress raise her eyebrows in disbelief when you order your whiskey without ice, then you'll probably enjoy it more than we did. :)