I paid a long-overdue visit to Buena Vista Social Cafe in Cape Town for dinner about three weeks ago. That was also unfortunately probably my last visit to the restaurant. While the service was acceptable (though not particularly memorable) the quality of the food was somewhat in contrast to what I'd come to expect from the Buena Vista.

In a last attempt salvage my image of Buena Vista Social Cafe, I visited ther branch in Tyger Valley. On arrival I noticed that while the decor looked the same as it always had, the restaurant's name and menu had changed, and it was in fact no longer Buena Vista Social Cafe. The service at the new restaurant was unfortunately also only acceptable, and Kerry-Anne and I both felt the food okay, but probably not worth a repeat visit.

To be honest though, the thing that I find most disappointing was that they have an awesome smoking section in the restaurant - filled with couches where patrons can relax while enjoying snacks and a few drinks. That would have been great, except for the fact that we don't smoke and the idea of spending an hour or two in those smelly surroundings with a coughing-sneezing wife isn't particularly palatable. :-/