Last week I joined a few friends of mine for dinner at the newly revamped – Don Pedro’s in Woodstock.

Apparently Don Pedro’s before was a bit of a dodgy spot, but now the Madame Zingara folks have given it new life with a renovation true to their usual fabulous style, focusing this time on transporting you back to the 70s.

Just FYI: they add R20 pp to the bill to cover the piano man.  But he’s totally cool.

Lots of odd pieces, from vintage lamps to interesting old pictures… really loved it.

The menu is also 70s inspired, so think avo ritz, duck a l’orange and other classics.  For starters, almost everyone at the table went for the squid heads starter (didn’t get the price):

I had a small taste and immediately had serious starter envy…

I on the other hand went for the Avocado Ritz Marie Rose (R56.35) – not that I’m a huge avo ritz fan in general, but it just felt like it was the right thing to go for to really get into that 70s vibe.  The presentation was certainly one of a kind:

And you can keep the Barbie doll (if that’s your thing)

I was really glad we sorted ourselves with starters though.  Because the wait for our mains turned out to be a loooooooooong one.

My friend Shell wasn’t that hungy – so she actually decided to go for a 2nd starter – Duck & Dumpling soup (R45.65) instead of a main. 

The problem with this was that it actually first arrived without any dumplings.  When we asked the waitress about it, her answer was simply “oh whoops”.  I was really suprised that they had managed to miss one of the two key elements of the dish.  I mean really now…

More waiting followed… then all of a sudden this serving of Duck Egg Ravioli (R75) was put down on our table:

None of us ordered it.  So we sent it back.  But about 5min later it came back again and we were told we might as well have it cause they don’t know who’s it is. OK then, free is free!   We each got a little taste, but out of the 6 of us there were no real fans.  We considered feeding it to the doggie who was eyeing it out:

But we figured it probably wouldn’t be good for his diet… sorry my boy!

Myself, Lara & Lauren all ordered the Rissotto a la Melanzane (R71.65) – Risotto cakes topped with aubergine parcels – as our mains.  The presentation was quite flamboyant.  Check it out:

But sadly it arrived cold…   We asked them to just zap it in the micro for a bit, figured that would be the quickest option.  3 plates left… and quite some time later… only 2 plates returned.  Seemed they had misplaced the third.  Hmmmm.  It eventually reappeared, but by that point I think all of us were seriously over this dish.

The correct option for mains it seems was Mike’s choice, the French Fooked Fillet (R129.95):

He was nice enough to give me a bite and I have to say it was truly delicious.  I was kicking myself for not sticking to my natural instinct of going for the red meat option.  But noooo, Karisa had to be all fancy pants and went for the bloody risotto balls.  Stupid stupid girl.

Another fairly good option was Johan’s – the Funghi al Pesto (R74.65), which is basically a whole bunch of good stuff served with spinach & ricotta filled ravioli:

All ‘n all I think the food was a bit hit or miss and the service could best be described as lekker loskop.  We didn’t make it to dessert.  I think we were just feeling a bit fed up by that stage…

So instead of just giving you guys my rating for Don Pedro’s (because I had mixed feelings), I thought I’d do things slightly differently this time round.  I went round the table and asked everyone to give Don Pedro’s a rating out of 5 for the food, ambience & service respectively.  This is how they scored:

So if you average that out, the Miss K Kiss-o-Meter ratings work out as follows:

• Food: 
• Ambience: 
• Service: 

It’s clear from that outcome that the look & feel of the place is their winning point.  It really is a fun atmosphere.  I think because of that, I’d be willing to give them another bash… but next time obviously going straight for the steak baby!

xxx