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. :)
Glen
Hehe, being from the Blouberg area myself, it is quite well known here that Blue Peter is not the place to be on a Saturday night or should I say, any other night.
But one thing that Blue Peter is well known for is having drinks there on a Sunday evening to watch the sun go down over Robben Island. The place is packed to capacity and the vibe is great. The service isn’t steller, but hey, it is the only beachfront vibey place in the area. The other beachfront spot is Doodles, but that place is just plain dodgy and hasn’t seen a makeover in 300 years.
But there is no place like Le Med on a Sunday evening, but like many other Bloubergers, we are surely not going to travel all the way to Camps Bay to have risk driving home with a couple of toots under our belts. So, Blue Peter does the trick.
But I have to agree with you in a big way, Blue Peter after dark once the crowds have dispersed – not a good idea.
Kerry-Anne
Post authorThanks for the comment, Glen. We’ve done the sundowners thing at Blue Peter a few times with friends, but I don’t know… for some reason I’ve just never enjoyed the vibe. It does strike me as a bit odd that there are no rocking nightspots in the area though, given the huge expansion there over the last few years.
pedro
hi y’all,
I moved to Blouberg from crowdy Rome in Italy 12 years ago and Blue peter was there and rocking on Thursday as a summer sundowner spot and as a hang out spot for surfers and windsurfers, it was just a grat vibe! but the pizza always sucked, being italian I can’t take a margherita with a thick layer of garlic to destroy it, shameful. the problem with that spot is that being a cash cow it has always been run as a low management place, bad service and bad management. it could improve a lot. the only vibey place at that time was Babeloo’s in the marine circle, a place to be after midnight also on thursday night. I can recall people driving from cape town to be there, now with 2 kids and many responsibilities I wouldn’t know. perhaps Pokalolo? the surfers bar on the beachfront in the primi piatti building…..don’t know, I don’t drink much and if I go out is to see old friends.
we should create a nice vibey place in blouberg, let’s see what happens in the new beachfront developement in big bay, it will take a few years though.
see you there with my kids, I’ll have to watch them from far just to make sure they behave……