The Royale - Randburg

What a fabulous find! Marcel you are a wunderkind of Note. The yummiest food, the impeccable service, the music, the decor, the surfer bar all makes for a Hemingwayeaque magic. See you super soon.

Super impressed with this place. Walter, our waiter was great and very friendly. Food was excellent. Prawn curry is phenomenol. One of the managers, Dylan, had a tequila with us. Great vibe! Will be coming back again and again

Thank you for going above and beyond to make my birthday dinner extra special last night. Even the ouma and kiddies loved it. A little extra effort goes a long way. Good job all round. Too often places are lacking in either the vibe or food department...The Royale is on point.

This was my first ever experience of Cuban food. So this review might be slightly lengthy : <br/ <br/ So, as it’s widely known, Cuban cuisine is a blend of Spanish, African and other Caribbean cuisines. They are not so heavy with the spices but do carry a lot of variety in food. “The Royale” was my first experience with Cuban food so i had no idea what i was in for. But as it was selected by my 'foodie friend ', I knew I was in safe hands : . Cuba is a country which is well known for its colourful nature, be it the streets, their food, the people – everything with respect to that place says only one thing 'Relax and Enjoy '. So 'The Royale ' actually keeps up to these expectations.<br/ <br/ Ambiance the place is easy to spot thanks to the large 'red sign ' at the entrance. As soon as you enter, on the left side you will the second sign 'it’s Good '. The place is pretty large. Designed wonderfully keeping in mind the Cuban exteriors and interiors, you will find all of it in one place. Straight ahead is the bar where you can start off with the tequila shots to loosen yourself. Middle area is decked beautifully with colourful wallpapers and lights that are very catchy and instantly puts you in a happy and fanciful mood (evident because my friend started swaying left to right on listening to the songs Happy High :P . There is an outside smoking area which is designed like the streets of Cuba where you can see street lights, the furniture is exactly how you find outside on the street cafes and it’s a whole new world when you compare it to the inner one. We decided to take the inner booth as it was more comfortable for our lazy bums.<br/ <br/ Food The menu is short and sweet so it keeps in mind that you are not here to rack your brains like how we do over large menus and ultimately end up getting confused, but to have a chilled out relaxed time with your loved ones : . We started off with the 'Sliders chicken, pork and beef '. There are small burgers with amazing fillings inside. Hands down, the favourite was the beef one which had the perfect beef patty. Accompanied along with it (the second in command was the 'Chicharron de pollo ' this dish is simple yet amazing. It is just crispy fried chicken bites served with homemade mayo, but sometimes it’s just the simplicity that makes something amazing and this is the perfect example for that. For drinks, please do try the 'extra special long island ice tea ' which is very strong and instantly takes you virtually to the Cuban street :P. I went for 2 of them back to back and it was super nice :D.<br/ <br/ For the main course, both of us decided to stick to the authentic Cuban food. I went for the 'Ropa Vieja ' which is a traditional Cuban cuisine which is a shredded beef dish made with tomato curry and served with Sofrito rice. I am personally not a fan of too much tomato in my dishes (as it makes it sweet , but the meat was so well slowly cooked and the sofrito rice was just perfect on the palate. The portions are huge. Later on when i was actually reading about this dish, i came across an interesting fact – “Ropa Vieja” literally means “old clothes.” People call it old clothes because the shredded beef looks a little ragged, like old clothes :P. The other Devil with me challenged the 'Cuban Chicken ' (despite my warnings of its spiciness and hotness and she went down :D. With every bite, came a gulp of appletizer to balance the spice. I did try the chicken and it was just amazing. I could taste the charcoal flavour in the chicken and the meat was very well cooked considering it was the baby chicken.<br/ <br/ To the end the amazing meal, we both took the 'Almond Waffle '. The waffles were huge and paired perfectly with the ice cream. Despite having food filled up to our throats, we demolished the huge waffles and 'white flag ' (defeat was declared against the food : .<br/ <br/ Service: The staff is dressed impeccably in Hawaiian themed shirts and are very polite. They offered us a booth of 4 even though we were just 2. They knew their dishes well and were quick to respond to any query that came from us.<br/ <br/ I must say the first Cuban food experience was amazing and i thoroughly loved it : <br/ <br/ Would definitely love to visit again but this time it will be more tequila shots and less food :D<br/ <br/ Cheers !!

My all-time favourite Joburg gem. There classic daiquiri is incredible, the ambiance is so vibey and the food is sensational! Crushed potatoes, burgers and gorgeous dips are my go-to options!