There’s been so many negative reviews about this local institution that I promised to go and do my own research and report back, so I did, and I am.
Weather delayed this mission by a week – we were going to go last Sunday but rain stopped play. Last Sunday, weather conditions were perfect.
Last Sunday, Annie and I took a long walk and arrived back at a very crowded Blue Peter. We didn’t wait long for a table to open up at that time, and because I was under duty to report back to you all, I made a note of the time – seated at 2:30pm. Knowing the place was busy we ordered drinks before the our overburdened waitress ran (literally) back to the kitchen with her arms full of the dishes she’d just cleared off our table.
I don’t know what it was about last Sunday, but it was like everybody joined the hive-mind and decided to descend on Tableview and Blouberg. I’ve been walking that beat for weeks and it has never been as busy as it was this past Sunday. I’ve been to Blue Peter when every table outside was full, and I’ve had surprisingly good service, but this time the outside section and the whole of the inside were packed, as was the bar and the grassy hill outside. If anything, this was going to be BP’s test in the fires.
Drinks came after a short wait. Not unacceptable. We ordered the line fish, only to be told a few minutes later that they were out of most things – no burgers, no line fish, so we changed our order to fish & chips, and resolved to make good with our mistress, the bathroom scale, some other time.
Food arrived after a 35 minute wait, just when I was at the critical point preceding hangriness where any more waiting and I would have jumped ship and bolted across the road to CTFM for sushi off the belt.
I’ve always said Blue Peter served the best fish, and I have yet to be proven wrong. Despite the fact that they were full beyond capacity, and yes, we were kept waiting because they were so full, the food was delicious as expected. The fish was so fresh you could still smell the ocean, perfectly cooked, light crispy batter, hand-cut chips cooked perfectly. Absolutely 10 out of 10.
The pizzas going past us to other tables looked delicious too, but we didn’t order any of those so I can’t say whether they were good or bad. But didn’t see anything going back to the kitchen and I only saw empty plates, so I’m assuming they were good.
I’m happy to report that for us, even though it was packed, Blue Peter is still my No 1 recommendation for fish in Blouberg and Tableview.
