This evening we decided to go out for dinner as we had family up from Durban and thought why not try somewhere new. Parreirinha was a well known Portuguese restaurant not far from us in Johannesburg South that closed the doors back in 2023. This was a tough business call as they had been in situ for 48 years. Another Portuguese restaurant called Callisto's moved about 10 years prior back in 2014 and has become the number one Portuguese restaurant in Johannesburg.
A collection of ties hanging through the restaurant from patrons who maybe after a few drinks felt obliged to add to the tradition of leaving their ties behind to boost the collection.
The original restaurant was located in the old jail cells in Rossetenville and the only reason they closed their doors was the area became too dangerous for patrons to visit. This was the only reason I had avoided this restaurant as the reviews were all rather good being highly recommended.
Last week I saw someone had posted their latest visit to the new Parreirinha restaurant that had opened in Blairgowrie keeping the same menu as these were the same owners as the original Parreirinha restaurant or rather their children now in charge. The owners were in attendance this evening and you can see why the place is very popular.
We booked an early sitting as we were also taking the grand kids along so we had a table of 8 adults and 2 kids. Booking on a Tuesday evening I presumed was not essential and had phoned ahead and made reservations just in case. Lucky we did as during the dinner service the board outside said fully booked which is a first for me seeing this.
The atmosphere was great with the background music not being too loud and you could hear the murmur of people talking. If I had to guess many tables were businessman drinking beers and having a good meal along with couples in their 40's to 50's so definitely not many families dining out even though it is school holidays. The restaurant is situated in the northern suburbs bordering Sandton so this is definitely the wealthier parts of Johannesburg.
The most important part is the food and this was the biggest let down because I have no idea what all those people had been eating doing those marvelous reviews. Maybe it was the venue more than the food when eating in the old jail cells that made the difference. The Portuguese table sauce was more like petrol which bought me to tears which is a first and at least cleaned my sinuses out good and proper. The heat was definitely in the sauce, but it had no flavor and was actually quite disgusting.
Granny had fish which was very nice only for the reason she could not find anything else she fancied on the menu. She also encountered two bones during the meal and she is fussier than me and any fish bone puts her off immediately.
I had the Portuguese chicken and it basically lacked any type of flavor as I was comparing my food to Calisto's and kind of regretted coming here. This was a35 minute drive and Calisto's is less than 5 minutes from my home. For me this was a 3/10 effort and nothing to rave about. For those interested the total bill was R2700 excluding tip so it was close to R3000 once all settled up which is around $200 so still cheapish for 8 adults and 2 kids compared to most other countries when you convert.
My daughter had a steak which she did not enjoy and in all honesty we make better food at home and the entire meal was a complete let down.
I would say this would be a pop in place to grab a drink on the way home rather than a place to go and dine. We had a few home made desserts which the creme caramel was great and the others average and nothing to say I will be coming back for more. I am glad we tried this restaurant out because now we know and will be sticking to visiting Calisto's in the future.
