Nelson’s Eye is a steakhouse in Cape Town’s Gardens neighborhood. It’s housed in a nondescript and somewhat decrepit looking building on a quiet street, and from the outside, it doesn’t look like it should be a fancy restaurant. I decided to give Nelson’s Eye a try for a Friday lunch. I arrived at 1pm, an hour after it’s advertised to open online and even on the printout tacked to the door, but I found the door still bolted shut. Through the window, I could see a waiter setting out tables, and he gestured me around to the back door. As I was seated, slowly more employees began to trickle in, including the guy with the front door key.

As the only one in the restaurant, I went ahead and ordered one of their specialty steaks, “Hollandse Biefstuk”—a 260 gram fillet, rolled in spices, brandy flambéed, and served in a fresh mushroom, mustard, and red wine butter based sauce—with a side of vegetables and fries. Soon I heard the manager aggressively yelling at one of the kitchen workers about how the creamed spinach had run out last night and they were only just now getting around to preparing more. My steak, pumpkin mash, and fries came out shortly thereafter and the spinach quite a bit later. The steak was truly delicious, extremely tender, and with a very tasty sauce. The veggies were perfectly acceptable and the fries were pretty good. They were served with a choice of fancy mustards, which was a nice touch.

So, the steak is really good if traditional steakhouses are your thing, but the atmosphere brings the place down a bit. Hopefully they are more prompt and have fewer or at least more candid awkward conflicts between employees during the dinner service. Nelson’s Eye prides itself as being a “1970s style” steakhouse, and it seems like the place hasn’t likely changed much since then. If you’re more into trends in food or contemporary atmosphere, look elsewhere. But Nelson’s will do for a great steak.