I don’t complain much about restaurants and bistro’s, it takes a lot to make me a really unhappy patron, but the Pop-Up Grill at Clearwater Mall, on the West Rand of Johannesburg was quite an astonishing experience.

Having seen that a new restaurant was due to open over the last four to five months, we decided to try it out for lunch. It had a nice appearance.

After having been seated quickly, our waitrons loomed large and long at the entrance to Pop-Up.The drinks arrived at a steady pace, thereafter our arms waved in the sky for some attention.

Looking at the menu for something for lunch that was not a full-on steak-in-your-face encounter I battled to find something light, like a fillet Prego roll or a kebab. Not an eater of boerie rolls, I passed over the numerous combinations of boerie rolls, and the large prawn and fish offerings.

I had to settle on a plate of chips, as there appeared to be no middle ground between a large meal and a salad. My other half ordered a butternut salad – it comprised: pieces of watercress/lettuce leaves, some chunks of butternut and some chunks of Danish feta and pine-nuts – no dressing. It was indeed a portion for slimmers with a nice price tag.

No condiments came to the table – perhaps they were on a condiment strike!

We both looked incredulously at this R75.00 serving! Poor showing. The taste I believe was nothing out of this world.When the Chef/Manager asked if everything was ok, our sour faces said it all. When asked about any dressing for the salad, he looked confused, and went on his merry way and brought some extra greens – a small plate of more leaves and a small jug of dressing proudly materialised.

I munched the so-so chips, and decided to continue shopping and find Café Rousse upstairs for a late lunch.

Interestingly enough on Zomato’s review of Pop-Up Grill, they have menus, and either we were not given the full menu or they had run out of sandwiches, as there was a section of lighter meals that we had no idea existed.

Too pooped to pop-by again….. and starving!

So underwhelmed!