Sugarcane Falls Short of Expectations
Sugarcane
6 Ologun Abaje Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
FOLLY: I've learned that it's important to give restaurants ample time after they've opened to sort out their kinks. Ample time, for me, is a month, Nosa doesn't always feel the same way.
NOSA: Ample time is a week after opening night. You've had a proper feel of your operations structure and you can make changes. Crust & Cream sorted out their opening night issues after a week.
FOLLY: That said, I'm not blaming "not being ready" for Sugarcane's inadequacies, nah this is on them as a restaurant for not serving what the menu stated.
NOSA: Exactly.
FOLLY: First of all, it took a while for a waitress to attend to us. I hate it when waiters want to take your order immediately after giving you the menu as if you have some superpower that allows you to peruse the entire menu in 30 seconds, so I told her to come back in 2 minutes and that was my biggest regret. It took forever and a day to get her to come back.
NOSA: Wait times, I can forgive. Within the first few weeks of a restaurant opening, unless it's pure garbage, there'll always be a crowd. And it makes no sense staffing like that crowd is going to be consistent because it isn't. This is Lagos. We're fickle and Buhari is trying to kill us.
FOLLY: Eventually we got attended to, and we ordered the Grilled Calamari and Blooming Onion to start.
NOSA: I was really excited about the Blooming Onion because I always got it at Outback Steakhouse in college.
FOLLY: The blooming onion was okay, I like the consistency of the batter and the onion was the sweet kind and thankfully not gross red onion.
The grilled calamari was also just okay and if I'm being completely honest, a little disappointing. I was disappointed because it just had a lot of pepper and no distinct flavour.
NOSA: This lack of flavor will become a running theme as this post progresses. I didn't mind the calamari, unlike Folly, because I wasn't expecting too much from grilled calamari in the first place.
FOLLY: Everything went downhil when my main arrived. What I really should have done was send the entire thing back because it was NOT what I ordered but what I did was barely eat it but still pay for it because I'm a mug.
I ordered the chicken burrito bowl and got a tasteless chicken burrito.
FOLLY: I was even more irritated when we complained to the waitress and she, unfazed, dropped the plate on the table and let out an audible "nawa oh" as she walked away. She later brought the menu and showed me where it said chicken burrito and then I pointed out the word "bowl" that followed burrito and then she said "this is how we serve it".
NOSA: Clearly, this is not a burrito bowl. A burrito bowl should look like this:
Not this:
FOLLY: The guacamole was consumed with lime and the chicken had absolutely no seasoning, bar salt. Can you see how white it is? Imagine if Anne Hathaway was a burrito, this would be it.
NOSA: Let's ignore the fact it's not an actual burrito bowl for a second. The burrito itself was pretty underwhelming. There's a distinct lack of flavor and that is probably Sugarcane's biggest crime. Add the fact that the fries, in the side, needed a helping of salt, you get the impression that the chef is in a never ending battle with seasoning.
NOSA: For my main, I got another college favorite - The Monte Cristo.
A Monte Cristo is a ham sandwich with a twist, i.e. you sub regular toast for French Toast. In other words, it's a bit "sweet". This one wasn't, and while that disappointed me, I let it slide on the grounds that different chefs might have their different styles.
What really pissed me off was the fact they used processed yellow cheddar cheese. Like, the ones you buy in supermarkets. For a sandwich at this price point, making it with processed cheese is unforgiveable. Spare me the Buharinomics too, I can walk into Delis and buy everything I need to make this and not spend as much I did on the day.
FOLLY: I had planned to stay for dessert cause that menu looked interesting but after the burrito bowl debacle, there wasn't a chance in hell.
POSTSCRIPT
NOSA: I really wanted Sugarcane to be good. I made excuses at every point until the burrito bowl debacle.
FOLLY: Sugar-Nope.
NOSA: I hope it gets better because right now, Sugarcane flatters to deceive. And it wasn't just us.
FOLLY: FWIW, the strawberry lemon mojito was pretty good.
NOSA: The Philly Cheesesteak Egg Roll is mad delicious though.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Monte Cristo - N4410
Blooming Onion - N2625
Chicken Burrito Bowl - N4515
Spicy Grilled Calamari - N3675
Frozen Spiked Chapman - N2625
Strawberry Lemon Mojito - N2835
PARKING
The security guards are sensible and parking is readily available.