Kyoto@Tokyo Sky - Fourways

This weekends long island drinking was a little more frustrating than we had planned. The place we had originally planned to go to had shut down so we ended up going to Kyoto.

Firstly presentation was fair, the usual nothing too amazing. Personally i thought that there a bit too much ice and made it difficult to stir without messing. I must say that i have decidedly gained a distaste for the sour mix variety of the long island ice tea. I feel that it has too much bite and does not taste enough like tea. We didn't have to wait long for our second round. I was quite impressed that the owner was quiet accommodating when we wanted to have them with lime instead of sour mix. I definitely prefer it with lime instead of sour mix.

Presentation: 5/10
Taste: 4/10
Service: 6/10

Overall rating: 4/10 nothing impressive and the drinks weren't that great.

Robs take on things:

Presentation: A stock standard looking long island, plenty of ice... really wicked looking dark straws and a lemon chunk (Where oh where are the slices) (5/10)

Taste: American style, sour mix included. It tasted better than News cafes methinks, the difference I would put down to far less cola being used and a smaller bit of lemon added to the mix. Second round tasted identical, with the third being the best after we convinced the manager to use lime instead of sour mix. (5/10)

Service: We were well looked after, plenty of help from all the staff, quick refills and nummy food. Place had a good vibe, and its a pity that the centre itself seems to be suffering. (6/10)

Overall I'm going to give the place a down the middle (5/10) and an M-Score of 0.9

A long island will cost you R36.00

News Cafe - Rivonia

Let me start off by explaining the whole way we run franchises, its quite simple they only get one chance. Makes our lives simple else we would have to be going to a hell of a lot more places, as if the world isn't big enough.

So without further adieu:

Dave's Cogitation

News Cafe is generally a good haunt to hangout with fair music and a generally good vibe etc. But tonight we were on a mission the Long Island Ice Tea Mission. Round 1 Ding!!! The drinks arrive first impressions are that it looks good the usual separation at the bottom of the glass and a lemon in with two straws. The biggest issue is that this drink tasted nothing like ice tea, it was more like a lemon cola more than anything else. Round 2 Ding!! We didn't have to wait long before our waitress offered us another and wow its was like dejavu all over again. It was pretty much as if they cloned the drink so my overall opinion is the drinks aren't bad but are consistently mediocre.

Presentation: 6/10
Taste: 4/10
Service: 7/10
Overall: 5/10

What Rob has to say:

Presentation: Completely to standard, clear separation and unstirred, 2 straws and a large chunk of lemon ( I think I'd have preferred a slice) Plenty of ice, and coasters for the glasses. (5/10)

Taste: Somewhat subjective here, the drinks most definitely had a strong lemon-cola flavour. News Cafe also makes there long island ice teas according to American standards and use sour mix, outside of the states we tend to just use lime and cola. Still, it is tasty and has a bit of a kick. (4/10)

Service: Our waitress was very patient with us, and happily answered all our questions about the contents of the long islands. Our second round was also offered to us a few minutes after finishing our first, and was brought speedily. The place was a bit dead for a Saturday, but it may have been a tad early. (6/10)

Overall, I'm going to give the place a (4/10)

News Cafe charges R38.85 for a long island.

Also no M-Score this week, unfortunately our measuring instrument was unavailable .

A slight change a'coming.

So, after our first two reviews I found the out of 5 system we used was a little two restrictive. We are just changing it ever so slightly and maybe coming up with a funky graphical way of displaying it and then I shall post our next review (Read Tomorrow)

Central Grill Cocktail Bar@Ceder Square, Fourways, South Africa

Our mission to find the best long island ice tea continues and we decided to stay with Cedar square. This time we went to Central Grill, its a nice restaurant and cocktail bar upstairs.

Dave's Boggle.

So yes we were pleasantly surprised. The first round was in a nice big glass, two straws and a cherry. The presentation was great but here is the biggest thing the first round you could only taste the alcohol. There was so much alcohol in this bad ass drink i definitely felt the effects even half way through. The service was excellent by the time we had about and inch left the waiter offered us another round. This second round was much better, tasted a lot more like ice tea than alcohol but still had a bit of a kick, they also upped the presentation by adding lemons and different color straws on top of the cherries.

Presentation: 3/5
Taste: 4/5
Service: 4/5

Overall I give the place a 3/5 good service, good long island ice teas, fair presentation. I think one of the biggest draw backs was the ambiance of the place.

Robs Humble Opinion.

Presentation: The Long islands were brought to us in big glasses, with 2 large bright yellow straws, Lots of ice and two deep red cherries garnished the drink. Drinks were not overly stirred, and one could see the separation of cola from the alcohol. The second round of drinks were an improvement over the first, definite separation was visible and a lemon was
added to complete the long island feel. Also, two different colours of straw were used (Its the little things) (3/5)

Taste: Wow, these things are monsters... and I can only imagine the bartenders are very liberal with their pouring, or lack any kind of measurement device. There was most definitely a lot of alcohol in these babies and they let you know it... After the first sip, I knew, a few of these and I would be needing photographs and witness statements, just to piece together the night. (4/5)

Service: I was really impressed with the service, waiters were friendly and tried their best to look after us. I had just finished my first long island and was comfortably reclining in my booth, when our waiter had returned and was propositioning us with our second round. Drinks were brought promptly and I really did feel taken care off. (4/5)

I am going to give the place a 4/5, whilst the place could have been a bit more lively, we were sitting in the restaurant section and the venue is big.

Cost of the long island from Central Grill: R32.00

I am also most pleased to give the place an M-Score rating of 0.5 (Lower is better)

Braza@Cedar Square, Fourways, South Africa

Welcome to the first of many entries detailing our quest to find the best long island ice tea in the world. Ok yes that is mildly ambitious but you have to start somewhere so Rob and I (Dave) are going to start local and work our way around the place. So yes let the games begin:

Dave's boggle:

Presentation: So, initially I was disappointed, it was served in a normal glass nothing special no flare at all. All rounds post had a nice touch of the cola being separated from the alcohol by the lemon which was I thought was a nice touch. (2/5)

Flavour: Through out the evening the flavour didn't score high. First one was watered down and the rest tasted way too much like peach schnapps. All in all ok(1/5)

Service: First off Braza is more of a restaurant their food is ok but the service is slow. We had to ask for our second drinks and third instead of being requested. (N/A)

Overall I would not recommend their long island ice teas, but the food was good.

Final verdict: (1/5)

Rob's Humble Opinion.

Presentation: Likewise, I was disappointed with the initial round of drinks. Whilst mine was certainly the strongest, It was still indeed watered down. The drinks were also brought to us pre-stirred, and so lacked that long islands initial look. I was also mildly disappointed in the straws that accompanied the drink, It was just a standard straw... nothing exciting. The second round of drinks were far better, as Dave has said, they had an interesting way of separating the cola from the rest of the mix by use of a lemon as a barrier, this made the drink far more fun. (3/5) ((I really liked the lemon trick.))

Flavour: I wasn't impressed, All 3 rounds had a remarkably different taste, with one or more of the alcoholic components being more present than another. Still, they were tasty. (1/5)

Service: Braza has a nice atmosphere, and the staff were friendly. Unfortunately, we did have to ask for our second and third drinks... as apposed to being offered. (2/5)

Great Place for a meal, but not the best long islands around. Final Verdict: (1/5)

Cost of a long island from Braza: R36.00

And of course, our review would not be complete without the soon to be infamous M-Score, the inner workings of which we shall explain in time :)

Braza's ice tea, scored a 3