The Bush Lapa is a very rustic place right next to the “Down to Earth Café”. It is a stage and seating area surrounded by thin cane walls. If you go in winter or on a cold day as I did you could have been standing on the North Pole. They have no heating at all except a small fire near the food area where 25 of us gave up our tables and tried to huddle around.
If you go to a cold place, use double layers of clothes, bring blankets and very warm shoes. I would imagine in summer it could be pleasant. The rustic bench tables that seat 8 are separated in different areas and different prices are charged per area for a musical show.
I would suggest nowhere than the best seats in the front on cold days, however on warm days front and middle will be okay but never the back situated after the entrance. The only reason why I don’t suggest the middle on cold days is that the front entrance is always open, and the wind blows right down on you.
The back area no matter whether you are watching a large screen sports event or musical event, the view is poor and even the large screens are not easy to see as many mid poles inside which may be right in front of your screen. In my experience, I would only go there for a good live event, not for large screen sports as there are far better and warmer pubs in the vicinity.
The pub is a full bar, but a limited selection of brands, so for instance Whisky’s there were only 2 brands on the evening. They serve beers, Wines, and ciders. However, don’t expect Cocktails, etc that won’t happen. The food menu is limited and changes on the night.
The night I was there was Hot chips alone, A potjie Kos (stew) on rice, chicken, and chips or lamb ribs and chips only. You walk to a separate area, pay for the meal, and get a ticket. You take it to the food area, and they will dish up what you have bought according to the ticket.
There is no table service for food and drinks. To get the drink you need to walk to the bar and order. A minimum of R50 needs to be purchased to pit it through a credit card and at a 5-minute wait while they hold the credit card in the air to get a signal for the payment to be approved.
This added to a 15-minute serving time that could take you 20 minutes at a minimum to get a drink, so I suggest your order for 2 rounds at a time to save that frustration. The service due to a full packed evening due to lack of staff was poor. However, on a quieter day, it may be better.
Another qualm I had with this place is that they said they would open up 60 minutes before the Springbok big screen event which was then followed by a musical show. They kept us waiting virtually before the rugby match was starting and people were complaining.
This lack of regard for people’s enjoyment of the night left a bad taste in my mouth. Management kept on saying the door was closed for sound testing. They could have done through all afternoon as the match was only starting at 5 pm and at 16h50 were let in. On a positive note, the show was good and enjoyable despite having some crackling speakers.
It is wheelchair friendly, and I would not suggest it for less than teenagers unless they were in a pram. There is no non-smoking versus smoking area and your bench (unless you book the whole bench) could be shared with smokers or the bench behind could be smokers.
I certainly would not be back, unless it was such a good show it was worth the frustration. Benefit versus PAIN.
