Pagokoro: End of a dream?

Punted as a way to increase business for the hospitality industry, promote new places and get more diners out there while giving the public a chance to get some bargain meals it seemed like a great idea. According to the blurb ‘it is a week for restaurants to showcase their best work and market themselves.’
So in this context it is puzzling that Pagokoro, apparently closing at the end of May, is one of the participating restaurants.
We were the only diners on a dark mid week night with only one table set for dinner. Lights (generator powered) and over bright were shadeless and didn’t contribute to a welcoming ambience. I found the dining room altogether too white and missed warming African tones.
Service was charming but slow, and our red wine was opened (hefty US$5 corkage) and brought to the table in an ice bucket.
Restaurant week promises the diner an opportunity to enjoy a three course meal at lower than usual prices. This wasn’t the case at Pagokoro where it would have been cheaper to eat from the regular menu. We started with butternut soup – well flavoured with a hint of sweetness – and they may well have cooked it from scratch as it took almost an hour to arrive.  Mushroom soup was also good though spoilt by onion still raw.   Soup is US$3 on the regular menu.
I ordered jollof rice (US$10 on the regular menu) – a mixture of rice, chicken prawns and vegetables – flavoured with ginger and thyme. It sounded delicious but I didn’t find out whether it was as I was also served the oxtail (US$10) ordered by my companions but didn’t complain – as that might have meant waiting another hour.  Desserts don’t appear on the regular menu and ours were hilarious – presumably specially created for restaurant week?  First prize was the banana and apple blend, two bananas and an apple on a plate.  Chopped watermelon in cranberry juice from a carton wasn’t much better – and my son felt he had scored big time by opting for ice cream.
A defeated air pervades the restaurant – reflected in the fading arum lilies and drooping roses on the tables – and when I was shown the way to the bathroom the young waitress told me that the place wasn’t working out and would close at the month end. Sad – and the end of a big dream for someone.
Looking up the place on the internet I see it opened just over a year ago with big ambitions to be not       only a restaurant and bar but also a unique meeting and hang-out space catering especially to women with the inclusion of a gym and massage parlour.
I found myself wondering why it hasn’t worked. The food was actually good (except for the disastrous deserts) – the oxtail well-cooked and tasty, served with fresh sadza and bright green rape and the regular menu offered authentic African cuisine at reasonable prices. The concept of family spaces – the bar, the chillout cushion room, the attached gym – sounds attractive. The place hadn’t registered on my radar though, and if I didn’t frequently drive past it on Ridgeway South I wouldn’t have known it existed.
Whether the lack of advertising or out of the way location is a reason for the lack of success, I don’t know. Driving past a few days later the sign says closed for stocktake – re-opening on June 5. Would be good to have clarity and perhaps Eatout needs to do more homework on participating restaurants to help make this week an ongoing success.
– g.jeke@yahoo.com