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I was there in Feb of this year and the steaks were excellent, as during my past visits. Service was a little slower than usual, but nothing to whinge about.

I guess it could depend on the night.

I still think it's better than any of the "normal" restaurants in Kruger.

And I do like a beer in the air conditioned bar carriage.

We were there twice just over 3 weeks ago. Both times it was good. Nothing amazing but a very refreshing change to what is served in the other restaurants and take aways in the Kruger - definitely more choice!

The service was a little slow but VERY friendly and polite.

We certainly have no problems there.
Gemma

I decided to do some hunting and turned up the web page for the Kruger restaurants. Clicking on the Selati restaurant shows the menu - nothing like the great choice from November last year, but a little better from that in December. Here is the link for all restaurant contact details as folk may find it useful.

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I'm kind of a regular visitor, go there almost every month.

The atmosphere is still good, the service fiendly and efficient. The food, although tasty, could do with a little imagination.

All in all the best in kruger and almost camparable to a good restaurant in the city.

The service was good and the food alright if lacking a little in creativity. Certainly the best restaurant in the park though, which doesn't say too much for the others.... They were acceptable but that was about it....

Robbie

Had a meal at Selati the last night of our stay. The menu has changed a lot from what it was, but we both really enjoyed our meal

One of the unknown treasures of the Kruger National Park is the Selati Restaurant at Skukuza.

On a hot day between Christmas and New Year my friend and I headed into Skukuza for breakfast. We decided to try the Selati Restaurant with its lovely train in the former station building.

Its location and setting is wonderful. It retains the atmosphere of a railway station. The toilets are conveniently close. It is not crowded (in fact it was empty) and the fans were effective. The only thing which could have added to the pleasure is a view, but I suppose one can’t have everything.

The breakfast menu is not cheap, but it is reasonably good value for money. I ordered a three egg omelette at R50.95 and found it to be pleasant. My friend ordered Eggs Benedict. She got poached eggs but no Hollandaise sauce. A request for the Hollandaise sauce produced salad dressing. A complaint to the manager produced a shrug. There were lashings of toast (white bread toast because no alternative was offered) but the quantities of butter and jam were inadequate. Tea and coffee were additional costs. The tea was excellent, made in a pot and served with cold milk. My friend said her coffee was similarly good. The only problem with the tea and coffee was that artificial sweetener was only given very reluctantly and then in inadequate amounts. The sugar handed out was the Selati brand, incidentally.

The service was willing but not always done well. This is something management should be addressing, but judging by my little brush with the restaurant manager, it is not likely to help. This is a grave pity given that international tourists (and most local ones) will know the correct ways of doing things.

Despite the aforegoing I have no hesitation in recommending this as a very pleasant breakfast venue and I certainly plan to breakfast there again in the future.

Elsewhere made a comment about Selati - I have eaten there many times this last year and in the main it was good - the last time it was terrible - no diabolical !

When we arrived (4 people) we were told no Blesbok shank - we ordered Curry, Ox tail lamb shank and one other dish - 20 minutes later we were told there was no Curry, no lamb shank and the other dish was also not avaialable - so we ordered More oxtail - ten minutes later told there is only 1 Ox tail - finally settled for something else - mediocre food - chips were ice cold, the hamburger really "dead"

We were told the reason was becasue the computer was broken and they could not do a new menu - they could also not print a bill - when i asked what the computer had to do with a menu they just shrugged and said that is the position - i asked for the manager - there wasn''t one - or at least no one came to the table.

The attitude was take it or leave it - something we had never experienced before (we previoulsy had good friendly service and recommended the restaurant to others - no more) I have called the restaurant several times and had no response - seems like a new trend in the park

The bar at the entrance to the restaurant (the one near the TV) stank of urine and had clearly not been cleaned for a while.

If this is what overseas visitors are going to get in 2010 with some of the high handed attitude in KNP I shudder to think what our reputation will be like

It was too hot to venture far away from the fans, so I didn't try the carriage. Ecojunkie, I am really sad that the restaurant has deteriorated so much. As I said, while my experience was flawed, it was still enjoyable. This restaurant SHOULD be the jewel in the culinary offerings of the Park, offering fabulous party opportunities for special occasions for both corporate and private events.

I hope the relevant people are taking note.

Did you fill in the guest feedback form Please do .

Dotty - It is so sad that a place like Selati that has so much potential to showcase South African cuisine to guests from all over the world has seen standards drop to levels that are unacceptable.
Skukuza is one of the camps that has been reserved exclusively for the 2010 FIFA World Cup later this year. Staff at Selati are going to have to do something to improve the standard of service.
I visit Selati regularly (because I have to and it is not out of choice) and am on most occasions disappointed and embarrassed at the service rendered.

Do you fill in this norms?

It is obvious that the managment and staff do not know the history of the Selati Train restaurant. They should take pride in their work.

In a previous post on a related topic, I commented on the Selati Restaurant at Skukuza.

In November 2008 a friend and I had a good meal there. There was an interesting menu, including some "local" dishes, which gave a South African feel to the place.

In June 2009 I went again. I phoned ahead to make a booking - on arrival they could not find the booking and put us at a table at the far end of the platform. After quite a while, we were eventually served. The menu had been drastically cut and was not very interesting at all. When we got our meal it was not really very good. I was disappointed - it was not much better than a low-grade steak house and I had been looking forward to a really special meal.

There is so much potential to make a show case restaurant - serve South African food, South African wine etc. I really hope something is done to improve the restaurant before the influx of foreign visitors in June/July.