May 6, 2010 – Osoita Lodge is located in Ongata Rongai along Masai Lodge Road. I happened upon it by chance. We were driving around Rongai on a Sunday looking for a place to have lunch. We actually passed it the first time. Our first stop was Masai Lodge where we sat for 15 minutes with no service. Same thing happened when we got to Rolf’s Place. So we remembered Osoita and decided to head back over there. Yeah, we did quite a bit of driving…
As soon as we had parked, we were greeted by a waiter who seemed so happy to see us. The place is quite big and all the seats look super comfortable. It was a bit difficult trying to pick where to sit because every section looks quite comfy. We settled on outdoor seats, a little close to the kitchen. The kitchen has those swinging doors so I peeked inside and thankfully it was really clean. I have to mention… the waiter was very attentive.
The menu has a noticeable Indian influence. For me that was a plus because I love Indian food. This means they also make provisions for vegetarians in their menu. Meat lovers like myself will be happy to know they have quite a variety to choose from. There’s beef, mutton, chicken, fish…cooked any way you like it. I had mutton fry which was very tender and delicious. Their prices are not bad…just the average you would expect from an up market restaurant in Nairobi. Their bar seemed well stocked although I only had soft drinks. I don’t indulge on Sundays 😉
When I was there, they had not finished constructing their rooms so I can’t review those. From their website, they have 15 rooms available. I actually can’t wait to try them.
All in all, it’s a really cool place to hang out if you want to relax – great ambience and personalised attention from the waiters. The only thing they should watch out for is the welfare of their staff. I really debated within myself whether to put this out there. My decision is based on the fact that if it were my business, I would want someone to tell me about it. At one point, the waiter asked us to pay him cash for one soft drink which he would not put on the bill. So basically, he’s stealing stock and pocketing the entire amount! The success of any enterprise relies on your human resource base. Unhappy staff make for unsuccessful business ventures. Maybe they should look into how their employees are treated or how satisfied they are at work because I would really love for Osoita to be around for years to come.
I think I need to plan another trip there. Really enjoyable place. You get so relaxed, it’s hard to leave…
Source: http://itchbay.sikika.co.ke/