Two Rivers Spur

Ok I’m home sick for South African local food. It’s exactly like home, but it’s not far off. Still have cheddar melt burgers, and Windhoek beers on the menu. Yum

The inside of the restaurant has recently been redone. The Native American décor has been taken down and now there are more tasteful additions which made the place look a lot better.
However that is all that has changed. The kids playroom is still there so there is constant screaming and kids are running around barefoot and getting into fights.
The music is very loud so when my waiter was trying to take my order he got it wrong at least three times. He even paused to watch a family get their orders delivered.
Not worth a visit unless you want a very stressful dinner.

The décor of this restaurant is decent and looks like a branch of Chiquito’s which I guess is a good thing and that’s all the nice there will be from me…
To drink we had the chocolate milkshake, it said it was made with ice cream so we were expecting something like you would get at Byron or GBK but no far from it. Yes it was made with ice cream BUT it was also made with cheap Crusha mix and for some reason it had chocolate sauce on the side of the glass… after this we had Pepsi and even this was gross, flat like it had come from a bottle.
Starters were Mozzarella sticks and Potato skins with cheese and bacon, the Mozzarella sticks were the same as anywhere else so can’t really rate those but as for the skins… well these were another level of weird, the cheese was what I can only described as that weird liquid crap you would get on Nachos from somewhere like Cineworld, it was disgusting.
This place calls itself a Steak and Grill so one would assume that they would specialize in fine quality steaks, well one would be wrong. I ordered a Rib Eye and my girlfriend ordered a rump steak. When it arrived the Rib Eye looked like it came from Iceland and the rump was kind of the same. It had a weird lamb/​mint sauce taste to it and tasted like it was made in batch for an airline and there was some weird sauce on it. The chips were basic over salted chips that you could get from a run of the mill kebab shop. The coleslaw was just milky and the poor little salad on the side looks like it would kill itself if it could.
The bill was £49.05 which had the quality been ok would have been ok but well seeing as it was below average they really do need to sort their prices out.
I thing apart from the décor the only decent thing to this place was the music.

My kids and I like itchild friendly, but adult food and drink too. I like the fajitas and the ribs.

What a great meal — My Mum and I stopped in while shopping and we hadn’t been to Staines in a couple of months, very surprised at all the new restaurants and choices available now. Went into the Spur because I know their food isn’t frozen and a couple of starters are enough to keep me going. Their hot wings are my absolute favourite — washed down with a cheesy garlic bread. Thanks Spur, for the excellent service, good food and friendly staff.

A guilty secret is that I’ve always been a bit of a fan of the Outback Steak House chain — hardly sohpisticated cuisine, I’ll grant you, but satisfyingly large chunks of meat for those of us of a carnivourous inclination.
I was therefore saddened that the branch of Outback by the River Thames in Staines (or Staines-​on-​Thames, as the local authority allegedly wish to gentrify it to!) had closed.
But nearby I find there to be the Arapaho Spur, which has similar style /​décor to the old Outback — so won’t suit those in search of the sort of gentrification the local authority seems intent on ! — but has an even better selection of meat.
I can particularly recommend the large (17oz) steaks as being both tasty and reasonably priced.
They also offer — provided you pre-​order — a Challenge of eating a 64oz (!!!) steak … the 1^st time I’ve seen such a large item of meat advertised on this side of the Atlantic.
Probably the only criticism would be the beers on offer are very generic — a little more variety would be welcome.

I can honestly say this place is a really special restaurant with wonderful service, fantastic service and the best steaks I have ever tasted. I have been going regularly since it opened and the steak and ribs are as delicious as the day they opened. Do not miss going to this place especially with kids and their small but entertaining play area.

This was (I’ve been told) the first UK branch of a South African restaurant chain. Indeed a South African work colleague went all misty-​eyed when I told him about it as he’d spent many happy childhood birthdays having meals at Spur branches.
This was also one of the first places to eat which opened when the Two Rivers shopping centre was finished so was a bit of a novelty when it opened and it wasn’t uncommon to have to wait a while for a table.
The Spur serves, burgers, steaks and ribs in quite large portions and its special offers can offer good value.
However, I have to say that after a good start when it first opened, this restaurant has gone downhill fast. Service hasn’t been wonderful on the last couple of occasions I’ve eaten there — this meant a bit of wait to be acknowledged when we first arrived and a meal that took a long time due to the slowness of the waiting staff.
The food also seems to have gone downhill a bit — the last time I was there I didn’t think my food was cooked properly as it was pretty much still frozen in the middle.
I used to eat at the Spur regularly but haven’t been back since the last visit. If you want burgers, ribs or steaks go to the Outback instead.