At Rhapsody's, Beggar has no Choice
NOSA: Of all the malls in Lagos, Ikeja City Mall is probably the only one built like what you'd expect a mall to look like.
FOLLY: Ikeja City Mall is really nice, like really nice. Actis did a great job in developing this one. It doesn't look like all those Nigerian malls, particularly The Palms.
NOSA: The Palms is such a waste, but that's a whine for another day. Today is all about Rhapsody's.
About a year-ish ago, Rhapsody's was in the middle of a super ambitious expansion project. They'd just opened shop in two new locations, Lekki and Festac, and it seemed like they'd figured out this restaurant chain thing like The Place.
Then, the VI location closed (still is) for renovation, one of the partners went to set up his own thing, and more recently, the Festac location closed shop.
Rough.
FOLLY: I was so so confident that two years since my last visit, management would have refreshed the menu. Nope, they literally packed the same menu books from the closed Victoria Island location to Ikeja, for shame.
NOSA: On the plus side, the Ikeja location is probably the nicest of all their locations so they get points for that. It perfect for Sunday brunch or drinks after work.
FOLLY: I might have ordered a drink if we were ever offered the drinks menu, now that I think about it.
NOSA: The view, if you can call it that, is as good as I've found in any restaurant on the mainland. If they never reopen the VI location, they can just focus on this Ikeja location and harvest the "young professionals on the mainland" demographic.
NOSA: For my main, I got a simple Chicken Caesar Salad. You never find caesar salads on Nigerian menus, do you? That said, i wasn't expecting too much from Rhapsody's. Some grass and a couple chicken strips would've been fine for me.
NOSA: To my surprise, the salad was excellent. As good as any caesar salad I've had...anywhere. Now, I get that it's probably the most basic salad you'll find on a decent restaurant's menu, but this one was really nice. And we're in Lagos, so I'm taking my wins wherever I get them.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, however. The "extra bacon" was not enough and for the portion size, their caesar salad is expensive as hell. Maybe the bacon is imported and customs seized the container. Maybe.
FOLLY: Rhapsody's is pretty expensive for what it is - chain restaurant food - so I, for once, let price guide my decision and I usually don't, unless we've almost maxed out our food budget for the month. I went with the Spaghetti Gamberoni and was particularly excited about the garlic butter sauce.
FOLLY: I think they ran out of garlic cause this was all parsley and butter and was missing the distinct garlicky taste. It really fell flat.
FOLLY: The entire plate was tasteless in my opinion, even the prawn was bland. I just wanted to douse the entire plate with a giant helping of salt. The spaghetti was perfectly al dente and in these parts, that cannot be taken for granted.
NOSA: I think that's the thing with Rhapsody's. In another country, you'd never give it a shot because you can find better without stressing yourself. But in Lagos, Rhapsody's is a top tier restaurant depsite offering the barest of minimums.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: Nosa's salad looked great. The table beside us also had a nice looking salad, could it be that Rhapsody's is good for salads. Either way, Rhapsody's isn't bad food by any standard, it just won't blow you away.
NOSA: It's good enough and if I was in the area, it would be my preferred option.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Extra Bacon - N500
Chicken Caesar Salad - N4500
Spaghetti Gamberoni - N6500
PARKING
You pay for it cause it's a mall, but there's abundant parking at Ikeja City Mall.