Ocean Basket is a upper-market chain specialising in fish and seafood, with 20 branches in Joburg, 10 in Pretoria, 10 in the Cape, 6 in Kwa-Zulu Natal, and 13 in other spots (plus two abroad: Livingstone in Zambia and Botswana). The menus are pretty much a constant though both the service and food is somewhat variable, and the atmosphere even more so.
It bills itself as "your sole provider" and the bad puns continue as a feature throughout the wipe-clean menus and the blackboard listing ("How much you gotta shell out for da feesh?" and main courses are "Enough for da whale") – it can get a bit much, but fortunately the waiters don’t join in with the faux accent or smart-alec punch-lines.
On the upside, the food is very good indeed and pretty well priced – starters from the deli (taramasalata: R14, olives: R12) or grill (garlic mussels: R23, excellent Portuguese sardines: R22) or mains of fish and chips (R25 for a healthy portion) or "combos" of e.g. prawns and calamari (the latter is excellent and worth having on its own) for R69, platters for two (seafood platter with a little bit of everything: R129) -- everything apart from the "feesh and chips" is served with rice or chips and salad. There’s a special "linefish" each day, which is often the freshest and tastiest – rock salmon and kingklip feature. The main courses are served on large black oven dishes and all fish can be grilled or fried to taste (almost everything was tastier grilled, either Cajun or with lashings of garlic). Puddings are mediocre, shop-bought affairs, but you’re generally too full of fish to care. (One word of warning: watch out for the dips, which come unbidden, but are charged at R3 each.)
The décor is white walls and bright lights, so it's not a venue for a romantic tete-a-tete. Early on in the evenings/lunchtimes, it’s popular with families and the branches in towns like Cape Town (particularly at the V&A) and Hermanus and Stellenbosch can get busy and have considerable queues – no bookings are taken. The service is fairly brisk and, in some branches, can be brusque too. Encouragingly, all (or at least lots of) the fish is laid out on ice in the restaurant, so you can cast an eye over it before you eat it if you wish. They also do take-away (and doggy bags). The wine list is short and to the point with the local wines fairly well priced. There’s a small smoking area behind glass/Perspex.