Top Restaurants in Pinelands
Top Things to do in Pinelands
- 1. Escape to the Cape Sightseeing Tours
- 2. Table Mountain
- 3. Explore Sideways
- 4. Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
- 5. Laura's Township Tours
- 6. Kabura Travel & Tours
- 7. Southern Sky Travel & Tours - Day Tours
- 8. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
- 9. Nirabritz Nature Guides & Tours
- 10. Easy Airport Transfers
Where to Eat in Pinelands: The Best Restaurants and Bars
Discover the best restaurant in Pinelands, South Africa including Magica Roma, Cargill's, Myoga, The Test Kitchen, The Pot Luck Club, Cafe Ganesh, The Gardeners Cottage Restaurant & Coffee Shop, Obz Cafe, Starlings Cafe, Mama Roma
Things to do in Pinelands
1. Magica Roma
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 352 reviews
Reviewed By Jelswiss - Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland
As always fabulous, never a disappointment food service atmosphere are perfect ! Have been going for years now and just had another wonderful experience Etzio is the perfect front of house and owner with Franco in the kitchen. Wine list is excellent always a pleasure to visit and dine in this splendid restaurant in such a funny location,can't wait to go back! Quality is
kept up to scratch.
2. Cargill's
Overall Ratings
5 based on 113 reviews
Reviewed By recordable - Clitheroe, United Kingdom
I visit this small restaurant every time I'm in CapeTown and it maintains a high standard for food,service and wine.The food is simply cooked and presented with few 'cheffy' frills but is of a consistently high quality and is wel worth seeking out in Rondebosch.
Service has always been good with a perfect balance between efficiency and friendliness and there seems to be a high proportion of local,return customers.The chef/owner is very personable and usually appears front of house to check that customers are happy and he is a great source of knowledge on wine and always prepared to give advice.
If you are looking for a top fine dining venue then this may not be for you but this place beats the hell out of many central Cape Town/V and A restaurants and is orth searching out especially perhaps for couples or others who prefer a more intimate setting.
3. Myoga
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 845 reviews
Set in the gracious grounds of the Vineyard Hotel, Newlands Cape Town, Myoga has a very relaxed, engaging atmosphere, where diners are encouraged to feel at home & offers a contemporary fusion cuisine menu which entices the mind, excites the eye and tantalises the taste buds to new extremes. It is what Chef Mike Bassett calls " the four corners menu" Try the famous eight course tasting menu with a wide variety of choices, you won't be disappointed.
Reviewed By AlD134634 - Fleet, United Kingdom
Mike Bassett you and your team continue to excel to make diner a memorable occasion!
We chose the seven course tasting menu with wine parings as were deliberately staying at the Vineyard Hotel next door. With four choices for each individual course its a tough pick what to eat. Luckily my wife chose different dishes so I got to sample a few more than my seven..... heaven.
Based on my taste buds the best picks were, Scotch Egg, Mexican Bowl, Cannelloni, Grilled Ostrich,Chocolate Parfait - two pallet cleansers to add.
This was a great experience again. We always treat ourselves to one visit to this fantastic restaurant each year we visit Cape Town this was yet again a special night.
Many thanks Mike.
The wine parings are an added cost but add to the experience. For me the outstanding wine was the Domain Chardonnay ( Hemel en Aarde)
Apart from the food you need to see the wonderful views across the garden to Table Mountain from the Newlands side - it make the experience more memorable looking up at the iconic mountain!
4. The Test Kitchen
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By k3bab - England
Booking process needs changing. They release bookings once every few months, 3 months ahead at 8AM South African time. Travelling from the UK, I tried to secure a booking within 2 hours of them releasing an allocation to no avail. It was completely booked out.
How about - release them gradually, giving people a better chance to book. This is a restaurant, not an Apple store, not everyone wants to camp out overnight to be first in line to be relieved of their cash, before the proprietor runs out of stock, or in this case, booking allocations.
Website says, e-mail for lunch Reservations. Upon e-mailing you get an auto responder saying bookings over e-mail will not be accepted.
A restaurant is not just about food, it is about the overall experience, and if you can't even get a table, the experience sucks right from the outset.
5. The Pot Luck Club
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By smaatje - Maastricht, The Netherlands
We went here for a 'goodbye dinner' after three months of cape Town. What was supposed to be the best dinner of our time in South Africa turned out to be a rather overpriced and underperforming dinner.
There is nothing 'wrong' with the dishes, but for a restaurant that pretends to be the best of CT and charges prices to back that up, the food lacks balance and variety. Instead of focusing on the food and the absolute flavor they seem to go for 'trendy and hip'. I don't see why a highly priced bite-sized dish comes in a paper wrap and cardboard box, unless this adds something to the flavor (which it doesn't).
The food is comparable to places that charge much less and worse to places that charge similar prices.
To me it feels this place has hit its peak a while ago and now is riding on their reputation, instead of building a new one.
There is not one dish that stood out. If I had to choose it would be the beef fillet, but even that is nothing special.
Service is ok, waiters seem to have memorized the dishes but are clearly not passionate about the food and lack the ability to really explain the Delicacy or complexity of a dish.
If they would charge 1/5th of the price they would have gotten five stars. But for a restaurant that claims to be the best there is a lot that needs to be improved.
Note: I've been in cape Town over 15 months and have visited dozens of restaurants.
6. Cafe Ganesh
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 53 reviews
Reviewed By Carel V
My wife and I were looking for something different and this certainly fits into that category. It looks a little scruffy, especially from the outside but it has a lot of character. The food was really great. I had umngqusho (lamb shank with samp) and my wife had the vegetable rootie. Really delicious and very affordable.
7. The Gardeners Cottage Restaurant & Coffee Shop
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 165 reviews
Reviewed By TamJean
Took friends there for my birthday in December and lovely/ consistent experience. Food fabulous and service efficient and friendly.
Poached eggs with spinach and salmon out of this world!
Then returned in January.
Croissants an absolute must to order! Accommodating towards my kids requests/ food needs, and delicious array of options.
Chili sauce (homemade) HOT but a nice accompaniment to my sweet corn fritters.
Ten happy people left full and satisfied.
Fabulous / relaxing setting, great service and friendly staff.
8. Obz Cafe
Overall Ratings
4 based on 106 reviews
Upbeat and urban, the new Obz Cafe restaurant is situated in the heart of Observatory. So come for a visit, sit down, enjoy the friendly vibe and great food and become part of the Obz Cafe family.
Reviewed By Marguerite W - Cape Town Central, South Africa
Came here for an early evening meal with some friends. Very pleasantly surprised. Plenty to choose from on the menu; comprehensive drinks menu including some interesting looking cocktails. Attentive staff. Served promptly. Food was good too. Would definitely go back.
9. Starlings Cafe
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 220 reviews
Reviewed By gibbhelps - Cape Town, South Africa
Two of us went for breakfast it opens at 7.00 AM. We sat in the garden on a perfect sunny day. Pros: Well spaced tables under trees, Mint water on tap, food delivered promptly & was excellent. 2 glasses of a nice orange & pineapple...MoreThank you for joining us at Starlings. We are ghappy you enjoyed your time with us. We do apologize for the communication around the reservation. Our food is carefully sourced and prepared from scratch and is priced accordingly. Thanks
10. Mama Roma
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 156 reviews
Reviewed By Jingels_SA - Cape Town Central, South Africa
We have been meaning to go to this restaurant for a while now - having heard that it's an institution in Cape Town.
No one mentioned it was an old aged institution though. By my reckoning the average age was 70+. That said they were all dressed up and clearly most of them were regulars and that is always a good sign.
Agree with another review that the service is frantic, however the food was excellent. Expensive, but worth it. They really nailed a few dishes. Nice sized portions and exceptional vegetable sides that come standard.
Joke aside - we will definitely go again.
Ask to be seated inside, otherwise you are in the drab Dean Street Mall which is not great.
