Eat Out names South Africa's best restaurants 2023!

South Africa's leading restaurant guide, Eat Out, has named the winners of the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2023 at Cape Town’s GrandWest Grand Arena on Sunday 19 November 2023. Restaurants were assessed on several factors, including decor and ambience, service, the wine list and the quality of the ingredients. In addition to the Eat Out stars, there are 14 Special Awards that were handed out. These awards applaud individual restaurants, chefs and food personalities who are pushing the industry forward in a meaningful and innovative way.

Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2023: 1-star restaurants (70 - 79 points)

• Acid Food & Wine Bar (Randburg, Johannesburg)
• Cavalli Restaurant (Somerset West)
• Chefs Warehouse at Maison (Franschhoek)
• CHORUS (Somerset West)
• Creation Wines Tasting Room (Hemel-en-Aarde Valley)
• Eike (Stellenbosch)
• FABER at Avondale (Paarl)
• Farro (Botrivier)
• Fermier (Pretoria)
• Le coin Français (Franschhoek)
• Les Créatifs Restaurant (Bryanston, Johannesburg)
• Madre Stanford (Stanford)
• Orangerie at Le Lude (Franschhoek)
• Ouzeri (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)
• Protégé (Franschhoek)
• Proud Mary (Rosebank, Johannesburg)
• Rykaart’s (Stellenbosch)
• Séjour (Houghton Estate, Johannesburg)
• The Chefs’ Table (Umhlanga, eThekwini)
• The Melting Pot (Elgin)
• The Red Room by Chefs Warehouse (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• The Table at De Meye (Stellenbosch)
• The Test Kitchen Fledgelings (Woodstock, Cape Town)
• The Waterside Restaurant (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)
• Upper Union (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Zioux (Sandton, Johannesburg)

Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2023: 2-star restaurants (80 - 89 points)

• Belly of the Beast (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• beyond (Constantia, Cape Town)
• ëlgr (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Epice (Franschhoek)
• Foxcroft (Constantia, Cape Town)
• Meraki by Charlie Lakin (Hillcrest, eThekwini)
• Nevermind (Cape St Francis)
• PIER (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)
• Restaurant Klein JAN (Tswalu)
• Rust en Vrede (Stellenbosch)
• Salon (Woodstock, Cape Town)
• Spek & Bone (Stellenbosch)
• The Jordan Restaurant with Marthinus Ferreira (Stellenbosch)
• The LivingRoom at Summerhill Estate (Pinetown, eThekwini)
• The Pot Luck Club Cape Town (Woodstock, Cape Town)
• The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg (Randburg, Johannesburg)
• Wolfgat (Paternoster)

Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2023: 3-star restaurants (90+ points)

• ARKESTE by Richard Carstens (Franschhoek)
• Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia (Constantia, Cape Town)
• Dusk (Stellenbosch)
• FYN (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• La Colombe (Constantia, Cape Town)
• La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
• Salsify at The Roundhouse (Camps Bay, Cape Town)

Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2023: Special Awards

• Eat Out Woolworths Sustainability Award
• The LivingRoom at Summerhill Estate (Pinetown, eThekwini)
• Eat Out Woolworths Financial Services Service Excellence Award
• Meraki by Charlie Lakin (Hillcrest, eThekwini)
• Eat Out Woolworths Wine Service Award
• Bafana Zondo, Dusk (Stellenbosch)
• Eat Out Lexus Style Award
• Restaurant Klein JAN (Tswalu)
• Eat Out Retail Capital Best New Restaurant Award
• Boma on Bree (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Eat Out Highland Park Lannice Snyman Lifetime Achievement Award
• Germain Lehodey
• Eat Out Cacao Barry Dessert Award
• Motheba Makhetha, The Jordan Restaurant with Marthinus Ferreira (Stellenbosch)
• Eat Out Patrón Mixology Award
• La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
• Eat Out Lexus Best Destination Award
• Wolfgat (Paternoster)
• Eat Out Woolworths Trailblazer Award
• Siba Mtongana, SIBA – The Restaurant (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)

Method:

According to Eat Out, the restaurants rated for the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2022 were selected based on several factors, including the quality of their offering – from the décor, ambience and service to the wine list, ingredients used and quality of the food. Based on their collective experience and expertise, the Eat Out team and the Awards chief judge then selected the 300 restaurants to be reviewed.
From the Top 300 list, over 80 restaurants were visited by the panel of six expert judges and rated on Eat Out’s new online rating tool that comprises a comprehensive scorecard. Restaurants are judged in a number of categories, including:

• Menu composition: 15 points
• Presentation: 10 points
• Taste and technique: 30 points
• Beverages: 20 points
• Service: 20 points
• Ambience: 5 points

Five to 10 factors are rated within these categories before the entire rating is rolled up into the total score out of 100.