The Sea Gypsy Cafe — Restaurant in George

The location of the restaurant was a draw card, and being in Mossel Bay enticed us towards seafood and mussels in particular. The restaurant is located right on the waters edge with amazing views. The waitresses were very friendly and helpful. The decor was rustic and featured graffiti all over.. This would probably appeal to some and I guess it created a fishing Hamlet like atmosphere. The food however was very disappointing. We ordered mussels which were bland and small. It was simply coated in white sauce that had garlic in it. This was accompanied by chips. There was a choice of rice, chips or two slices of white or brown bread. I could have done a better job of preparing this meal at home. The quantity was small and because I wasn't satisfied by the end of the meal(and I am a small eater), I ordered a cheesy garlic roll. This too left little to be desired. The sauce over a plain bread roll was the same white sauce with garlic that covered the mussels. The cheese on the top was of a minute quantity and the roll wasn't even toasted. For an exhorbitant R85 this was quite a rip off. The mussels were R130, again another rip off and the fish and chips too were disappointing.. For R99 there were two pieces of tiny baby fish accompanied by chips. The fish had very little flesh. Sadly we paid a total bill of R550 but left extremely disappointed with tummies far from satisfied. So, if you are visiting Mossel Bay, I would give The Sea Gypsy Cafe a skip if it's food you want. If you're looking for friendly service and great location then maybe go there. I won't pay that price for that though. Quite a pity as they could make such a success of the business at that prime location with just a little more effort in the preparation if...

I've never left a 1-star restaurant review, but I believe the owner(s), manager(s) and kitchen staff need to have a meeting about the food quality. Atmosphere was fine and servers were nice, but our food bordered on inedible. The only reason we didn't send our plates back is because it took over 40 minutes for the food to come in the first place. Four plates: 1) medium-rare ribeye with salad plus a prawn. Left the salad for last to cleanse my palate. Prawn was sandy, steak was medium-well to well done (mostly well done). The steak and prawn were both cold. 2) hake and chips. It came with 3 fillets of fish, but only the first was acceptable (not by much). The second two were dried out and barely edible. He also ordered a prawn which was so overdone that the shell would not come off of the meat. 3) sundowner basket (crumbed mushrooms, samoosas, boerewors, chicken, chips). The chips were obviously store-bought frozen and not good, boerewors and samoosas were alright. The mushrooms and and chicken were rubbery. Everything was cold. 4) seafood pasta. This was the most edible of the dishes but it was also cold and looked awful. When we asked why the food took a long time to come out, we were told that pasta dishes take a long time to make. However, it came out first and it was cool to the touch. So, as you can imagine, the other 3 dishes were even colder than the pasta dish. Overall, it's a nice location and we heard that the food didn't used to be terrible, so I personally hope some changes are made and people can enjoy the location in the future. As for my in-laws, they've sworn it off forever based on tonight and their...

I used to love coming here since a year ago or so... The food standard dropped significantly. After having a bad experience a year ago (with the food) I decided to give them another shot. Honestly, I don’t normally write reviews but it was just really underwhelming.

I had sole - fried to the point where it was almost dry plus oily at the same time, not soft and flaky at all. I had prawns - when they arrived I could see they were frozen and not fresh because of the freezer burn and they were also grainy. I ordered mussels as well and it was honestly shocking. They were so grey (probably frozen, not fresh) and the white sauce over it had no seasoning so it tasted like milk with flour and some cold fridge garlic stirred in afterwards with that classic old fridge garlic taste when it was in the fridge for too long.

Rice on the side had a sour taste as if it was saved for a few days, and the extra lemon butter was basically watered down lemon juice with the smallest amount of butter it barley makes a layer on top.

I am sorry to write this review with such harsh detail. But I think it’s important for people to raise concerns like this so the restaurant can investigate before it is too late. I did not want to make a scene at the restaurant because the waiters were friendly.

Just to state again, this is not my first time with the bad food experience so it is definitely not a new issue and do not believe it was just my food...