Reuben's Restaurant & Bar Franschhoek — Restaurant in Stellenbosch Local Municipality

To celebrate my Gent's 40th birthday, we planned a weekend getaway at the Franschhoek Literary Festival (side note, if you haven’t been, go next year!). I was in charge of finding a restaurant for dinner, so I booked a table at Reuben's two months in advance, noting it was a birthday celebration. I paid the deposit and moved on with the rest of the plans. We decided to bring our own bottle of wine since they had a reasonable corkage fee, and the wine was a special gift.

Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed and seated at an intimate table for two by the window, offering a lovely view. Almost immediately, we were presented with a complimentary glass of champagne each from the restaurant. This unexpected gesture was greatly appreciated. The manager also came over to shake my Gent's hand and wish him a happy birthday, adding a personal touch to the evening.

I had forgotten that Reuben's is the kind of restaurant where they keep your wine bottle aside and top up your glasses as needed—a fancy touch that added to the night's special atmosphere since we don't frequent restaurants of this caliber.

Our waiter, Garfield, was an absolute gem. He was knowledgeable about the menu, answered all my questions (I don’t speak "Fancy" very well, lol), and was exceptionally friendly while maintaining professionalism. We ordered all three courses at once, allowing us to relax for the rest of the evening, and the timing of each course was perfect.

The Gent started with Chilli Salt Squid, followed by Springbok Steak for the main course, and finished with Chocolate Pave for dessert. He enjoyed every bite, especially the springbok steak, which was cooked medium rare to perfection. The dessert came with a beautifully presented Happy Birthday message, adding another delightful and personalized touch to the evening.

I began with Springbok Carpaccio, chose Seafood Risotto for my main course, and, as a creature of habit, opted for Crème Brulee for dessert. Each dish was delicious and beautifully presented, with the risotto being particularly generous with the seafood. The crème brulee had a delightful surprise element that was unexpectedly wonderful.

Having worked in the service industry for years, including in high-end restaurants (and usually the one giving the champagne), it was nice to be on the other end, and I was blown away by the exceptional service and attention to detail at Reuben's. They truly went out of their way to make my Gent's 40th birthday celebration special.

A special shout-out to Garfield for making our evening so memorable. To anyone considering Reuben's, I wholeheartedly recommend them. We definitely hope to...

Our okay experience at Reuben's was ruined by what happened when it came to paying the bill, and especially by what followed. We were a group of 6 and our bill was about 4k ZAR with tip. However, the staff charged my friend's credit card for 7k ZAR, essentially doubling the amount. At this point, this could have been an honest mistake. We asked the staff to correct it but they were unable to cancel the transaction (odd, other businesses seem to be able to do that), and the manager asked us to provide banking details. US travelers will confirm that a stranger asking for banking details is a major red flag. The manager refused to pay us back in cash or use any other trustworthy payment method (e.g., PayPal, Venmo). After a week after providing banking details (when it was safe to assume that we - a group of tourists - have departed Franschhoek), the manager emailed us saying that money transfer was too expensive after all and offered us a restaurant voucher instead. This is clearly useless for a group of tourists, such as us, who visited Franschhoek for just a few days and won't be back in the near future. Reuben's seems to be run by scammers. There are plenty of great restaurants in Franschhoek. So why get scammed at Reuben's when you can have a much better...

We were in Franchoekl because this is a culturally rich place famous for good food, very nice wine and fine art.

The hospitality of this town is amazing. We came across a lot of people with the same intention as us. To look and see, to eat and enjoy, and also just to be there. We heard so many languages.

Our food stop was Reuben's, the place of South Africa's famous chef Reuben Riffel. I don't know what took us so long to get to his restaurant. This man CAN. We had two different meals, my wife and daughter pork belly, and I fillet.

I don't eat pork, but that meat looked so amazingly eatable, they pulled it apart. No meat to cut it. My fillet? The best I've ever had.

The waiter who served us was Mike. He was friendly, self assured and really played host to us. When we completed our meal I asked him to bring the chef to our table in order to complement him. His name was Sandress and he's proud to be associated with his famous employer.

The venue itself is a beautiful setting. The decor, what you expect of a place like that. Our experience? One word, AMAZING. Well done Reuben Riffel and team. Jy...