Harbour House V&A Waterfront — Restaurant in V&A Waterfront

I am a customer of Harbour House since many years. It's like a ritual on every CT stay, to come here for the first evening to have a glas of fine overlooking the harbour and the people strolling around. Also spending some evening during my stays here, just enjoying life... AND WINE... and food sometimes as well. In general I would have given them a 4.5 of stars...

During the last years, COVID-years, I really did understand that some of the wines of the wide range of wine by glas were not available. But now, when everything is more busy than before COVID, the list of the wines in general, but also the list of the wines by glass is reduced enormous! And from that smaller choice some of the wines are just not available. Wines by glass but also wines by the bottle.

Today we asked for the Creation Sauvignon Blanc. To be honest, I was surprised of the price auf 165 ZAR in a restaurant, knowing the cellar door prices of most of the wines pretty well, as I am working in that business. First the waiter told us, that he has to check if its in stock. After a while he told us, that the wines with 165/175 ZAR for the bottle are not correct in the menu, that's why they are just not available to make no mistakes selling them for the price the restaurant is paying to the wineries. But why not just telling customers, that the prices are wrong in the menu and the wines are available for a different price? They reduce the choice cause of their mistake in the menu, which is frustrating for the customer. We asked for a lot of wines in the last two weeks, which were "not in stock". Now we know why, which makes us kind of sad and somehow angry.

The Sushi and other food is still good. Service depends a lot in the person which is doing the service. To be honest, the women are much more attentive than the men.

I just like the location, otherwise I would have not come back after the first two visits this year and after the information I got today. Please do a reprint if the newly made menus with the correct prices and make the choice if glasses by wine bigger again. Right now the quality of choice is not as good as it was and should be and you should work on that immediately!!!

I really wanna stay a satisfied customer in the future... Please work on that!

At the moment I only can rate you with the 2.5 stars, which is not possible why I gave you 2, and hope I can change that...

ORIGINAL RATING: 1/5 Stars: Disappointed; we were saddened by how poor the service was at this restaurant yesterday. We were seated outside right by the glass doors, so we were easy to be seen by staff, and so the waiting begun. Eventually a waiter came after we had to ask someone to serve us. We ordered a Castle Lite, a Cosmopolitan and a large bottle of sparkling water to start before our friends arrived. After more waiting around a lady came and opened a bottle of still water, just poured it into our glasses and scampered away before we could even say a word to her. After even more waiting, we flagged down another waiter, who told me he doesn't know who our waiter is, and just shrugged his shoulders. After approximately 30 minutes, we finally decided to get up and leave since it's clear no one in this restaurant wants our business. As we left, I spoke to the hostess who admitted that we had been here for "way too long" to not be served, and when I requested to speak to the manager, she took down my details and told me that the general manager would call me. What kind of restaurant is operating without a manager on site? I would not recommend anyone goes to a restaurant where their staff acts as if you don't exist.

Update: 4/5 Stars: We decided to give this restaurant another chance. We're happy that we did, because this time the food and the service were great. The seafood was fresh and absolutely delicious. This time the service was on par and were treated very well. The location is great with easy access, I'd suggest you try and get a table outside when it's warm and clear. If the service stays at this level, we'll certainly be...

Don’t like giving one star reviews but honestly this is all that this place deserves - worst meal of our 3 week stay in South Africa.

We were sat towards the edge of the seating and they seemed incapable of keeping the glass partition doors closed on a cold and wet Cape Town evening. Hence the place was cold and draughty all the way through the meal, despite our complaints.

Starter was ok but for mains I then the signature Miso Seabass which was over cooked and bony. My wife had the Lamb which was 75% fat and inedible. They replaced this with Hake which was better but bland. The couple at the table next to us also had to return a Steak meal that had uncooked chips.

We then got presented with a bill that still had the Lamb on it despite us sending it back to the kitchen. To be fair, they did correct this after we pointed it out, and the Front of House staff did their best despite covering for a shambolic kitchen operation.

Having previously eaten at their Kalk Bay restaurant, we had high hopes of this place for the last night of our 3 week trip. Sadly, and aside from the food comments already outlined, the ambience was wrecked by the noisy private party taking place at Sevruga next door. OK, they can’t control that but what should have been a fine end to our holiday turned out to be the worst, and amongst the most expensive, meal we have had over here by a long way.

You can do a lot better eating outside the Waterfront but if you do eat inside it then please avoid...