reuben's

we were quite looking forward to dining at reuben's, and decided to spend our last night in franschhoek here. we pre-booked, so were quite disappointed to arrive and be seated in the corner close to the kitchen entrance and bathrooms. two requests to be removed were met with "i'll see what i can do" and no follow-up. we also waited quite a while for someone to take our order. while i can understand that they may have wanted to go with a more casual dining experience, there are certain expectations at this price point. alas, this restaurant did not live up to them. the wait staff are either badly trained or we were in a position that was ignored; we barely saw our waitress and had empty glasses on the table for a while at some point.

we were presented with breads to start. the waitress had to be prompted to tell us what they were. neither was very good or memorable. the waitress didn't remove the plates when done, so we had to juggle the plates when starters arrived.

we went with the chicken livers and reuben's famous chilli salted squid for starters. the liver dish was pretty good, if a bit undersalted. a few more chicken livers would have been great. the same with the brioche, which was miles ahead of the starter breads. we've had the squid at the cape town reuben's before, and really enjoyed it. this one didn't measure up; it was very oily and left an unpleasant finish, as if it had been fried in old oil. the herbs accompanying the squid were nice and fresh-tasting in comparison.

the wait for the main was very long, with no attendance from the waitress in thattimenor a reason for the wait. when it i eventually arrived, it thankfully didn't disappoint. the chateaubriand was excellent, certainly in the top 3 i've had in sa; it was perfectly cooked with a nice char on the outside, and very flavourful. it does however come at a price, r245, which is quite a bit more than most high-end restaurants. it was served with 4 (yes, just 4) triple-cooked chips, a small herb salad, and bearnaise sauce which was quite good. the lasagne was nice if undersalted, and could have done with more mushrooms to balance the sweet butternut. but overall a pleasant dish. it was also just warm rather than hot, but hunger kept us from sending it back.

we decided to go for desserts. the mango parfait wasn't nearly as good as the salted caramel dessert; the mango flavours were quite muted. the salted caramel dessert was excellent, with the chocolate elements in the plate shining.

we would return, if reuben's is here as we hear the quality is better when he's around.
we should add that several tables emptied out during the course of the night, but not once did anyone ask if we still wanted to move.

my firsttimetrying out reuben's. although the food was good...i was a bit disappointed as this didn't meet my expectations of flavour for a luxury dining restaurant. the service was great but i feel there were a few misses on the plate.

the restaurant was clean, waiters well dressed clean, fresh smelling and warm (our waiter wilson). the played beautiful smooth soft jazz music which enhanced the ambiance of the place. the starters was tasteful, delicious, warm and well presented. our mains, the pork fat was crackling yet still soft and juicy, the lamb fell off the bone. the portions was perfect and the presentation once again did not disappoint. the quality made it all worthy, best value for money and the nexttimewe in cape town will visit reuben's again. shannon and anastasia from jhb visited 27/12/2020.

my firsttimein the town and my first restaurant stop for lunch. i was not disappointed, food was delicious and beautifilly presented. everything on my plate paired perfectly. we tried the duck, linefish and pork belly and plates went back spotless. the service is also friendly and prompt. loved it!

had an amazing dinner last night. secondtimeat reuben's and will go again. the service was great and the food excellent! the waitress chose our wine to go with the lamb shank and it was perfect and the dessert was delicious.

spent a week in the cape with my parents coming down from austria. we were based in franschhoek so a stop at reuben's was a must. for me this was the secondtimethere and i must say that in an entire week filled with gastronomic adventure galore, this was the one disappointment.
the food was good. that's straight off the bat. not as good as it's said to be, though. and definitely not compared to some of the other restaurants in the area we visited.
the service, however, was downright terrible. the only bad experience we had in a week touring the cape. the front of house is a complete disaster. the manager is doubling up as a waiter and has notimedirecting the waitrons (or making the guests feel welcome). waitrons seem not to care too much about visiting patrons. our waiter in particular made us wait for everything and showed us no attention whatsoever. the whole atmosphere was flat. all staff run around with automaton faces. nobody smiles. very disappointing.
my advice for mr riffel: write even more cookbooks and do spice ads. your fire as a restauranteur is out. milk it while it lasts.

we have been wanting to try reubens for a while, and finally got to go, however i was disappointed. not to get me wrong, the food is good, remembering that it is fine dining so, the flavours can be unusual, but that doesn't take anything away from the good quality. the dessert was incredible - probably the best dessert i have ever had. saying all of this, the restaurant lacks atmosphere. there is nothing special about the set up and i genuinely believe that a dinner encompasses an entire experience, so the atmosphere is really important. overall, i would much rather try le quartier francaise the nexttimei am in franschhoek.

friendly staff and well timed meal, with enoughtimegiven between each course. although the food was spectacularly presented, it lacked in flavour. i had the fish as a main - although soft, it was very bland. even the vegetables tasted like nothing. i left feeling disappointed - i was expecting much more!

visited reuben's when it was lesser known a few years ago and have fond memories.. but the standard has not been maintained. i think the chef is benefiting from his now famous name and maybe not spending enoughtimein the kitchen? all in all a pleasant experience but unspectacular bar the great deserts (salty caramel tarte and creme brullee). good starters and boring and dry main course (tuna). nice setting under the tree in the courtyard. friendly staff. good wine list. still a good place to eat but a lot of competition in that neighbourhood and not as good as it could be...

food was tasty but certainly not exceptional. had the lunch menu which was quite small and specials of day v ltd ( just 2 items). quite a lot of menu was fried aka tempura but it was basic fried good nothing tempura in sight.. for a r135 prawn starter i expected a little more!

the service was quite slow and plates were not efficiently removed after eating. at other tables dirty dishes were not cleared away for more than 30 mins. this is a poor show in an upmarket establishment. perhaps rueben should spend a little moretimein his restaurant .

i was quite disappointed with reuben's, our 1st visit here was during the bastille festival, it was buzzing and the vibe was happy, service was pretty average and food was beautiful but could have had more flavour, reuben was there during our 1st visit and you could see this by the staff behaviour. the 2ndtimewe went was for a family birthday celebration and wowi what a different experience we had, not that the 1st experience was amazing but compared to the 2nd...

the service was extremely slow, we had to flag down the waiter just to have the opportunity to order a 2nd round of drinks, our table was filled with empty glasses and bottles when we were done eating the waiter didn't bother removing our plates instead left them on the table till he brought our bill. the food was truly nothing to write home about and could have had a much better tasting meal at spur.

all and all i was quite disappointed with my experience here as i use to watch his recipes on master chef and couldn't wait to experience one of his mouth watering dishes...