Award Winners
The country's top casual restaurants for 2019 were announced at the 2019 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Best Everyday Eateries.
The top names in each category for each province were determined by a two-step process. Star ratings given by the public on eatout.co.za and the Eat Out app from 1 October 2018 to 31 July 2019 were tallied. The restaurants that received a large volume of high scores from fans were visited by Eat Out's professional critics, who gave their own ratings. Final results were based on a 50-50 composite score from the public and the critics.
This is the fifth year running that Eat Out, together with Mercedes-Benz, invited the public to help choose South Africa’s favourite everyday restaurants. “A lot of glory goes to fine-dining establishments, but we also need to celebrate the everyday eateries that keep us coming back again and again, for favourite dishes prepared just the way we like them. By celebrating these eateries, we share the neighbourhood gems you may not even know about yet,” said Adelle Horler, Eat Out Editor in Chief.
The winners – Gauteng
Durbanville Hills Best Bistro: Tin Roof Café (Mooiplaats)
Best Coffee Shop: Café Billi Bi (Modderfontein)
Hellmann’s Best Burger Eatery: The Countess (Melville)
Tramontina Best Steakhouse: Che Argentine Grill (Parkwood)
Best Asian-Inspired Eatery: Momo Kuro (Rosebank)
Best Italian-Inspired Eatery: Casa Bella (Montecasino)
Best Mexican-Inspired Eatery: J. Rabbit Tequileria (Illovo)
Best Tapas Eatery: NGC (Randburg)
Highly commended
Eat Out Durbanville Hills Highly Commended Bistro: Douglas + Hale (Parktown North)
Highly Commended Coffee Shop: Afro-boer (Die Wilgers)
Highly Commended Tapas Eatery: Mix Cocktail Bar (Rosebank)
KwaZulu-Natal
Winners
Best Coffee Shop: Café Mayfair (Hillcrest)
Hellmann’s Best Burger Eatery: Smokin’ Joes (Durban)
Tramontina Best Steakhouse: Butcher Block (Umhlanga)
Best Country-Style Eatery: Oaklands Country Manor
The winners – Western Cape
Best Asian-Inspired Eatery: Tjing Tjing Torii (City Bowl)
Eat Out Durbanville Hills Best Bistro: The Shop (Sea Point)
Eat Out Hellmann's Best Burger Eatery: De Vrije Burger (Stellenbosch)
Best Coffee Shop: Pajamas & Jam Eatery (Strand)
Best Country-Style Eatery: Karoo Art Hotel (Barrydale)
Best Indian-Inspired Eatery: The Indian Chapter with Prim Reddy (Blouberg)
Best Italian-Inspired Eatery: Scarpetta (Woodstock)
Eat Out Tramontina Best Steakhouse: The Fat Butcher, (Stellenbosch)
Best Tapas Eatery: ChiCha Wine and Tapas Bar (Sea Point)
Highly commended Asian-inspired Eatery: Bao Down (Tamboerskloof)
Highly commended
Eat Out Durbanville Hills Highly Commended Bistro: Groot Phesantekraal Restaurant (Durbanville)
Eat Out Hellmann's Highly Commended Burger Eatery: Gibson’s Gourmet Burgers and Ribs (V&A Waterfront)
Highly commended Coffee Shop: Boston Coffee (Bellville)
Eat Out Tramontina Highly Commended Steakhouse: Rare Grill (Kenilworth)
Judging
Eat Out fans directly influence the results with their star ratings when they review a restaurant on the site and the Eat Out app. Stars are awarded from one (poor) to five (excellent), for food and drinks, ambience and service. The restaurants with the highest average star rating in each category in each province for the period are eligible to win. As in 2018, each shortlisted restaurant will be visited and rated by an Eat Out critic. Final scores will be based on a 50-50 composite rating determined by the public and the critics.
Terms and conditions
- The Best Everyday Eateries winners will be determined by a restaurant’s average star rating over the eligible period, with equal weighting given to reader reviews and critic reviews.
- Eat Out will combine the star ratings of the reader reviews over the eligible period with those of the critics on the Eat Out editorial panel to get to an average score out of 5 for each restaurant. (There will be equal weighting for the reader reviews and the critic’s reviews, i.e. a 50/50 split.)
- In the instance that a restaurant receives multiple positive reader reviews but has not been rated by a critic, a critic will be commissioned to review and rate the restaurant. An average score will then be determined.
- In the instance that a restaurant does not receive enough reader reviews to qualify to win but has a high star rating from the critic, a ‘highly commended’ award may be given.
- The awards period is 1 October 2018 to 31 July 2019.
- Users need to be logged in to review and rate a restaurant.
- Restaurants need to be listed on eatout.co.za to receive reviews and ratings. If your restaurant is not listed, please click here.
- Individual restaurants need to have received a minimum of five reviews in the awards period to qualify to win.
- A prize will not be awarded if the highest-rated restaurant in that category has an overall rating lower than four stars.
- Ratings are done based on ambience, service, and food, in a 20:20:60 ratio to give precedence to food.
- Users may review and rate as many restaurants as they’d like, but only one review per user profile per restaurant will be tallied.
- A restaurant’s staff members may not review their own restaurant. Spot checks will be carried out and offenders will be disqualified.
- The results will be audited based on the above guidelines.
- In the event of a ratings tie, written reviews will be taken into consideration.
- The auditors’ findings are final, and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the winners.
- Eat Out reserves the right to place restaurants in the most relevant category.
About
For the first time in 2015, Eat Out hosted this new set of restaurant awards, with the winners in each category in each province voted for by the readers.
The winners of the 2019 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Best Everyday Eateries will be the restaurants in each province in each category with the highest average ratings by readers and critics on eatout.co.za and the Eat Out app, over the period of 1 October 2018 to 31 July 2019. Restaurants can encourage their diners to review by making use of this bill folder insert. The 2019 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Everyday Eateries will be held on 17 and 19 September in Joburg and Cape Town respectively.
(The Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards remain focused on the Top 10 fine-dining restaurants in the country, and are judged by a panel of experts.)
The categories for 2019 are:
Best African-inspired Eatery
Best Asian-inspired Eatery
Durbanville Hills Best Bistro
Hellmann's Best Burger Eatery
Best Coffee Shop or Café
Best Country-Style Eatery
Best Food Truck
Best Indian-inspired Eatery
Best Italian-inspired Eatery
Best Mexican-inspired Eatery
Best Seafood Eatery
Tramontina Best Steakhouse
Best Tapas-style Eatery
