As we arrived we were told that there were no tables for us in the quartyard. We wandered in to have a look for ourselves as we could see a free bar table, only to find that there was a 4 seater lounge area available. I then ordered a Rose wine, which was possibly the worst glass of wine i have ever tasted. When we ordered our food the waiter was unable to answer a question we had about how the sweetpotato side was cooked and served. I then ordered the tuna salad (Nicoise Salad) which is said to have Tuna, Asparagus, boiled egg, Potato, green bean, mayo. What I received was some lettuce with two dollops of tuna mayo on top some chopped up beans and asparagus, one halved boiled egg and 4 tiny 1cm by 1cm pieces of potato. I picked them out and put the 4 measly pieces of potato on a side plate. I asked the waiter to call the manager, 10 minutes later I got up to go and call him myself, When i got to him he was on the phone and totally unapproachable and tried to pass me off to the waiter again. I then asked him to please come to my table after his phone call. When he came and heard my experience with the salad, he offered to bring me a potato on the side of my salad. I asked him to please bring me a different salad which was obliged.

A sad shadow of its former self. Ownership of the restaurant has changed and the trained staff have left. The service was poor. It was difficult to get anyone's attention and we were disappointed with our meat.

Amidst a great offering of wines by the glass there is a serious lack of beer offering – the only craft they offer is Darling and they had no stock on our evening. Food was average considering the price – burger was bland and fries over-fried, calamari ordered with no garlic was also fairly tasteless. Waiter was pleasant and service was good but unfortunately we were there for the food.

On our first evening in Stellenbosch, visiting from San Francisco, we chose Wijnhuis for a early meal based on appearance and the posted menu. We wandered into the patio, which was nearly deserted, but decided to stay when we eyed the platters of fish and vegetables being clearly enjoyed by another couple of a certain age. We were not at all disappointed, by the food, which was excellent; by the service, which was friendly and professional; by the wine list, which offered great pairings; or by the price, which represented solid value. We subsequently read the negative reviews, which we noted were all 2-3 years old, and did not recognize our experience in others' words. Ignore them and try Wijnhuis.

It just a pity that the owners take off 50% of the waiter's credit card tips to subsidise the staff's minimum wage.