Cape Town & the Winelands

How we rank restaurants

Four tiers, a published score, and the sources behind every badge.

Updated 14 Nov 2026

The four tiers

  1. Tier 1 Destination fine dining. Eat Out 2026 three stars or World’s 50 Best 2026 positions 1–100.
  2. Tier 2 Special occasion & wine-farm lunch. Eat Out 2026 one or two stars; estate restaurant with adjusted Google rating ≥4.4; or RRRR.
  3. Tier 3 Great casual. Every other open sit-down restaurant not in tiers 1 or 2.
  4. Tier 4 Quick & family-easy. Cafés, delis, bakeries, tea rooms and food markets; fish-and-chips/takeaway and beachfront family spots via overrides with reasons.

Order within a tier

Each restaurant earns points: up to 50 for a place on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 (more the higher it sits), 20 for each Eat Out 2026 star, 3 for a special Eat Out 2026 award such as Restaurant of the Year, and 10 for every point its Google rating sits above 4.0. The Google rating is first adjusted as if each place had 200 extra reviews at 4.3, so a handful of perfect scores can’t outrank thousands of reviews. Ties go to the place with more reviews.

Times between a thing to do and a restaurant are straight-line estimates, not routed drive times.

The exact formula

Adjusted Google rating = (rating × reviews + 4.3 × 200) ÷ (reviews + 200), rounded to two decimals. Score = 50 × ((101 − World’s 50 Best position) ÷ 100, if listed) + 20 × Eat Out stars + 3 for any qualifying special Eat Out award + 10 × (adjusted rating − 4.0). A missing rating adds 0. The special award bonus applies once per venue. Ties use review count, then ID. Tier 1 and 2 rules take precedence over Tier 4 venue types. Travel times are estimates, not routed journeys. Verified hours and price facts show the source date separately from the Fact Check date.

Sources

Opening hours and prices marked “Check before you go” are unverified. Confirmed facts link to their source; when its date differs, we show the source date separately from the Fact Check date. Booking lead times are our estimates. No restaurant pays to be listed or ranked.

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