De Kloof Restaurant

Food excellent. Atmosphere special. Service excellent. Will recommend and definitely go there again.

We had an amazing function. The service was impeccable and the food was truly amazing. We were made to feel so special, I can highly recommend De Kloof for a group function or an intimate meal.

Food was impeccable. Service from our waiter was flawless. Great selection of wine and spirits on the menu. We had a fantastic time.
The owner was attentive. Just one request to wipe the tables and menus more frequently as our table and menu was dirty upon arrival. Also dirty wine glasses on the table.

The chefs and waiters are very kind and it's a perfect place for fine dining. I enjoyed their five course meal, very scrumptious dishes.

The food was amazing almost beyond expectation but on the day the service was almost bad but not really. Like when you don't like something but something about it redeems it (food) but it's still bad but you can't say it because at the end of the day you got what you really wanted.

Restaurant week lunch. Serene and peaceful ambience. Service was friendly but needs a little work. Starters were yummy: mushroom soup was comforting and perfect for a chilly day. The salmon was refreshing with complementary flavors. The mains were excellent: fillet mignon was buttery and juicy and complimented by unconventional but delicious sides. The chicken roulade dish exceeded expectation: tender with well balanced flavours. Desserts: my creme brulee whilst flavorful was a heavier and thicker custard than expected. My wife's pineapple tart was excellent. Definitely a must try.

Tasty meal indeed.
Beautiful ambience.
They could improve on the service as it takes too long to have food on the table, however, the taste of the food is remembered long after the wait has been forgotten.

What a disappointment! Chose this place as part of restaurant week. From the first drink to the bill, service was shockingly slow. Cocktails on menu, not available. Only 1 can of indian tonic left when we ordered gin. Most garnishes for the gin was unavailable. Soup was cold. Meat not cooked as ordered. The pineapple on the dessert still had a piece of skin on it. Manager very unhelpful and the portions very small. The lunch took 3 hours and the food was poor value for money. Maybe this was a nice place back in the day, but today it was awful!

Very impressed with the restaurant. Comfortable setting. We had the five course menu and every dish ranged from very good to excellent. Food was very tasty and very well presented. Wine list is decent. Waiting staff were a bit absent but other than this a very pleasant experience and the food is very impressive.

Service was very slow today although the restaurant not that busy, had to wait 2 hours between starters and mains. Floors dirty, cutlery not clean, we had to ask to get some replaced. The manager was made aware. Place over rated.

Husband and I first went there 4 years ago and is definitely one of our favourites. I always have the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairing. Can never go wrong. Impress a loved one or client with fine dining.

Disclaimer: the above was from 2017, for an update please read David Mcconell's review. I completely align myself with every statement of his review.

Great fine dining experience, the chef goes an extra mile to make you happy, they are happy to take comments and criticism. Great view on the covered balcony, you can even buy a bucket for the golf driving range.

We booked for the Valentine's dinner and were left feeling extremely disappointed afterwards. The menu and other reviews had me feeling very excited for our "gourmet" and "fine dining" dinner but what we experienced was rather boring and very uninspired.

On arrival we were given a lovely glass of bubbly. The ladies were meant to receive a rose but I did not. We were seated and shortly thereafter presented with our first course which was meant to be served with bubbly but this actually was the bubbly served on arrival, so if you drank it before your starter arrived, you had no pairing, which was not mentioned when the bubbly was served. The starter was not enjoyable at all. I think they included the Turkish delight pannacotta to add a pink element for Valentine's Day but this did not go with the course and would have been much better suited to a dessert. The salmon was also not good quality but rather the cheap offcuts you buy with the brown discolored pieces. We hoped it would just be this course that was underwhelming but sadly this was the common factor across the entire dinner.

Our second course was a gruyere and cauliflower fondant, which on it's own was not too bad but it was served with a watery maraschino cherry sorbet, which did not compliment the meal but again was added to add a pink element to the dish. The nuts were supposed to have been roasted with paprika but we could not taste or see any evidence of this. Our pairing for this meal was meant to be a lemongrass and ginger g&t but instead we received a cucumber one.

We were then served what was meant to be a lemon verbena and passion fruit palate cleanser but this just tasted like passion fruit. This was served with a plastic spoon. Not fine dining at all.

Up until this point, we were feeling very underwhelmed but had high hopes for the main. We were just served our steak without requesting how we would like it done. My boyfriend received a smaller piece than I did, so we swapped as the portions up until this point had all been very small and these were not too substantial either. His was cooked medium. Mine was very well done. I do not enjoy my steak well done, so this was not to my taste. The jus was meant to be an oxtail and shiitake jus, this however tasted like a packet gravy. The small pie however was very tasty and was the one thing I actually really enjoyed on my plate. Our wine was served out of a bottle where the wine label had been removed, leading us to question what wine we were actually served.

After our mains were cleared, our palate cleansers glasses and spoons had still not been cleared.

I had been looking forward to dessert since waking up this morning (cheesecake would be my ideal last meal) but this just added to the disappointment of the evening. The coffee flavour was so overpowering that you could not taste the chocolate or the cheese. It was also so gelatinous that it had the texture of set jelly. The dulche de leche ice cream it was served with did taste nice and was much better than the cheesecake.

The service was also not good. Our waiter at no point offered us water or anything else to drink. When I mentioned I did not enjoy my steak and that it was very overdone, no comment was made, not even that it would be mentioned to the chef. No one checked on us to see if we were enjoying our meals until they came to clear the plates. We also had a broken table light on our table. When this was mentioned to the waiter, it was just removed. Only upon asking if we would still be getting another one, was it arranged.

The views were really pretty and on a clear day, I imagine the sunset would be lovely. We visited on a cloudy day and it was still pretty.

Overall we left feeling disappointed and quite cheated after paying R1,700 for a dinner that was very sub-par. The portions were very small but had the food actually tasted nice, this wouldn't have been an issue.

Went for the Valentines Dinner on the 13th. Was very disappointing on what we expected from reading the menu online.

Service was not up to standard. We sat down and was only served 15min after we had to go and call a waiter. Waiter didn't introduce himself, got the Gin order wrong. I ordered Gin with Lamb and Watts Tonic, grapefruit and Lemon as garnish. Got Gin with cucumber, cinnamon, apple and lemon. No tonic. Had to remind the waiter for the tonic. He brought me Fitch and Leeds Tonic. After I told him its the wrong tonic he said the Lamb and Watts is out of stock. A friend at the table ordered white wine and it took 30min to get the wine after we had to remind the waiter again. No coffee service was offered.

Food on the set menu was not at all as described. The first course was lovers bread however not to our taste. The bread was more like a taco that was dressed with other items.

Second course was Gruyere and Cauliflower. This was tasty however would have liked to tasted this Swiss Hard Cheese. Cauliflower was dominating the plate and taste.

The sorbet was Lemon Verbena. We received Granadilla Sorbet. After enquiring with the waiter he took the wrong sorbet brought us the right one stating that the kitchen didn't think it was innovative enough hence why they didn't serve it. Why have it one the menu to start with.

Forth course was Lamb. From the four plates not one lamb was cooked the same temperature or presented the same way. The Edame Beans was not peeled which left them tough to eat and we ended up peeling it ourselves. The Lamb and Raisin Tart was tasty however it was drenched in the Rosemary creme which was more of a sauce and made the pastry soggy and unedible.

Dessert was a Chocolate and Espresso Cheescake which looked and tasted more like a mousse. The Dulce De Leche ice cream was most probably the high light of the night. The brandy snap of the four plates only one was done great and the rest was soggy.

At the end of the night we just got up to leave and pay the bill which they added a R287 service fee on a party of four. This was added without our consent.

For a fine dining restaurant the decor was dusty, not all light bulbs are working, windows are dirty, carpet has not been vacuumed and in the gentleman's bathroom there is a lot of water damage on the ceiling and you can hear the water dripping.

It breaks my heart writing a review like this as we were really looking forward to spending a night at a well-known restaurant and hope this will be taken as good critic, to up the standards and improve. One should be able to see the chefs passion on each plate which tonight was lacking. In a time during this Pandemic it is important to take the little guests that you can host and make them remember it.

Lovely setting, great views over the golf course and the South East of Pretoria. Food was lovely, portions are quite small, but the food prep is delicate and classy. Service is friendly. Only issue is that the restaurant needs a bit of TLC maintenence wise, which detracts from overall experience.

We have recently visited De Kloof Restaurant for a special lunch menu during the @weekrestaurant event. The food was excellent, the tastes complemented perfectly and the individual dishes were very original (for example, the dish mermaid from all type of seafood, the entrails - heart, liver). Just perfect food and I also enjoyed pairing food with wine.
Our waiter was Sakkie and he was very kind and helpful.
The overall positive impression was evoked by a high-quality food and wine and a pleasant atmosphere. I would highly recommend for a fine dining experience.

Having been here a few times before, I was looking forward to experiencing Restaurant Week here. I was terribly disappointed. The food was up to scratch, but service was terrible. I definitely expect more from a fine dining restaurant. There were 3 waiters covering 12 occupied tables. Service was disjointed, and I had to ask another waiter for something several times, as the first one had forgotten. I ordered a gin and tonic with cucumber, grapefruit and lemon, the cucumber specifically being recommended by the waiter. My drink had only a slice of lemon in it, and when I enquired, I was told, not by the waiter who had brought me my drink, but by the waitress, that the restaurant was out of grapefruit and cucumber. I find this unacceptable, as the restaurant appeared completely unprepared for Restaurant Week. We were a group of 3, all having ordered meat, but we were not provided with steak knives and had to ask for them. They were then taken to the wrong table, and we had to call the waitress over when we saw her wandering around with three steak knives on a tray, while our food went cold. Portions are small, but we were satisfied after our 3 course meal. However, anything less than 3 courses, would not be sufficient, in my opinion. To end off, the bill folder was filthy and sticky.

Food is well presented and the view is wonderful. The service is wonderful as well. Great wine list and a creative menu. Some improvements could be made. Some accompaniments were under seasoned and the meat was a bit overcooked. All in all it was good.

Setting beautiful but food was below average. Steak was not medium rare and it was very very dry. Would not recommend it.

Came here for my anniversary and had the most amazing time! The waiter was entertaining and knowledgeable and the wine and food were both absolutely amazing! Top Class. We found fault with nothing. The tarte tatin was the best part. But the farmer brown and the the Framboise soup were also outstanding. Will define come back.