Dineplan's 2026 Reviewers' Choice Awards are based on more than 357 000 reviews.
The Dineplan Reviewers’ Choice Awards 2026 recognise South Africa’s best-reviewed restaurants. The Western Cape leads the Top 100, while Gauteng’s most celebrated restaurants are conspicuously absent. Picture: iStock
Dineplan has released its Reviewers’ Choice Awards 2026, and the most noticeable thing about this year’s list is what’s missing regarding where South Africans are finding their favourite tables.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of diners share feedback and leave reviews for restaurants on the booking platform. According to Dineplan, those reviews help it recognise the restaurants that consistently deliver great food and memorable dining experiences.
The scale behind this year’s Reviewers’ Choice Awards list includes more than more than 357 000 reviews spanning 30 million diners at restaurants over seven million bookings made through the platform.
Western Cape takes the lead
The Western Cape is once again the most heavily represented province. Filtering the list by region returns 82 restaurants for the province, 77 of them in the Top 100 and five flagged as newcomers. That’s well ahead of any other region.
Based on the badge numbers on the Reviewers’ Choice Awards list, which appear to be rankings, the province also dominates the top end. Nine of the top ten and 18 of the top 20 are Western Cape restaurants. Familiar names are in the mix, including FYN, FABER, Jakkalsvlei and La Colombe.
Winelands dining does particularly well. Franschhoek alone has seven entries, from La Cotte Farm Restaurant and Hari Kitchen to Monneaux, ARKESTE and Orangerie at Le Lude, with Stellenbosch, Paarl and Stanford also well represented. Wine farms, vineyard tables and farm-to-table kitchens appear throughout the cuisine descriptors.
Gauteng’s missing heavyweights
The picture is very different in Gauteng. The province has 17 restaurants on the list: 12 in the Top 100 and five newcomers (Obento Ramen Bar, Ilios, Karvouno Restaurant, Club Como Neighbourhood and Dolci Ristorante Italiano).
But Joburg’s most popular and celebrated restaurants are nowhere to be found in this year’s Reviewers’ Choice Awards rankings. This includes names like Les Créatifs, Marble, Embarc and The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg.
The highest-placed Gauteng restaurant is La Vie Lente Bistro & Venue in Tierpoort at 24, and no Gauteng restaurant makes the top 20.
What does feature on the Reviewers’ Choice Awards leans casual and neighbourhood-driven: pasta and antipasti at The Italian Job Food Emporium and Lupa Osteria, Butcher Boys Meyersdal, Franks Burgers & Ribs, The Sushi Club Neighbourhood and O Peri Peri Edenvale, plus the Club Como outposts and The Hussar Grill Silverstar Casino.
Because diner reviews drive the awards rather than a panel of critics, they reflect what people enjoy and rebook, not reputation or buzz. That may explain why a restaurant can be the talk of the town and still not feature, and why unfussy, consistently good spots rank well.
