CapeTown Grill and Bar

If I could give ZERO stars I would. What a difference time makes. We went last night for a bite to eat after work, letting the Miramar traffic settle down. The samosas were like rocks, terrible. I ordered chicken sliders, the bread tasted about 6 months old, I couldn’t even eat it. The chicken was ok, however it was so thin, I have no idea what part of the chicken that came from. My husband, who is English, ordered the Cornish pie and chips. He thinks it may have been dog meat. This man knows a pie, has eaten more than 10,000 so far in his lifetime. I would rate the food REVOLTING.
We should have known, we walked in at 6pm and the place was empty. That was the first clue. The lights weren’t even on. The waitress must have heard us talking about how hard it was to read the menu, because she put the lights on suddenly. But then it was more obvious how many flies were in there, one landed in my husbands beer. Yummy!
We will not be going back! I have better things to waste my money on. When I spend my time and money going out to eat, I don’t want to leave feeling sick and disappointed.

Absolutely love this place! Joel (the general manager) is always so friendly and has really brought a great presence to Cape Town. With regards to the food, this is a great place to go for South Africans looking for some of our old favorites but an even greater experience for Americans to experience a little of the South African cuisine and culture. My favorite item on the menu are the pies and sosaties. The slap chips are delicious too. If you are looking to plan an event this is your place — it has a great big space for a dance floor, perfect for meetups and networking events. I would definitely recommend Cape Town.

Food was amazing! Had the Peri Peri chicken sandwich, curry chicken and peri peri shrimp. All was excellent! Staff was very friendly!

Been here 3 times, which is pretty rare of any restaurants for me. Some of the special events are cool though, like Maluju on Father’s day.
Never liked African brats, and their lamb curry is much inferior to another place. Mixed grill is meh. I did enjoy the peri peri liver as well as the lamb skewers which has very good flavor. Wish it was more medium rare, would have been more tender. Bobo tie was interesting, first time for me, was okay.

A friend and I decided to try this place as we both like to try new and different ethnic foods. I had the Capetown’s Signature Curry with Chicken. I asked for it to be mildly spicy. It was fantastic. Just enough heat to keep it interesting for me.
My friend had the Boerewors Pap & Gravy. He enjoyed it very much. We decided to split a desert. The waitress explained that the deserts are all made in house and the only two that were ready were the Brandy Tart and the Lamingtons. She recommended the Brandy Tart so we ordered that. WOW! It was great. It was very rich and absolutely soaked in brandy. It was a perfect ending to a very nice meal.
The service was excellent. We were greeted when we walked in and immediately asked with we would like to drink. We both ordered water and while the waitress was getting that, we perused the menu. The dishes were a little pricey, but that was expected from Unilocal’s $$ indication.
The place was very clean and not very crowded, being that we got there at 11:15 AM for lunch. The waitress answered all of our questions about the food, took our orders and left. When she brought us our orders, the food looked very good and tasted as good as it looked. Our waitress checked back with us several times clearing any finished dishes and making sure we had water and just making sure we had with we needed for the meal.
Over all, it was an excellent experience and are looking forward to going back and trying something different.

Been wanting to try this place.
It’s a very large room. They have a small marketplace area inside, a small stage, a fairly big bar area and HUGE area with tables, both inside and out for dining.
Prices are a bit steep. My friend had the curry lamb wrap and «slap chips», was about $ 13.00. The chips (fries) were horribly limp. I would have sent them back. There is no call for limp chips, even in South Africa! The wrap was tasty, nice flavor to the lamb and it was reasonably tender.
I had the Boerewors Pap & Gravy which is house made daily fresh sausage, traditional (pork & beef mix) served with Pap /​Iwisa — (South African style polenta made from ground maize) complimented with Tomato & Onion gravy ($ 12.00) South Africans use a lot of coriander in their sausage, so that flavor was prominent, it was about a 6″ to 8″ piece of sausage and ground corn porridge cooked to the consistency of lumpy mashed potatoes with a tomato/​onion sauce topping. Tasty, ALMOST enough food to drive away hunger and somewhat boring, served with two cucumber slices topped with cherry tomatoes, which was sort of odd. The sausage was tastier with some yellow mustard, which is a bit sad, really.
Let’s get to it:
Ambiance/​Cleanliness-​Very clean, interesting ambiance, hopefully the photos show it! 4 stars
Service…Our server was fantastic, did a great job, good hustle, very helpful…4 stars
Food…I was more than a little disappointed, judging by the food I ate and cost, have to give…2 stars
That said, I would go back maybe two times more to truly sample the menu and see if there is something that I cannot live without. It’s an unusually compelling conceit, actually!

The food was tasty but man it is expensive. it will at least cost you 20 to 25 $ per person.

We are South Africans and you brought back some tastes we have not had in a while. Thanks for the memories. We enjoyed all the food that we ordered. We came here for dinner after my nieces graduation from SDSU.
People forget that in Cape Town, life runs at a slower pace, so for us the wait for service was just fine, but for Americans, I guess, the wait could be considered long. It just reminded me of Hout Bay when we waited for dinner for close onto 2hrs to get our food. It just is the pace of life here in the US. So this is nothing!
Wishing you all the success in your business. We will be back when we visit San Diego again. We live in Orange County. Thank you for being here!

I was going to give them a break for being new, but then I saw reviews here from two years ago. They are not getting it. Very understaffed and bad attitude.
I had a very bad experience last Saturday night. I was looking forward to checking out a new place and some good live music. I was interested in the food as I have been in Eastern Africa and I plan to go to South Africa.
I went there with a friend at 8 pm and the place was crowded. That was fine. Great band (Steve Wolff), so I knew it would be. We waited for 20 minutes and were unable to get a drink at the bar. We were waiting in line. The manager (female) kept bringing what looked like tabs to the only bartender for her to enter into the cash register. Therefore, NO drinks were leaving the bar.
The bartender finally took the order of the woman in front of me. One drink. She didn’t give it to her. She walked away to a register closer to the front door. Now there was NO ONE behind the bar. (and about 10 people in line to get drinks)
My friend walked over there and spoke to the manager, who was still giving the bartender paper work to do. She politely asked if we could get some service. The woman said something like just a few more minutes. I told her there was no one behind the bar and she told me that if I could do better than to go ahead, but she was doing the best she could.
So, there went our night listening to the Wolff band and trying some South African food. We left.
My friend doesn’t want to ever go back there. You only have one chance to make a first impression.
Oh and what’s with the lights? It was quite brightly lit on the dance floor. Not good ambience.

We stopped in for lunch on Saturday. Very nice people and very clean. I have a chicken curry, rice wrap that was oohhh so good! I love eating spices of various cultures. My husband had a burger. He wasn’t as much into the food as I was. He’s kinda a woose when its comes to spices. I thought the burger was good and he loved the fries. I will have to bring some friends here that I know will love this place and the food. Will come again

Drive by find and a lucky one at that. A quick late lunch before heading back to the OC. Lovely place and great food, even has a store within to buy your goods to go. Would recommend to anyone but especially Brits and obviously South Africans.
Joel, the owner has made this a great place.
A lovely lunch with Sausage Rolls to start and then the Salmon. An abundance of wines and beers.
Get yourself down there and try it!

Amazing Time! 100% Kid-​Friendly and the café is so unique that it keeps them captivated. Food is amazing at a Great Price. Portion size is well worth every penny. Taste is for the Senses to describe. It’s like nothing else you’ll find in San Diego County. Absolutely Must come into CapeTown Grill and Bar at the very least once.
FYI: Lamingtons are addicting on the Dessert Menu: Chocolate Goodness in every bite! Make sure to leave room for one or take one To-​Go. Enjoy!

The Peri peri chicken salad is amazing.
great place and great vibe. the lamb samosas also make a great appetizer.

Authentic South African food owned by South Africans. LOVE the Peri Peri Chicken Salad and Samosas.
Friendly waiters and waitresses.
They had an African Drumming Band playing last Sunday who was great. A bit loud, but great.

Pretty neat spot, but in a random location on Mira Mar. Don’t overlook it though! This place is huge and right when you walk in, you definitely feel like you’re in a different world. A lot of South African decorations/​merchandise and the vibe is very adventurous and cool. More than enough seating and the service is incredibly good. Our server Rico was probably one of the friendliest servers I’ve ever had and really helped us with our food choices. The manager or owner (I think?) also came around to tables to make sure everyone was having a nice experience.
We decided to get the Capetown Signature Curry Dish and the Peri Peri Prawn dish. The portions are reeeeeally big and the flavor of the food is very good. I personally liked the Curry dish better though & they aren’t stingy with the amount of chicken or shrimp they give. The only thing is that the plates are pretty darn pricey. I think the Curry dish was about $ 15 and the Peri Peri Prawn was about $ 19. The food is good, but the pricing is a tad bit too high for what it is in my opinion. We also got Alesmith Horny Devils for $ 8 each, but they came in pints! That’s not too shabby of a deal, considering Horny Devil has a very high ABV and is almost never given in pints. The restaurant has a bar and a good selection of beers too, which was surprising cause I didn’t imagine that at a place like this.
Overall, it was a really cool experience and a nice spot to try if you want to be a bit adventurous and have a bite of South Africa. Just be aware that you’ll be spending quite a bit though.
ALSO! TIP: Check in on Unilocal to get a free drink. I realized that after my visit :(

It’s my first time trying South African food, so impressive. Before coming to this place, I have no idea how South African food looks like or tastes. Here I’m gonna share some photos that I took. I really love their baked dishes. Right now they have promotion, if you check in, you will get one free beverage, choices of beer, wine, hot drink or soda.

I’ve bookmarked this place for a while now and was excited to try it on a friday night with the boyfriend. Really spacious and well decorated inside. Service was friendly and prompt and we were even able to check-​in on Unilocal to get a free drink. I chose one of the imported ginger beers and it was probably one of the best ginger beers I’ve ever had.
Was looking to try a few different things and noticed that their sampler platter had an assortment of popular items so the boyfriend and I decided to split that and a steak and mushroom pie. I regretted not getting something other than the steak and mushroom pie since the sampler platter had a lot of different pies and pastry type items already. By the end of the night I was kind of meat pied out. And the meal felt really heavy from all the carbs and meat. That said, I enjoyed the sausage rolls and my boyfriend wolfed down the slap fries that came with the steak and mushroom pie. I was hoping the curry flavor would be stronger in the samosas though. The filling for most of the pies/​pastry items were a bit bland and could’ve used more seasoning. The peri peri wings were juicy and interesting, though the most predominant flavor I got was dry heat/​spice. It was good with the ranch, but I think it could’ve used a little something more, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Overall, not a bad meal, but I’d like to try their non-​pastry items next time. Will be back for that ginger beer! Next time I’ll ask if they sell it through their ministore.

My girlfriend and I came here for dinner, and we almost passed the place up in the dark driving down Miramar road. We pulled in and there was plenty of parking. The place didn’t seem too busy, and there was only one couple ahead of us. They seated them promptly and we shortly followed. The place looked quite cool, with a nice safari african feel, while a the same time being very tidy and clean. They even have a little area where you can buy South African goods and frozen pastries from the restaurant.
Our server was super awesome. He was really friendly and was happy to explain alot of the items for us. Our orders were taken promptly and he constantly checked up on us. He even fulfilled our request to close the door, due to the chilly night, and agreed on the coldness after closing it.
We ordered the sampler platter, and a Beef and Mushroom pie, along with a ginger beer. The pie itself was decent, although the filling seemed a little bland and could use a little more kick. This was served along with some slap chips, which were essentially fries. I found them to be tasty, although they were soggy and would have been better with some crunch, I know it was supposed to have a vinegar taste, but I couldn’t taste anything special at all. The sampler platter came with a ton of food, sadly none of it really stood out. The samosas and the Boerewors sausage was quite dry with all the stuffing crumbling about. The Peri Peri wings were alright, but not that much depth of flavor other than spiciness. And the Sausage rolls had a pretty soggy outside. The mini pies were similar to the large pie we had.
Overall a decent place, we were just a little disappointed in the food. We do plan on eventually coming back and trying some of the other dishes like the Bunny chow or Bobatie, in hopes that our selection was just off, but I did enjoy the service and ambiance.

First time here with my friend.
Service was terrible, it’s a Tuesday night with only four tables which includes ours (three tables of two and one table of four) but our server was not tentative. My friend didn’t get his water until almost an hour later. He only came by twice and didn’t not attempt to make eye contact. Almost got up to leave when he broke out our food.
Food wise, I ordered the shrimp salad and my friend got the lemon and herb lamb sosatie. Food presentation was great. But everything was super salty! Even my SALAD. Wth… He said the rice was good and was able to finish that but the skewers were so salty he was only able to eat two pieces off it and gave up on the rest.
This is by far the worst ethnic food place I’ve been to in San Diego. Definitely do no recommend it and we can’t say we would like to come back either.

Unique décor, good service, and a variety of food I have not tried before.
Came here for dinner with a friend. Capetown can be a bit hard to find as there are many stores/​restaurants off Miramar. The parking was pretty empty, as most stores in the plaza had closed already.
When you first approach the restaurant, the décor is very colorful and there are quite a few animal stands. They sell small market items in the front. Our waiter was pretty nice, but unfortunately I can’t recall his name. Looking over the menu, I decided to go with chicken curry. I guess there were two ways you can have it served. I asked the server which is better and he recommended the one with bread since a lot of people like to dip the bread in the curry. Since that seemed popular, I went with that. My friend ordered the sample platter (appetizer), to try a variety of items.
When the food came out, my curry was served in a bread bowl. For me, there was not a lot of sauce in the curry, so the little there was, was soaked up by the bread. I asked the server for a side of sauce/​gravy and he brought out a lil container with probably a couple tablespoons worth. I’m used to curry served with a good amount of sauce, and this was not what expected. The chicken wasnt bad, but I would definitely get with rice next time.
The sample platter had a good amount of food, and can easily be substituted as a meal. I tried the peri peri wings and the samosas. These both were good.
For this visit, I would have to give the food 2.5÷3 stars. The server was helpful and nice so 4 stars. Overall 3.5. I would come back to try more.

Beautiful décor, nice helpful waitress, but just one table of people when we arrived around dinner time. This place should be full of people watching sport channels. Last count five flat screen televisions mounted on the wall. Very interesting depiction of Nelson Mandela on the wall.
My dish was the lemon and herb Chicken Sosatie. The onions and peppers paired really well with the apricots and chicken. I found myself wanting more apricots! The yellow rice was just okay and the corn on the cob was a bit too soft, but it tasted really good anyway. I’d love to come back and try out more of their delicious looking menu.
Little known facts about Cape Town, Africa.
The Cape (Town) Floral Kingdom, which spans 90 000sq km, is the smallest and richest recognised floral area on the planet and was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO’s committee. Of the 9600 species of plant life that are found in this kingdom, around 70% occur nowhere else in the world. I’m such a pushover for plants, just love to discover new ones.
Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by The New York Times, appointed World Design Capital 2014, featured second in Travel and Leisure’s list of top holiday destinations and deemed the second best African city to visit by TripAdvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards.
Cape Town Magazine
So if your in the mood for South African Fusion cuisine in San Diego, this is the place to go!

Came here with a Groupon, and I’m so glad I am now aware of this gem in San Diego!
Great service, food, ambiance, with live music too! I wouldn’t say it’s a romantic place, more like a casual, family-​friendly place that has a bar and stacks of wine mostly from South Africa. The location is in the industrial/​commercial area so on Saturday nights I would assume most of the patrons would be locals or regulars.
My guy had been to South Africa and he said it’s very similar to the food he had there. That’s a plus with the authentic flavors on top of the delicious food.
We got a sample platter to try out everything that is so South African including 3 samosas of one flavor (choose potato, chicken or beef), 3 peri peri wings, 3 cocktail pies, 2 sausage rolls and boerewors (sausages). Ya, that’s a lot of food for appetizer! Treat it like one whole entrée. Wow the pastries were amazingly good, fluffy, buttery and savory. Everything was perfectly seasoned. The pies definitely reminded me of the heavy Portuguese and British influence. My least favorite was the peri peri wings — flavor was good but it was a bit dry.
We also ordered the peri peri shrimp plate to share. Definitely one of the best shrimp dishes we had. The shrimp was very flavorful and succulent, which is perfect with the rice that’s on the bland side. You don’t want the dish to be over seasoned.
They also have other traditional South African dishes like Bunny chow and more peri peri items.
To conclude our meal, we got the lamingtons which is essentially chocolate cake with coconut shreds and whipped cream. It was simple yet well executed with rich chocolate flavors but without the overwhelming sweetness.
I love the colorful and informative place mat and also the oversized giraffe menu. This restaurant is simply adorable and is easily one of my new favorites! I’ll keep coming!!!

Located in the same plaza as Marinello and a furniture store, there is plenty of parking.
My husband and I had lunch here a little more than a week ago on a Saturday a little before 12 pm. No one greeted us when we came in right away. But eventually we were seated at a table with menus. We ended up ordering:
Meat Lover’s Grill, $ 24.95 prior to tax– This meat lover’s entrée came with plenty of meat. On this plate, my husband got a 6 oz New York strip steak, half rack of lamb and a meat sausage. A scoop of mashed potatoes is also included on this meat plate (which was just average tasting and was supposed to be served with a mushroom gravy but wasn’t on this dish). Each of the meat offerings was tender. I liked the lamb but my husband felt that the rosemary killed the flavor. I agree that the rosemary was quite present in the flavor, but I liked it. But probably would suggest using less rosemary when cooking to really get a natural taste of the meat itself. The meat sausage was really good with interesting flavors that seem to be native to South Africa. The portions of this plate was quite filling, my husband was full after consuming it all.
Lemon & Herb Chicken Sandwich with side salad ($ 10.95 prior to tax) — For this sandwich, you have the option of ordering a lemon and herb chicken or peri peri. Although I would love to try the peri peri chicken, it is pretty spicy and this non spicy eating person just can’t do it, so I was being boring and opted for the lemon and herb version. This sandwich is served on a toasted ciabatta and was quite filling. I actually only had half of this sandwich (but I am sure most people would eat both halves). I liked that this sandwich meal also came with a side salad (made with the healthy dark green leafys. You also have your choice of getting fries instead).
Koeksusters, $ 4 prior to tax– I decided to get this dessert, which is described as a «traditional South African deep fried braided doughnut soaked in a sweet and zesty syrup». This dessert was served cold and was swimming in a syrup that tasted like honey. My initial bite did not impress me, the doughnut was cold and had that taste of hard bread (if you ever had a bite of cold bread, you would know that familiar hard texture I am talking about). I really wished this dessert was at least served warm. But I still liked it and ate it all nonetheless (my husband really liked the dessert).
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(Total= $ 43.09 after tax, prior to tip)
Service was not that great when we first arrived but seemed to be a little better during our visit.
Overall, the food was pretty good, but price is a bit on the high side for some of their items. If the prices were a little cheaper, I would want to try other items on their menu.
Oh and one thing I wanted to mention was that I really loved the beautiful place mats. The place mats is of a beautiful drawing of Cape Town, artistically highlighting each section and what is notable in that part of South Africa. It really makes me want to go there one day.

Surprising dining experience in the heart of San Diego’s furniture district.
I drive by this place twice a day, every weekday, often wondering if Cape Town would be successful at this location. Every week more signs and banners are on the grass. They’ve even painted the outside wall letting the daily commuters know that this is a South African pub and grill, not a South African furniture store. I think it’s starting to set in.
Food —
I came here for meat pies and this place has them o-​plenty. I was very fortunate to also try their sampling platter. My favorites were the sausage rolls, the mini pies, and the peri peri wings. I actually enjoyed their wings as much as Hooters wings. The one thing I didn’t enjoy so much were the samosas (potato). Those were way too spicy.
I was satisfied with everything I tried here.
Recommendations
— I would recommend this place to anyone looking for something different (or British like).
— If you don’t want to order a full meat pie, you get a few mini meat pies with the sampler.
— I would also recommend the burger as this was popular with the other patrons in the restaurant.
— They offer canned S.A. ginger beer (strong ginger ale) and other unique sodas.
— Their Iced Tea is very good, it’s not the gross Lipton stuff you find at most places.
Gripe — There really is only one negative about this place. The manager’s (Gary?) loud phone and verbal discussions that are heard throughout the dining room. The dining room is a big empty room (it was never designed to be a restaurant dining room), so acoustically the sound is amplified. Unfortunately Gary is a loud talker and he talks a lot. Whether he’s reprimanding an employee, or arguing with a vendor over the phone, you’ll be in earshot of all of it. At times it was awkward. I feel that Cape Town «business» should be done out of earshot of the customer.