This place is BEYOND amazing. I’m a bit late in reviewing, but I figured better late than never! We came here for my birthday dinner, and we decided THATNIGHT that we’ll be returning for the hubby’s in a couple of months! First off – I have no idea what other reviewers are talking about in regards to the waitstaff – they were beyond sweet to us!(Translated things, explained things, were more than friendly about us having just walked in without making reservations… and didn’t make fun of me when I asked if I could eat the funny-looking berry that came with our dessert.) Waitstaff = delightful. And the food. oh the food. I actually remembered to finally write this review because I caught myself randomly craving what we ate there! To start off, we had the fanagalo, which is essentially a whole bucket of meats of all sorts. It looks like a pricey menu option, but 1) a South African friend had told me to get it, and 2) it was SO worth it. They really could charge so much more for that much meat, let alone the flavor! It was all delicious. We spent the next five minutes after eating it all debating over why different pieces were the best ones. Ugh. It’s a good thing I don’t live a closer walking distance to this place, or I’m pretty sure this menu item would end up being our easy dinner at least once a month.(And we really don’t even eat out once a month to being with, so that’s saying a lot.) For the main course, we had the Moerby poytjie and the Impangeni seabream. They were both AMAZING. We’d never had flavors like these before, and I’m legitimately sad that we’ve been deprived of this experience for the first 25 years of our lives. If the rest of African food is anything like these dishes, I NEEDMORE. And again, the quantities they gave us were ridiculous. We went home with leftovers, despite having stuffed ourselves nearly to the point of discomfort. So yeah, prices are a little higher than what we usually dine out on, but 1) it’s a steakhouse, and most of the stuff they serve is straight up MEAT, and 2) OMGIT’S SOGOOD and 3) wow that’s a lot of food. Even though we were SOFULL, I had to have dessert. Because dessert. I got the melktert based on the waitress’s suggestion, and I’m so delighted that I did! Despite the potentially underwhelming idea of a «Milk tart»(not to me, but maybe to some), it was such a rich, wonderful dessert. Joe, who was stuffed and is not that big of a dessert guy, ended up having more than half of it, he loved it so much. I know I want to try the peppermint crisp torte or the amarula malva pudding next time, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to choose one of those over having another go at the Melktert! Yummmmmmm… So yeah. This restaurant? Awesome. The people here? Awesome. The food? Godly. Me? Drooling. And chewing on my shirt. (Classy, right? That’s how hungry I am, thinking about this place.) Go here. It’s too pricy for just a casual drop-in if you’re a student like me, but seriously, the next time you have an excuse, go. It’s not really quite EXPENSIVE for the amount of food they give, and it’s totally worth. Already looking forward to the next birthday in January! Also: cool points for the awesome décor and music. It’s just a pleasure to be in this place. Refreshing, in its special-ness.
Nicholas B.
Tu valoración: 4 Atlanta, GA
Eat your heart out. As a South African who lives in the States now this restaurant was a treat. Healthy portion sizes and the choices of meat are bountiful. The best part is the desert. Make sure you get the milk tart. It came close to my grandma’s home recipe growing up.
Claire C.
Tu valoración: 5 Edinburgh, United Kingdom
I lived around the corner from Shebeen for absolutely ages, and only tried its offering a week before I moved house. Of course, after finally eating there, I had to return for one more feed before the big move. Twice in one week! The food here is South African-inspired and be warned, the plates of food are enormous on both the tastiness front and the portion sizing. I had the boerwurst the first visit, which was an enormous sausagey hot dog type affair I only just managed to polish off. Second visit I enjoyed some seriously amazing chicken wings. Service is really friendly and the waitress we had on both occasions was pleasant and helpful. It’s reasonably priced too and there are several South African beers to choose from so I was happy as a clam. New favourite haunt for meaty munching.
Longfei W.
Tu valoración: 3 Currie, United Kingdom
today i came to shebeen with 5 friends. firstly, food is good, we all love it but i dont think they have a equal service for each customers. some of my friends took selfies during the whole meals. Although i think these girls seems crazy taking selfies, the waiter in the reastruant keep looking at us with an strange eyesight for a long time, whispering and imitating i have been to almost all the restaurants, the service is very bad. what the customer did is their thing, you can point out friendly or do something else but what they did i think it is extremely rude ! in the end . they charged us for extre 10percent service fee with handwriting in the bills we always give the tips even many people in uk didnt pay for that now. because i noticed that other people didnt pay for that and they didnt mention that on the menu. so it didnt make me feel good . i m not willing to pay for the service with such a bad and rude service. anyway. food is good
Marie-Line V.
Tu valoración: 5 Edinburgh, United Kingdom
GIANT portions! And the cutest sweet little waitress! She was so accommodating and joking around with us. This is just around the corner for me and I never noticed it was actually a South African restaurant. Nice décor! I took the Surf and Turf starter thinking to save some space for dessert, but with the chips added I was more than full. My friends had ribs and burgers which were HUGE and super tasty. You definitely get your money’s worth! This was a real surprise and somewhere we will go back for sure!
Alan S.
Tu valoración: 5 Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Popped in for my birthday meal here recently as I had been eying Shebeen on Lothian road for some time, but the stairs put me off as some of my family members would not be able to get up the stairs in the Morrison Street venue. The Dalry Road restaurant is on the ground floor however. The décor/ambience was great — African influenced décor/music, open windows letting some breeze through and the sun was belting through the windows. Excellent environment to enjoy some SA food. Our waitress for the evening was polite and attentive. She really did make us informed of what we were ordering and feel very welcome. We ordered king prawn Sosatie, Calamari and vegetable Sosatie. All were excellent the vegetable kebabs looked great and my Calalmari was fresh and cooked perfectly. The steaks are served in terms of size of predator chetah or lion. :D The mains were Lion rump steak, Sirloin Cheetah, Vegetable bunny chow and the seabass. The steaks were cooked perfectly and so big that I couldn’t finish the accompaniments. The bunny chow was really interesting, a Durban curry served in a hollowed out bread loaf. This looked amazing and went down a treat. The seabass was really quite special. This was served as a whole fish stuffed with ginger, garlic, veggies, lemon etc in a tin foil parcel that the fish had been cooked in. When the parcel was open we were treated to the most fantastic aromatic smells. The booze selection appears to be mainly South African wine, cider etc there are a few European lagers on there too. My Dad always has something to say about a restaurant and he said that he could not fault the place and we will be heading back soon. That is a first ;D… thumbs up from me.