Eating Out in South Africa: A Beginner's Guide to Restaurants

By Luna Harper. Prices last verified: 2026-11-06.

Eating out in South Africa is easy, but it is different if you are new to it. Restaurants range from a roadside shisanyama to a fine dining room in Cape Town, and the rules change with the price. This guide explains how restaurants work here — the kinds of places, how ordering and tipping work, what a meal costs, and how to get the best value on your first visits.

The kinds of restaurants

Fast food is the most common restaurant in South Africa. You order at a counter, pay first, and collect your food on a tray or take it away. A fast food meal costs roughly R60 to R150, and it is the quickest way to eat out. Family restaurants are the next step up: table service, a longer menu, and mains roughly R120 to R250. These are the places for birthdays and Sunday lunch, and most have a kids menu.

Cafes sit between the two: table service or counter ordering, lighter food, and mains roughly R80 to R180. A cafe is the best choice for breakfast or a long coffee. For the best coffee shops in the country, see Best Coffee Shops in South Africa: Where to Get Great Coffee. Fine dining is the top end, with mains roughly R250 to R600 and tasting menus higher still. Shisanyama is the most South African option of all: you buy meat by weight, it is braaied in front of you, and you eat it with pap and chakalaka, usually R40 to R70 a plate.

How ordering works

At a fast food counter, you order and pay at the same time, then wait for your number. At a table-service restaurant, you sit down, the waiter brings a menu, you order, and you pay at the end. At a shisanyama, you choose your meat at the counter, pay by weight, and collect it when the braai is done.

Tipping is expected at table-service restaurants. Ten percent is standard, fifteen percent for very good service, and the tip is usually left in cash or added to the card payment. At a fast food counter, tipping is not expected. At a shisanyama, a small tip for the braai master is welcome but not required. If the service was bad, you can tip less — but a small tip is still polite, because the waiter is not the cook.

Drinks are ordered with the meal. A soft drink costs roughly R20 to R35, a beer roughly R30 to R55, and a glass of house wine roughly R45 to R80. Water is the cheapest drink, and many restaurants will bring a free jug of tap water if you ask.

Finding daily deals before you go out

The cheapest way to eat out is to check the deals before you leave home. Almost every chain runs a daily special, and the special is usually the cheapest full meal on the menu. Weekday lunch specials are the best value: a full meal for less than the dinner price, often with a drink included. The specials change daily, so a quick check in the morning tells you where the value is that day. The current daily specials, with the deals for today, are listed in the KFC specials guide.

The second place to check is the restaurant's own social media page, where the daily special is often posted before it reaches the menu board. The third is the specials board outside the restaurant: a chalkboard with the day's deal, usually the cheapest way to spot value from the street. The fourth is the lunch menu itself, which many restaurants print separately from the dinner menu at a lower price.

The rule is simple: never walk into a restaurant without knowing the special. Five minutes of checking can save R30 to R50 on a single meal, and over a month that is a real amount of money. Check first, then choose the restaurant, not the other way around. If you are eating with a group, check the sharing deals too: a family meal or a large bucket split between friends is often cheaper per person than individual mains, and most chains list the sharing options on the same specials page.

What a meal costs

A fast food lunch costs roughly R60 to R150, including a drink. A family restaurant lunch costs roughly R120 to R250 per person, and dinner costs a little more. A cafe breakfast costs roughly R80 to R180. A fine dining main costs roughly R250 to R600, and a three-course meal can reach R500 or more per person before drinks.

The extras add up. A starter costs roughly R60 to R120. A dessert costs roughly R50 to R90, and ice cream is the cheapest way to finish a meal, generally between R11.90 and R39.90. A side of chips costs roughly R25 to R45. A second drink costs as much as the first, so water is the best way to keep the bill down.

The cheapest full meal out is the lunch special. The most expensive is the fine dining dinner with wine. Most South Africans eat out somewhere in the middle: a family restaurant or a fast food meal, with a drink, for roughly R100 to R200 per person. Children eat cheaper: a kids meal generally costs between R35 and R45, so a family of four with two children can eat out for far less than four adult mains.

Eating out at a glance

Prices vary by restaurant and change over time. The ranges above are a planning guide, and the menu pages list the current figures. For the full set of guides, see South Africa Food Guides Hub: Deals, Menus and Eating Out.

FAQs

**How much does eating out cost in South Africa?** A fast food meal costs roughly R60 to R150. A family restaurant meal costs roughly R150 to R300 per person with a drink. Fine dining starts around R400 per person.

**Do I need to tip in South Africa?** At table-service restaurants, yes — ten percent is standard. At fast food counters, tipping is not expected.

**What is the cheapest way to eat out?** The weekday lunch special. Check the deals before you go, because the special is usually the cheapest full meal on the menu.

**Do restaurants take cards?** Almost all do, in the cities and towns. Street stalls and small shisanyama often take cash only, so carry some notes.

**What is a shisanyama?** An open-fire braai spot where you buy meat by weight and eat it with pap and chakalaka. It is the most South African way to eat out.

**Is it rude to ask for the bill?** No. Catch the waiter's eye and ask for the bill, or raise your hand. In South Africa the bill is brought when you ask for it, not before.

Prices last verified 2026-11-06.