No. 5 Diemersdal - Durbanville

I decided to re-visit my 5th wine farm, Diemersdal Wine Farm in the Durbanville Wine Valley, as my first experience wasn't so great. The farm itself is stunning and is steeped in history (Est. 1698). You will totally love being surrounded by vineyards, rolling green lawns and nature.BOOKINGS: bookings are not essential but are recommended. To make bookings, CLICK HERE.WINE TASTING: R25 for 6 wines. CLICK HERE to view the menu.WHEN TO GO:  Summer or Winter however I would recommend Summer (November - April).SERVICE: Not great. Be prepared to wait. and wait.RESTAURANT: The restaurant is supposed to be one of the best in Durbanville. I had lunch here which is really great. Yet to try dinner.ACCOMMODATION: No.CHILD/PET FRIENDLY? Definitely!LARGER OR SMALL GROUPS? Best for 2 – 6 people.LOCATION: About a 30 minute drive from Cape Town in the Durbanville Wine Valley. Google MapOTHER RATINGS: CLICK HERE to view what others have rated on Trip Advisor.

Here is my experience:

The parking area has expanded which is good news because this shows the farm is growing in popularity. The car park was full when I arrived. I highly recommend booking a table. Because there was only two of us, I opted to sit on the grass as we could see there were larger families arriving who appreciated the tables. Later, a few families joined us on the grass. Clearly this is a popular farm! P.s. always carry a picnic blanket in your boot ;) It was nice of the farm to accommodate us.The platters and especially the Matys wine at the restaurant is out of this world amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. R85 for the bottle and R130 per platter. (cheese or meat). They used to have a platter that was R250 for cheese and meat but now they have separated them. That's why I ordered both. Plus, look at this fabulously big wine glass! Stunning!The wine tasting area has beautiful views of the country plus it has a large green area for the kids to play ball on. But in case it is cold, there is an indoor tasting room too.The outdoor seating has changed somewhat from the above photo. This is great as it allows for more people.The wine tasting was R25 for 6 wines a year ago and the portions were generous. It has not changed, which is really good.Last year I said that the service was a bit slow and shy. I needed to wave when I wanted the next tasting and even then I had to ask them to explain the wine.I am sad to say that the level of service hasn't changed. In fact, it has gotten worse. The service lacks tentativeness and is in fact extremely below standard (both at waitron and Manager level - the restaurant especially).  The restaurant staff were  just plain lazy and untrained. They were not busy. The food arrived quickly but I would have liked a bit of friendliness and a check in every now and again. Instead we sat with fly infested, dirty plates for 45 minutes. We were not offered desert menus or options to have coffee after our meal.I took the below photo after everyone had left.  That is how long it took them to bring us the bill and card machine, plus I complained to the Manager who didn't really know how to deal with the situation. :(This is the restaurant. I have never had dinner here though I hear it is a great experience.And because it is close to the winter solstice (shortest day) we got to see the sunset. Truly magical.I am glad I re-visited and hope that my complaints to the Manager about upping their service will be attended to. Why don't you try it for yourself and also give some valuable feedback. Perhaps it will be a better experience for you. Let me know.x