Gigi Rooftop sits on the sixth floor of the Gorgeous George hotel at 118 St Georges Mall, in the middle of Cape Town's city centre. The deck opened in May 2019 and pairs an emerald green, glass paneled plunge pool with a cocktail bar and a kitchen built around seasonal, traceable produce. Inside Guide gives the room top marks for style, and style is the point: this is the design literate rooftop of the inner city.
It suits people who want their sundowner with a scene attached. It will frustrate anyone hunting silence; live music and DJ sets run most evenings, and weekend afternoons fill with a young, dressed crowd two deep at the pool rail.
One level, two moods: an indoor dining room that reads like a courtyard thanks to a retractable roof, and an open terrace where the pool meets views over the surrounding heritage facades. Eat Out's review praised the casual, ingredient focused cooking that backs up the bar, from meze boards to braaied meats.
The list splits between classics and house signatures, and execution gets singled out in reviews; one Tripadvisor regular praised a dirty martini made exactly to spec and served in a chilled glass. Signatures sit around the R120 mark, mid range for a hotel rooftop in the CBD, with local craft beer and a proper zero proof list behind them.
Hotel guests hold the loungers through the day. After five the lift fills with inner city office leavers and pre dinner couples, and the DJ shifts the deck from pool club to lounge. The Rooftop Guide calls the vibe infectious, which is accurate by 19:00 on a Friday.
St Georges Mall is the pedestrian spine of the CBD, with Long Street two blocks west and the Company's Garden a short walk south. Gigi works as the polished start of a city centre night, with the Tjing Tjing rooftop and the cocktail rooms of Bree Street within ten minutes on foot.
Summer evenings from November to February are the deck at full power, with golden hour landing near 19:00. Book a Dineplan table for weekend sunsets; weekday afternoons are the quiet version with loungers to spare.
Among city centre rooftops, Gigi is the one that treats the bar as seriously as the pool. The cooking, the cocktail execution, and the room's confidence put it ahead of the CBD's more casual decks, and the crowd has noticed.