Anjuna Beach — Restaurant in Nice

The most honest reviews are from people who previously were big fans of a restaurant. I’ve been going to Anjuna for 9 years. I really rated it as being one of the best beach / party restaurants in the South of France. I’ve had great times there and have recommended it to loads of people. Sunday was my last ever visit. Anjuna is not the same anymore. What made it special to me is gone. Sunday, is the party day. They made the menu “fixed”several years ago and gradually this has become an increasing issue. I asked them midweek prior to my visiting what the menu was and was told they would send me it when the chef had decided. They didn’t. We had a vegetarian and two people with shellfish allergies. How inconsiderate of us as customers to want to try and change the “set” menu to actually be able to eat something safely (for those intolerant) or just something we “liked”. Previously accommodating, this year was a challenge. 90 minutes of strained negotiations doesn’t set your mind for a party afternoon. Manager Giles says, “most people come for the party not for the food. Apologies Giles, again, how inconsiderate of us to want a say in what we are forced to eat in a restaurant? It ruined the day. We were asked to leave at one point just because we continued to want to eat something we actually wanted and liked. To make matters worse, on some other tables, there were items such as Lobster, ravioli, Ribs, all off the standard a la carte menu and none of which we’d been offered. Seems like one rule for one, another for “others”. When the food did finally come, with some concessions, it was good, but the whole “experience” was a trauma, particularly when we were celebrating a birthday.

Also, despite having made the reservation 4 months prior, 4 days before our special occasion I started getting WhatsApp messages, first asking me to pay a deposit (not asked for prior when the booking was confirmed), then told it was “themed” and that we had to come in 70’s fancy dress (er…no thanks), then told there was a minimum “alcohol” spend (without saying how much and again, in 9 years never before stated). This was retracted when I queried it, but clearly it feels like there is a “profit extraction squad” trying very hard to maximise the benefit for Anjuna, which unfortunately correlates to minimising the customer experience. When customers are happy they spend. Make them less happy and they tend to spend less. We will be spending much less, zero in fact. They won’t miss us. We will miss what it once was. In summary, once a fabulous hangout for a party AND great food on a Sunday. Now, the party is still good, if you haven’t had a 90 minute unsavoury debate to put you off partying and don’t expect on a Sunday to have a say in what you eat. Be grateful for what you are given! We still spent €175 per head, despite not being in the mood. Recent reviews paint a picture I’m afraid. We will move on to...

The worst service experience you can possibly imagine. Nothing about this place is premium, just the price.

TL:DR: the worst way possible to spend €700. Don’t go there.

The food is really not good, nothing from the specials was actually special, cocktails are mediocre, but the worst thing is service.

Reservations. They don’t hold reservations over phone, so we had to send somebody to put money for the reservation in our name. We came in and there were 7 chairs instead of 8. We had 2 tables and we asked if we could move a chair between the tables so everyone would be able to sit comfortably and they refused to permit this.

Wait time. We waited for our starters for 30 minutes, and we had to wait 96 minutes for some of our main courses and over 105 minutes for everyone to get their food.

Personnel is rude. I asked a waiter if he could bring the manager. He said yes and disappeared. In ten minutes I saw him and asked again and he told that he was busy. I kept asking for the manager and the waiter started to speak disrespectfully to me and in the end he started yelling at me. Can you believe that? I matched his tone and just kept repeating “get the manager”, until he finally stopped yelling at me and went to bring the manager. When finally he got back with the manager he started telling him that “that’s the debouching guy who wanted to see you” in French. The manager asked what the problem was and we told him that we were not getting our food even though our friends at the next table came after us and already ate their food. Food has appeared magically at our table soon, but they didn’t offer us anything for the trouble or even didn’t apologize. We had to pay full price for the food we had to wait over an hour and a half forS In the end they also tried to include dishes we didn’t order...

Of all the private beaches between Nice and Monaco I visited recently I found this the most disappointing. They are all very expensive but generally have decent food and equally wonderful settings. The food at Anjuna was decent but quite poor value - €70 for a half chicken, a couple of potato slices and baked carrott. The service was friendly but quite lethargic and inconsistent. Lots of staff wandering around not really focused on the guests. We repeatedly had to reorder drinks (even gave up on some) and dirty plates were left on the table so long I almost moved them myself to clear space at the table. The waiter at the end asked if we wanted to leave a tip and we politely declined, quite surprised he had the temerity to ask. He asked why and we said the service wasn't great citing specific examples. He admitted the service had been poor and delivered a monologue about how we couldn't expect US or Asian quality service in France and he was tired because he'd been working since May. We then headed to the beach to enjoy two sun loungers another waiter promised he had saved for us for €45 each which were happy to pay. An hour later, someone proclaiming to be in charge of the beach suddenly appeared having been entirely absent and told us the waiter had no right to allocate us beds as "it's my beach".

The menu has "where's my f####n' yacht?" emblazoned on the cover and there's a sign at the entrance to the club reading "welcome to the most expensive beach in the world" which we thought was quite vulgar and would make this an embarrassing place to host friends or family.

In years gone by, Anjuna used to be one of the most peaceful and elegant places along this coast to enjoy lunch or dinner but in its current form, I think there are far more hospitable and classy places to spend one's...