Bella Vita at Dover Marina — Restaurant in Dover

My wife and I were staying in Dover for the weekend and asked the receptionist at our hotel for 'the best' restaurant in town. Hythe Bay was recommended to us so we decided to go and celebrate an evening. Big mistake!

I had made the reservation on top tables, entered all my details correctly but upon arrival, they had spelt my name incorrectly and struggled to find my reservation. This was only a small inconvenience but it all adds to a miserable night.

We were seated but I wasn't satisfied with the overall decor. The lighting was dark, the menu wasn't embossed and felt a bit amateurish, the floors could do with some vanishing as my chair would stick to the floor and make an awful sound when I tried to adjust my seating.

We were not made to feel welcome by our waitress either which was really the defining factor to an awful experience. She appeared to be quiet young and very inexperienced in customer service. She was extremely rude, abrupt, sharp, had zero personality, unable to connect at a human level and frankly, should not be facing off to customer with her attitude. By way of examples,

She came across to take our drinks orders. We were not ready to place our order but whilst we were still deciding on what to order, she rudely interjected and said some to the effect of 'it appears you need more time to think about what you want to drink' and proceeded to walkaway

She brought across a bread basket with smoked mackerel and informed us that it was complementary. We had barely finished the complementary food when she came across and without asking us if we had finished proceeded to take the food away. No word, just took the food away

My wife unforunately spilt half her glass of wine which made a loud sound which should have been heard by people working in the establishment. We had to call our waitress and inform her of the accident. We then informed her that we need to clean the spillage. Instead of her helping to clear up the spillage, she provided my wife with a napkin to cleanup the mess herself. I have never experienced such lack of customer care in my life. Firstly, she didn't offer to clean up and she didn't offer the refill the glass of wine that had been accidently spilt.

The waitress was constantly in a rush as well. Her demeanor was very negative and it ruined our experience. It transpired that she was finishing her shift, this could potentially have been a reason for her lack of engagement or customer service

From the perspective of the food, the restaurant is very average.

Starters I had, camembert with caramelised onion. Average. Mains I had Fish and Chips. No difference from my local chipy. Very average. Dessert I had creme brulé. This was good.

Don't believe I'll be returning to this restaurant if we decide to come back to Dover.

On a positive side.

There was a more senior waitress (black dress) who assisted in providing us a free top-up of the spilt wine. She was far more experienced and tried to connect with us in order to ensure we enjoyed ourselves sand the experience

The complementary smoked mackerel and bread was very good also.

Verdict. Would I recommend going to this...

Following a lovely evening celebrating a special family Birthday, we encountered a very disappointing experience with Hythe Bay Dover. A substantial cash payment was made on arrival as part settlement of the outstanding balance and were therefore rather surprised when presented with a further bill for just under £350 at the end of the evening . On questioning this, we were told that it was to cover 'unpaid bar bills'. Not wanting to cause a fuss on the night, we paid this bill but later queried it. Not only were we confused as to why individuals' card details were not taken on opening bar tabs, we felt slightly uneasy over our guests being accused of not settling bar bills, knowing full well that this was totally out of character of our family and close friends. Despite being told that due to the size of our party being over 40 guests, the venue would be for our sole use, the restaurant was opened to other customers that evening. With this in mind, we could have potentially have been presented with other parties’ unpaid bar-tabs.

As the situation developed, Hythe Bay management proceeded to change their minds on several occasions as to the reason for why the payment was needed. The first change of reason was that is was the charge being taken to cover the balance of the meals (which had already been paid for in full). Secondly, it was claimed that bar staff had been under instruction to open an ‘open bar tab’ for all guests' drinks - this certainly never happened! They have since denied making both these statements!

The matter escalated further at the third justification when we were told that only a third of the total cash payment, which had been made in good faith at the beginning of the evening, was received. As one can imagine, we were devastated! We didn't request a receipt for this payment as never envisaged that a local restaurant would behave in this manner. Concerningly, Hythe Bay have since stated that even upon request, a separate receipt for any cash payment would not have been provided anyway as they only give receipts for credit card payments!

We were asked to make this payment at the end of the evening under false pretences and are still trying to resolve this very distressing matter. It has ruined what was a very enjoyable evening for our family and friends. We don’t know what happened to the cash we handed over but all of those who gave us the cash in advance will confirm it was passed across to the restaurant.

If you are considering a large function at this venue, be advised to make any large payments using a debit/credit card whereby any payments can be traced and proved. We don't want anyone else experiencing what we encountered by what we believed to be a local and...

Been here twice and absolutely love the place. The food is wonderful, the view is phenomenal, and the service is amazing. Huge shout out to Robin and Mike who were the sweetest and best servers we had. Especially Robin who put up with my random questions about the options as well as helping us break a 20 😆. If you are looking for something good to eat I recommend the Prawn Noodles. It’s the perfect portion (not too much and not too little), very filling, and delish. I definitely reccomend ordering a side of vegetables to get your veggies in. 😊 The burger is the other item we tried. The meat was well cooked but due to the vegetables weird placement it caused the bun to be soggy by the time it was served. So I suggest sticking to the seafood main courses. Super big fan of the New Zealand Misty Cove wine. Goes very well with the baked Camembert. That cheese is amazing! Very nicely warmed to a melting point and they add some honey to make it slightly sweet. Personally wasn’t a fan of the Quintero White wine from Spain but that’s just a personal preference I feel as my boyfriend loved it. If you are looking for an amazing dessert you honestly can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. My favorite item on the list is the cream brûlée 🤤. If you are a chocolate fan then the brownie with vanilla ice cream is a must. It is beyond soft and warm making the mix with cold ice cream an amazing combination. Alternatively, if you want something light but sweet I loved the Lemon Tart. It was the right amount sweet/sour but didn’t leave me feeling beyond full. Seating in the restaurant is difficult because everyone wants the window seat and they are always reserved. Therefore make sure to make a reservation if that is what you want. Otherwise I recommend the upper seats as they have a wonderful view of the entire restaurant and the water view. Especially fun if you like people watching 😉. Overall, I highly...