South Beach Cafe — Restaurant in East Devon

Where do I start?

When I made the reservation, I noted that it was my 5-year-old son's birthday, but nothing was mentioned about this when we arrived. It took 10 minutes before anyone approached our table to take our drinks order, and when the lady finally came over, she didn’t introduce herself, although she was friendly. The glasses on our table were absolutely filthy. There were no activities sheets to do for the kids good job we brang uno to keep us entertained.

Our drinks arrived, followed shortly by our mains. I ordered the chowder, which was lukewarm and contained only two king prawns. My son’s mini fish and chips were truly “mini”—the fish portion was minimal, and his beans, served in a tiny sauce bowl, amounted to about ten beans. My daughter ordered the macaroni cheese, which was bland and lukewarm with hardly any cheesy taste. She also received the same meagre serving of beans. My eldest daughter and husband had nice meals and my husband like his brownie dessert.

Throughout our meal, not once did anyone ask how our food was, nor were we asked if we wanted more drinks. After we finished our mains, our plates sat on the table for 30 minutes. With three children, this was not ideal. We eventually had to ask for the dessert menu, and I wonder how much longer we would have waited if we hadn’t.

For dessert, I ordered the chocolate fondant, which was also lukewarm. My daughters ordered ice cream sandwiches, but the biscuits were so hard they couldn’t bite into them and had to use their spoons to break them apart. My son’s strawberry and marshmallow skewers arrived without any skewers. Once we finished, I had to remind the supervisor about the birthday cake we’d brought and ask if they could bring it out. While three staff members did come over to sing happy birthday, which was a nice touch, this happened 10 minutes after my initial request.

I’ve been to this restaurant for the past four years, but this year was the worst experience I’ve had. The menu hasn't changed much over the past three years, and what was supposed to be a special event for my son’s birthday turned out to be a complete disappointment. I’ve never left a bad review before, but since the feedback card at the end didn’t provide any guidance on where to leave it, I felt the need to share my experience...

Came here last night which was the last night of our holiday. The guy (with a northern accent) who was greeting people lacked the basic customer service skills! There was 5 of us but was only given 4 menus which to some isn’t a big deal but it’s annoying when 2 of you have to look over each others shoulders. After sitting there for around 15 minutes, no one come to take our drinks order so one of the party members went to the bar themselves to order our drinks. You shouldn’t expect to do this whilst eating out. Then after another 20mins one of our party members asked the waiter (again with the northern accent) how do we order and he rudely replied ‘someone will be with you!’ Another 10mins and a lovely waiter come to us to take our order. As one of our party wanted a half chicken he explained that they had ran out (even though it was only 6pm) but did offer an alternative which he tailored to the guest which the party member was happy with. In between waiting for our meals the queue at the door was very long and we could see some people had been waiting for around 20mins before being acknowledged. Maybe this was due to their only being 3 staff members?!? When our food arrived we were all happy with the quality but felt that the Chowder could have done with some more potatoes as 4 little cubes weren’t enough or even some bread to accompany it. When we finished we asked for a dessert menu and once again the northern waiter threw 3 menus on the table and walked off! We didn’t bother ordering any desserts as it took a long time to have our mains order taken so goodnesses how long we would have waited for dessert. Another criticism is that the table next too us wasn’t cleared away for a good half hour or more! Definitely think that some of the staff need retraining in customer service and that when it’s going to be a busy evening (considering most people go out to eat on their last night of holiday) more staff are needed on shift to be able to cope with the customers and make their dining experience more enjoyable. It’s a beautiful venue with an amazing sea view but felt the music could have been turned down a little as it felt like we were shouting to each other rather...

Run by children with no experience or common sense.

After waiting 45 minutes for the venue to open, despite the doors being open, we were told that table service was only available on the top deck and not the lower deck.

So we (family of 4) sat on a table outside, within the confines of the decked area directly next to the indoor dining, which had all the bifolds open.... The point I'm making is that you could literally put your left leg inside and right leg outside.

We gave our food order to the waiter only to be told that food couldn't be ordered outside and only drinks could? We asked if this was correct as the waiter didn't seem too sure himself and also stated that during 'Covid' everything was served outside... But now apparently eating outdoors was not allowed?? So despite being warm and sunny, we had to sit inside.

On moving indoors, to a dark and breezy table we asked to move to somewhere slightly warmer and away from the A/C. We were moved to the other side of the restaurant only to find out that a queue of people were confused at the very same thing as us, why it was not possible that on a hot sunny day, it was not possible to eat outdoors. It's beyond me.

We then ordered food, but was told there was no soup available..... So part of the group ordered the shared platter of chicken wings. I'm surprised they didn't call the fire brigade when the wings came out.... They were so dry and crispy from being deep fried, I'm still gasping for water now 8 hours later.... Probably the worst chicken wings I've ever eaten.

No one was really interested in the experience, and the staff all appeared to be functioning like zombies.

Would definitely not recommend or...