Saltwater — Restaurant in East Suffolk

I visited saltwater this afternoon for lunch with my sister, two nephews (9m and 3y) and a friend with their toddler who all live locally. We chose to sit in the restaurant as it was still a bit chilly for takeaway on the beach. Unfortunately this seemed to be the wrong decision, as unlike previous times when we have had takeaway food from Saltwater, both the food and service was well below par. We had to repeat what we wanted several times when ordering as the server was very distracted and did not seem to be paying attention. We then waited a considerable time just for the drinks to arrive (3 cans of soft drink) and then the food took around 45 minutes to arrive, which seemed a long time bearing in mind the restaurant only had one other table occupied and there was no queue for the takeaway. We were only waiting for 3 meals for the adults (the two toddlers old enough to eat some food were just having chips) and we chose fish and chips as it is usually quick and easy when dining with children. When the food finally did arrive, the chips were in no way fresh, they were mostly dark brown in colour tasted dry and were hard so most of them went untouched. The adult fish burger with chips arrived on a small side plate with a very measly handful of chips that looked like the scraps from what was left from another meal, the burger itself was in a brioche bun that was missing the crust from the top and was dry and stale and broke apart as I attempted to eat the burger, which had also come with mayonnaise in it rather than tartare sauce, as I had ordered, the whole meal was lukewarm. The other two meals (chicken bites) were advertised as coming with chips, a side dish and a dip. Both arrived with curry sauce which was not ordered, and we had to ask again for the sides of beans and peas which had been ordered, these arrived later on and the mushy peas did not taste right so my sister did not eat them. In fact we ended up leaving the majority of the food ordered. On raising our concerns to the staff before paying (the server was not around to address this during the meal) we were directed to the manager who was plain rude and completely uninterested in what we had to say. She cut us off mid sentence and said to take the fish burger meal off of the bill and walked off with no apology. We paid the remainder of the bill which was still over £30 for essentially 2 chicken nugget meals and 3 cans of drink and left as the children were becoming restless, once we left the shop we realised we had been charged for the curry sauce which we hadn't ordered, and for the sides and dips which were stated as being included as part of the chicken bites meals on the menu. After the reaction we received from the manager we felt there was little to gain from returning again to raise this. We are not complainers usually but this was so disappointing as we don't get together often to eat out and for the price we paid for food we couldn't even eat and the service it really put a downer on an otherwise nice day.

Will definitely be avoiding...

We have eaten at Saltwater takeaway for years as food is always good. My father (in his mid 70s) came to visit so we decided to eat in the restaurant with my husband and two young children. We ordered our food, but being vegetarian my only option was vegan nuggets which I didn't fancy so asked for a portion of chips. I wasn't allowed to order it as my children were sharing an adult size meal and we weren't ordering 4 main courses only 3. I thought this was a bit pedantic but told the waiter I would queue at the takeaway section of Saltwater to get some chips and bring it in to eat with my family. I lost a lot of time queueing from the nice family meal we had gone out for, I did think it was a bit ridiculous, but wanted to eat with them. I returned to the table with my take away chips from Saltwater and the rest of the families food was arriving so we sat down to eat and enjoy each others company. At this point the manager came flying over. She had been managing the flow of the take away but left her station and arrived at my table to start shouting at me. I wasn't allowed to eat chips I had bought from her shop in the restaurant. I explained I had tried to order them but had been denied. She told me that I wasn't able to make up the rules. She was really yelling at me, the whole restaurant was staring and it was all over a bag of chips I had brought from her. It made me feel so upset. I explained we weren't after trouble we just wanted to eat, enjoy our meal, pay and leave. She carried on yelling so I explained we could all leave now and not pay for the meals that my family were about to eat or she could leave us be as we really weren't after trouble. She finally left us alone, but I was shaken and upset. My two children were actually in tears so I had to comfort them. I then had a couple on the neighbouring table say how sorry they were that we were treated like that and they knew the owners and they would be horrified I'd they knew what had happened. I do really like the food there but the treatment of the manager was just so upsetting and our family outing and meal ruined over a complete lack of flexibility and lack of any customer service skills on her part. So I would recommend the take away but not to restaurant. I'm so sad this happened to my family and we were treated and spoke to like this and my children were so upset by the...

As life slips away every second, I am overjoyed spending 30 minutes waiting to order in a queue for fish and chips- I would understand if it was a mega hot day but this was an early chilly evening and a chip shop.

I unfortunately ended up here as the best chip shop-few doors down was closed due to prob earning too much money and being able to have a day off which then allowed saltwater to get the overflow. Most owners would go this is my chance to make it. Unfortunately not this time- from the queue which never moved, then when I finally got served I asked what fish was available....simple enough, fish and chip shop...right, not asking what watch would suit a middle aged man wearing an Italian suit for a semi formal function......just what fish was cooking as i knew if I wanted a fish that wasn't cooking the place would most likely implode. They didn't know and had to ask whether it was cod or haddock on- fish is fish right? Cod, haddock, dolphin.

So then enjoyed another 10 minute wait for the order to be ready- we had fish and chips and sausage and chips. Sausage and chips came in a bag so I asked for a box like the fish and chips- can't have a box as only fish comes with a box....ok call the sausage a fish (surprised they knew the difference) and give me a box....Nope can't be done. So how was the food. The fish was brilliant perfectly cooked and brilliant- chips oh the chips. 3/4 were lovely and proper soft and cooked but then the rest well should have just thrown a potato in there and been done as they were raw.

Customer service is the key and the basics of fast service. Wait I may start a fish and chip...