Babbacombe Bay Cafe — Restaurant in England

Firstly we were not acknowledged at all when we arrived. Secondly we were told when I asked to speak to someone about our booking for 7 of us at 3pm, that we didn’t have a booking. I booked via email over two weeks ago! I showed them the email, the girl said that was me & promptly disappeared to see the Manager, no apology no acknowledgment. Then she came back out with the Manager discussing where to put us and again no acknowledgment, completely blanked us, totally ignored! The only thing the manager said when I APPROACHED HER was that we’ve had half of Torquay in here today! What’s that got do with our booking and why complain… not a mention about the booking! We waited for ages to be served, then when our drinks did arrive it was awful tea, definitely not the Earl Grey two of us had ordered! Then we were told to order as they needed the table by 4.00pm to set it up for 4.30pm! This was not mentioned when I made the booking. Our order only arrived at 3.50! So unhappy about this. When we told the waitress about our tea tasting awful she said “pass me the tea pot… “ no please no sorry about that, instead she tried to explain that the batch of tea bags must be different to normal?? The waitress did bring another pot but didn’t offer to give us a clean cup - we had to ask for one! When the food did arrive the chips were crunchy and had hard bits. The halloumi was hard and tough to cut through… then they said we need to clear the table whilst three of us were still eating. Then as soon as the last person finished eating we had to leave, as there were lots of other people hanging around us, making us feel very uncomfortable, as these were the people waiting for our table as it was obviously a private party waiting to start! What a right shambles and so very disappointing, as what was supposed to be a relaxed, enjoyable family & Mother’s Day lunch! We’ve experienced having to wait a long time and not being acknowledged before, but hoped this was not going to be the case again… we hadn’t visited for a while as disappointed before… the staff and Manager need to learn customer service and acknowledge customers and say thank you for coming…something else that didn’t happen! The Babbacombe Bay cafe seriously needs to re-address it’s customer service - it was...

Went for a pre-booked (months ago!) baby shower afternoon tea - 8 of us in total. We were shown to our table and left with menus to have a look. After about 20 minutes a waitress came over to take drinks orders. A further 10+ minutes later a different waitress came over to take our food order. Up until this point we didn't have a problem - here's where it went downhill. We were told that most of the items on the menu weren't available but they could do the afternoon tea. So we all opted for the afternoon tea. Took the hot drinks orders (asked for one to be delayed so as to have it with the tea and this was ignored) and said they'd bring the afternoon teas out one between 2. Waited a further 15 minutes to discover that actually between 8 of us we were getting 2 afternoon teas (and an extra vegan scone due to dietary requirements). So 16 finger sandwiches, 4 scones, 2 tiny tarts, 2 macaroons, 2 bitesize brownies between 7 people.

Not once were we told that you didn't have enough food to adequately serve us despite knowing there was a booking for 8 people for afternoon tea.

It was only after complaining, that the teas were deducted from the bill. Had we been told earlier that there was basically no food in the establishment we would have gone elsewhere. Absolutely no organisation or planning seems to have been used here.

Despite this the food was good and fortunately we're a group that can have a laugh but sorry this wasn't very professional.

Edit: Sadly I cannot reply to the response.... The owner didn't reply for 4 days to said email during which time, a call had been placed to book. When we arrived, we gave the booking name and were shown to the table - no mention of there not being a booking. So to say that the girls weren't expecting us was in fact a lie. For a 2.30 booking we didn't eat until almost 4pm.

The owner also rang to discuss this and whilst on the phone asked for my number - I can only assume from the tone of this reply that it was to ask me to remove my review which I will...

This is the second time we've dined here, and both times we've had issues........ The first time we placed our order and it did not arrive, after waiting more than 30 mins. It was only a cream tea for goodness sake !! After chasing staff to ask where our meal was, we were told they were busy and it would be coming as soon as possible, even though we pointed out that people around us, (that placed their orders AFTER us) had in fact been given their meals. After another 10 mins waiting, our order arrived without any apology !!! The second time was today....... We ordered a cream tea (which included a pot of tea), a sandwich and a coffee. The cream tea arrived with the pot of tea, but NO COFFEE. I had to wait at least a further 15 mins before the sandwich to arrive, to then ask... "where was my coffee " ??? The sandwich was lovely, but the cream tea A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT for the high price !! (2) scones which were quite 'heavy (stodgy) A Small Clotted Cream (which was just enough to divide between both scones) An extra small pot of jam that didn't even do one scone, let alone (2) !! So pretty much one scone we ate dry due to lack of cream and jam !! A DISGRACE FOR THE PRICE CHARGED. All in all..... we won't be returning and don't recommend. Service rubbish, food good but prices high AND if you are after a Cream Tea or Afternoon Tea.....go to The Angel Tearooms, a few doors down. Their prices pretty much the same but you get plenty of Clotted Cream and Jam, a better choice of scones (more variety) and lighter in consistency AND...