Catch — Restaurant in England

Booked Catch well in advance for our holiday in Isle of Wight. Had high hopes but unfortunately it is a let down.

Catch feels more like a bar than a restaurant. We arrived at 18:00 sharp. When we arrived, there were already two groups of people sitting on the balcony. One group with 3 people and another group with about 8. Waitresses were busy serving drinks and food to them. We ordered and waited almost 50 mins to get our food. Appreciate there were people before us but it felt like there was only one cooking pan or a small oven in the kitchen so each person's food was cooked one after the others. Even for the group of 8 people their food were served one at a time with gap in the middle. We felt being so depriortised and I welcomed because we didn't want to order any cocktails nor alcohol. As a family with a 8 years old it didn't feel to us at all family friendly.

I ordered the grill of catch of the day (plaice). The food was nice and delicate. My husband and our 8 years old both ordered the bone marrow burger. Unfortunately the burgers were so salty and peppery! It felt like they added a whole bottle of salt and pepper into one burger hence can only give 3 star to the food. Food is very pricey but totally not worth it.

We could smell strong cigarette smell coming from the balcony as well. It is so unpleasant.

Don't know how Catch get their rating (4.5 as of 26.07.24) on Google!...

We visited Catch based on a strong recommendation from friends, and we were genuinely excited for our meal. Unfortunately, our experience fell far short of expectations.

We were seated inside, and it took around 25 minutes before anyone even took our drink order. Our small plates for the table didn't arrive until over an hour after we were seated. While we could see the staff were clearly overwhelmed and run off their feet, this significant delay set a frustrating tone.

We were moved to a table outside which is a much more pleasant experience. Our main courses followed another hour later. A particular disappointment was the steak, which was ordered medium-rare but arrived well-done. The other dishes were lovely. No one checked on us when our drinks were low and had to ask for more each time.

By the time we finished our meal, over two and a half hours had passed. We were then informed that a chef hadn't turned up that evening, which we understood could disrupt service and we were more than patient for. However, after spending over £200 on the meal, to only be offered a £10 voucher for a future visit and no compensation on the night felt incredibly disheartening and frankly, insufficient given the extensive delays and errors.

While we appreciate that unforeseen circumstances can occur, the overall slow service and the issue with the steak significantly impacted...

My wife and I reserved a table at the restaurant 'Catch' in Ryde, for lunch on Friday 16 August.

Oh what a disappointment - with a name like 'Catch' we were hoping for a fish delight; but only two types of fish were available, and was informed that these could only be served on the bone, complete with head etc.,

My wife therefore ordered a small plate of Moules Marinière, followed by a small Chicken Skewer.

A third of the muscles arrived so tightly closed, that they were impossible to open.

The dish was removed, and only one was still firmly closed, when returned to the table.

My wife's second dish was a Chicken Skewer, which she had to abandon, as it was so extremely tough and dry. that even a steak knife would have made little impact.

Worse was yet to come - about two hours later, after returning home; my wife started to feel very unwell, and this was shortly followed by an enormous amount of vomiting, which was clearly the rejection of her lunch.

She only drank water with her lunch, and not had anything else that afternoon.

Furthermore; she dines out at restaurants at least twice each week, and had not been subjected to such a totally unacceptable experience, for many decades.

I trust immediate steps will be taken to ensure that no future patron is ever subjected to a similar...