Cliff Poole — Restaurant in England

Bar Staff were friendly and the girls taking customer food orders were professional and friendly . We enjoyed our meal very much and the atmosphere was initially very good, even though the afternoon was very busy and staff looked rushed off their feet. Our few comments for future reference for improvement would be the following:- Our table was not ready on our arrival time at 14.30 so we were asked by the Manager to wait at the bar area and we were to be advised when we could go in to sit at our table and dine. This never happened and 30 mins later, I tracked down where our table was and was advised it had been ready for 25 mins. Lunch was delicious but or wine was so delayed that it arrived after we had completed our food . We did ask for it twice during our meal and it eventually arrived but it was too late really as the compliment to the salmon was missed. Soft drinks were ordered and arrived with very ornate cut glass style drinking glasses. My son was unfortunate in that when he lifted the glass to his mouth to drink the coke the whole bottom half of the glass fell apart and drowned my son , myself and my daughter in coke . There were no waiting staff to be seen so we had to tackle the issue ourselves with no spare napkins to grab as it has splashed everywhere., When staff eventually did appear thy kindly helped us mop up the damage, supplied more napkins but did not supply us with a new coke drink... we had to ask for this separately and it did eventually arrive. It would have been normal practice at any restaurant of this calibre to be offered a replacement drink with the damaged glass when it was being replaced . After dessert , we asked for the bill and it eventually arrived and we noticed the replacement coke had been charged for even though the broken drinking glass was not our fault. my husband asked to see the manager to get the drink cost removed as it was a charge that was not our responsibility. Once the Manager arrived he was defensive before we had even spoken to him and said the glass breaking was nothing to do with the restaurant and offered no apology for this problem. We were so shocked with his attitude with regards to our treatment given and just paid the bill. He continued to make his point across to us during payment that it was not his fault about the glass breaking that in the end my husband was upset and asked him to be quiet and that his explanation was not justifiable on how we were being spoken to and he asked him not to be so offensive. The Manager asked us to ' Get Out' which we duly did with no fuss... but the raised voice in the restaurant caused a stir amongst the other diners which would have been ;off putting' for them and looked very unprofessional all round. Needless to say whilst we enjoyed our meals at the Cliff - we will not be revisiting due to the one person who spoilt it for us . We will also advise our friends if they do intend to visit in the future to tread carefully and not upset the Manager in anyway to cause him to lose his...

What a shame that the food standards and service have slipped so much. The meal was a birthday celebration for three family members. No introduction or names given by any staff when we arrived. A “misunderstood “ drinks order started the evening off followed by one hot starter and the pre meal snacks being sent out from the kitchen at the same time. When I tried to explain that the starter should arrive with everyone else’s starter the response from the server , not our waiter, was a dull “yes” but no attempt was made to take it away until I insisted. This hot starter returned ten minutes later with everyone else’s starter however with no cutlery to eat it with and it had been kept under a heat lamp resulting in the mayonnaise having a thick skin on it and the main component being dried out and flavorless. Our main courses arrived warm but not hot . Three of us had ordered belly pork from the menu as we had it a couple of times before and were looking forward to it. It was not good at all. However it had been prepared the fatty layers were undercooked and fairly chewy, the pork meat itself was like rubber. The fourth of our meals , a fillet steak, was described as average. Between our main course and dessert we ordered four drinks , two of which arrived fairly quickly, but we had to re ask for the remaining two , a gin and tonic and a pint of lager, hardly complicated cocktails requiring a specialist bartender. Thankfully our dessert and coffee arrived relatively well but even then one of the dessert orders had been “ misunderstood “ yet again. If all of the service had been poor due to one person that person would need encouragement and mentoring to improve but this wasn’t so. We were served by four different waiting staff and one food server. The only person who got the orders correct was the last person who took our coffee order and brought us the bill. It cannot be said that the restaurant or bar were extremely busy or that staffing was low. I didn’t observe more than 25 people being served during the whole evening. Probably the most efficient service was ordering a taxi to go home. Will any of us be going back again ? I...

Visited the cliff today for Sunday lunch with friends and it was an absolute horror show start to finish. It was visibly busy and we were prepared to just relax and enjoy our catch up, we were not in any rush. Just as well because after an hour and twenty minutes of waiting we finally got our food. We had asked at least 4 times where to the food was and were told each time a different story regarding when the chef was plating our meals to be served. Ordinarily I would expect a wait on a Sunday but I feel it should have been common courtesy to advise us as we were seated there would be an hours wait for food. When the food came it was cold! We complained again and were given the option to bring another warmer plate out but by this point we were so hungry and angry we declined and asked for it to be reflected on the bill. When the bill came the guy said I took 10% off for a wait time. We were not happy with this, basically pouring oil on to the already raging fire! Complained to the manager and got 50%. I would like to add we had booked and were not walk ins. There’s really no excuse to the length of time we had to wait. It’s a shame because this place used to be a lovely place to eat. They are obviously booking more covers than the kitchen is able to handle. I would say the food quality is well below the prices set. There was little responsibility taken by the staff, however they did amend the bill so will give them that. Also add into the mix it wasn’t relaxing because the music was also very loud. Sundays are meant for relaxing and enjoying good food with friends and family. We definitely won’t be back and as a result have advised family to change their Christmas lunch booking because I wouldn’t recommend anyone to visit. Perhaps it would be better on a week day but I’m not prepared to take the chance again. Please take this feedback onboard and...