Harbour Kitchen — Restaurant in England

I've decided to update following the owners response. The owner (or whoever has responded) can clearly see that I post generally fair reviews and don't go in for unnecessary criticism. However on this occasion our experience was bad and not something I've experienced for a long time. It was more down to a lack of clear communication more than anything else. I'll be balanced - my review is obviously an outlier compared to what are overwhelmingly positive reviews, but my review reflects my experience. I don't expect it to put people off because they'll see that most reviews are are 4 or 5 star.

1. Since we didn't see upstairs we cannot offer a view of how busy it was. Our view was of downstairs which wasn't busy. No one asked if we had booked, no one communicated their 'pity' for our child or that we were walk ins so we took the seats offered to us.

2. we walked in just before 12.45 and left just after 1pm, so if we're really precise it was about 18 minutes. It still took 10 minutes for some one to take our drinks order.

3. no one explained at any point why we were sat where we were - to be clear we had no problem with where we were sat. We weren't given a very warm welcome but fine. We were asked 'drinks or food', we said food and were directed towards the bench seats and given menus. At no point did anyone say to us about the wait time for our orders or that the restaurant was busy (until I asked for someone to take our order which was refused) or why we were sat in that particular spot.

4. At no point did any of the three staff members we saw downstairs say there would be a wait, so I flat out refute what the owner says. No one said the tables upstairs were pre-booked or anything related and therefore have priority. If someone had said this then I wouldn't be writing this review, I'd be talking about how good to the food is etc.

5. I should also add a table of 4 who sat outside, who came in after us had their order taken just after we had left. When I asked them if they had had their order taken they said yes and said that they had also had to ask to have their order taken as they thought the wait was not acceptable. The wait time had not been communicated to them either.

You can point to all the CCTV or audio you want and if you were able to you could post it we could haggle over the minutes we waited, but saying that it's Cowes week and 'we're busy' is not an excuse for poor communication from your staff. If we had walked in and they had said 'its a bit of a wait' it would not have been a problem. As it was we walked into another cafe up the road were seated and served in the circa 20 minutes we waited in your establishment.

I've managed busy restaurants and bars previously and there are always times when you can't meet everyone's needs, but when that happens I would communicate that, not rubbish the claims of a customer who had a bad experience. Anyone would accept that you have to wait sometimes - if someone bothers to tell you but the communication of this specific point was non-existent, hence my review. I've heard the food is amazing which is what I would prefer to be writing about, but if you want to rubbish the claims of customers you too are entitled to your opinion.

My review still remains.

If I could leave a zero star review I would. A pretty unwelcoming welcome. After 10 minutes of waiting I asked if we could order and was told 'there are tables upstairs before you'. After another 10 minutes we left having only just being asked for a drinks order. What made it worse was that I had my son with me who was hungry and as we walked out a table was having their order taken. It wasn't busy and staff neither offered an explanation or apology. Such a contrast to the other reviews and won't be coming to again when...

I would recommend this restaurant.

My partner and I came here for lunch. We were having dinner soon so only wanted something light. We decided to get a cajun chicken burger and dirty fries to share.

The food took a while to arrive but the chicken burger was really good!! The burger cajun seasoning was great, the chicken juicy and the cibatta was very nice. The hashbrown in the burger was really yummy!

The fries were..well..um..interesting.

They had avocado, bacon bits, salad and mustard and burger sauce on top. I'm not sure if they were trying to be fancy but it just felt random...salad on top of fries is a little weird and the english mustard mixed with burger sauce and avocado was odd. I think it would have been great without the mustard as it was really strong and there was a lot of it. Also it was difficult to eat in the little dish it was served in and it all just fell apart. The fries themselves were nice.

I felt the waitress was a little judgey about us sharing food..she gave me some weird looks...I don't think its odd for a couple to share food (especially with the amount of fries there was). Over 40 quid for two burgers and two fries would of been far too much food for a lunch especially with us having a large dinner (out) soon.

The place was nice and clean and there were many options on the menu. There was also a lovely background section in the menu too. I would recommend this restaurant. We left a tip. The burgers are good the front man was polite and friendly. I would like to have tried to beef.

The toilets were clean and the restaurant was nicely decorated.

P.s on the bottom left of the menu, "fir" has been printed instead of "for" incase you wanted...

This place... Where do I start! It's a cosey little place in the centre of Cowes, IoW. The staffing team were on top form, passionate, energetic and incredibly polite. The entire atmosphere felt relaxing and stress free. Now into the food. We had two bowls of nachos to start (there was 7 of us) so it was a perfect way to start, the dips tasted homemade, the guacamole was absolutely delicious! Moving onto the mains, the burger I had was called "The Buoy" which had a beef burger, large juicy mushroom, bell pepper, rocket, tomato and onions. It was probably the most delicious burger I've ever had (and I've had a few burgers in my time) I added fries and coleslaw with the main and they were both just as nice! The decor is contemporary and smart with a blue, white and wooden theme. They even had cheeky slogans and quotes on the mirrors like, "don't worry, you look beautiful.", "Eat the cake, it's somebody's birthday somewhere" and "Covid-19 tip: if you hold a glass of wine in each hand, you can't touch your face!" All in all this is a must visit if you are in Cowes. Or just on the Isle of Wight generally. I know I'll be stopping by for a bite whenever I'm visiting Cowes. P.S: Google... You need a 6...