Life's A Beach — Restaurant in England

Not good. Dec 2022 (In Bude for a family holiday over Christmas) Well where to start... We decided to come in here for a quick drink to shelter from wild weather on December 22nd 2022 -around 2pm. The place was actually warm and welcoming and we enjoyed watching the winter sports on the tv. We sat on the sofas which were comfortable. My wife and children had hot chocolates which were ok. Selection of drinks not good overall. I had to choose the best of a bad selection of beers. We had a pleasant experience overall. We decided to go back (December 29th 2022) for a brunch. This is when we noticed many issues. I'm going to be very honest - the place is filthy! If you allow dogs into an eating establishment, please be prepared to clean the place!!! There is dust and huge amounts of dog hair everywhere! The table was sticky and dirty. The high chairs are DISGUSTING!! How can they even feel ok about babies using those?!?! Shameful really. The staff were very different from our previous visit. First visit they had seem cheerful and welcoming. Second visit they all seemed miserable and verging on rude. We tried to make the best of it as kids were getting tired. had a fried egg bap delivered to the table with hairs on the plate !! So so gross !!) and my kids had each a bacon bap and sausage bap of epically low quality. I tried to ensure they ate very little knowing id rather they ate our packed snacks after we left! Husband had a fry-up breakfast - it was very small indeed. And again of very poor quality. Baked beans served in a metallic dish reminiscent of a dog bowl! The toilets are inexcusably disgusting and in poor working order. We really wanted to love this place. Very disappointed! It needs an overhaul! Deep clean, increased quality of food, staff need hygiene training and customer service training. This is such a shame because it's such simple things to change which would drastically improve this place. The location and views are lovely. It was not bad for just a drink. But anything more than that they can't seem to manage at general level of...

Updated as a double review: Stumbled on this today, lovely view sat in the sunshine overlooking the beach. Great service, it was very friendly. The food was amazing!! Best fish (hake) and chips ever with dreamy tartare sauce, I thought I’d ordered the hake with chorizo and bean cassoulet but pan fried hake with delicious garlic butter and chips arrived (hence the loss of a star for the mix up), I’d considered that as an option so wasn’t too upset and said nothing - and it was totally delicious, packed with flavour and a good portion so all was well. We’ll be back in a heartbeat

I’ve had to update my review and reduce the stars from 4-3 as we ate again today. Service not so friendly, waited ages to be seen (board said wait to be seated) tried to order drinks then food later and told this was not allowed - it had to be ordered together which left us without a drink whilst we made our minds up. The service wasn’t anywhere near as friendly as last time (same waiter for part of it too) - borderline rude in fact, and we needed to get our own cutlery which didn’t happen last time - I get that if it was busy but staff were hanging around a lot as it was quiet. The fish and chips - we were asked if we wanted either curry sauce or mushy peas without it being pointed out that both were extra. The fish and chips was again delicious but the cold seafood platter (£18.50) was a disappointment - 2 tiny crevettes (one peeled was no bigger than a small prawn) a tiny bit of mackerel pate, a very small portion in a dip pot of brown crab meat let down with so much mayo I couldn’t taste it was crab (odd for just strong tasting brown meat) a sprinkle of prawns, a slice of smoked salmon and a few anchovies. The salad was lovely, the antipasti veg out of place, the French stick missing butter but with totally delicious pickles.

I think next time we’ll look elsewhere, it’s not cheap, it wasn’t friendly and my food...

Visited the week before and we won't be rushing back. Some positives first; the place occupies a commanding position with views overlooking Summerleaze beach; the atmosphere was fun and lively with some good music playing; friendly staff; and it was reasonably priced i guess. The place is a bit scruffy though and our table and chairs were filthy. The door to the outside didn't close properly and as people kept coming in and out, the draft meant I didn't take my coat or hat off. You order from an app on your phone. Fair enough, quick and efficient all that, but you're asked at this point of ordering if you'd like to add a gratuity (I did add ten percent and later regretted it), but it's odd to tip before you've sampled the food or service is it not? We both ordered the Calamari and a side of chips. It arrived literally two minutes after ordering from the app. Fast-food quite literally! Too fast! Our drinks hadn't even arrived at the table! Squid was caked in salt, undercooked to the point of being cold and wet and squelchy inside the un-crispy and pale crumb coating. It had clearly made only the very briefest of acquaintance with the deep fat fryer. Very unpleasant. Some Asian bits on the plate; fresh coriander, bean sprouts, nuts and what I suspect was catering tub generic Asian style dipping sauce. Chips okay but not seasoned and we had to ask for salt, which when it arrived was cheap sachet salt. Didn't complain as what by then was the point. This was clearly fast-food sea-food. We just smiled, pretended we'd enjoyed ourselves and vowed not to bother again. From entering, sitting down, ordering, paying, eating what we could, finishing our drinks, and leaving, we were only in the place twenty minutes. Lazy cooking, horrible squid, but due to its unique beach location, this place could be so good....