Oliver's on the Beach — Restaurant in England

We where regular customers at Olivers but we have recently been massively let down but the service of one particular waitress.

As the food portions are massive, usually I cannot finish my meal so I always ask for the remaining food to be put in a box to take home. After some time had passed we asked where the box of left over food was. The waitress who collected the plates and initially told to box the plate asked us who took the plate. Once we explained she was the waitress that took my food she told us it had been thrown away and blamed it on how busy she was. The venue has about 6 tables inside with two waitresses, so to say you was too busy to box 1/3 of the uneaten food left on the plate and throw the food away is unacceptable.

When ordering desserts the waitress offered options of ice cream or squirty cream on the side. I chose squirty cream, but then she returned quickly and explained it was not squirty cream but a different type of cream so I then asked to change the option to ice cream. She immediately rolled her eyes in front of us. Instead of apologising for offering an option that wasn’t described correctly and rectifying her mistake she chose to roll her eyes.

When the final bill arrived was when we had learned that my box of left overs had been thrown away. This was because we questioned its whereabouts during desserts as it had been some time since the request. We weren’t offered a discount, an extra dessert or similar for her negligence. To add salt to the wound, she left 2 mints with the receipt for a party of 3. We asked for an extra mint but was met with questioning on whether we had already taken one.

It is a shame that the service from one individual was appalling as the food quality and portion is always great! We get along with the chefs and are known my face and name. The brunette waitress is always lovely and attentive but the other waitress needs some more training, in particular customer service training.

Sadly this recent experience has left us no choice but to not return as service, food and experiences come...

We came across Olivers by chance and decided to pop in for a snack. There were 2 of us and the first vacant table we came to was a 4. We were quickly asked not to sit there and to occupy a 2 seat table instead. Understandable, and we moved quite happily. No sooner had we settled at the other table than we were called (across the restuarant!) by the same waitress who had asked us to move saying that if we really wanted the 4 seat table we could have it as another couple had come in after us so we should get first choice! Not the best customer service-especially for the other couple! We reassured that we were quite happy to stay put. Waitress came for our order and I asked for Ham and Mustard mayo sandwich on granary. Was swiftly told no granary left and i would have to have white bread. Im not a great lover of white bread and asked if I could have ice cream instead. I was told i couldnt have ice cream as they had turned away custom from people who may have spent more to accommodate us! Sorry- not my problem. You ran out of bread!?? You couldnt offer me what I asked for which was clearly still showing on your menu. There was nothing to say anything about a minimum spend and in any case my friend had ordered calamari which wasnt the cheapest thing on offer! Reluctantly I ordered the sandwich on white and, although the bread was fresh, it was so fullof mustard mayo that it was running out of the sides. I had to dismantle the sandwich to scrape the mayo out before I could eat it. All in all food wasnt bad but, in my experience, customer service leaves quite a bit...

This is possibly the best restaurant in all of Leigh-on-sea/Southend. I was very impressed with not only the the flavors but the obvious quality of the ingredients. There wasn’t a single element of the food that wasn’t carefully chosen and delicious.

It’s not light food, so if you’re very hungry this is the place for you. It is small but right on the water. We felt like we were on a boat without any of the motion.

I was less than impressed with the staff. They took forever to take our order even though she came and asked us three times if we were ready to order (we said yes all three times) but she would say “ok! I’ll get my pad” every time and we wouldn’t see her again. They were friendly enough but forgot so many things. We got arancini balls instead of falafel. But they looked so similar we started in on them and only then realized. We didn’t complain though because they were delicious and we liked them. But we could have easily been disappointed with the wrong order.

Our waitress then forgot to bring us water, then condiments we asked for and then our coffees which my husband never ended up getting.

And to finish with they were only taking cash that day, I think because their machines were down. But they forgot to tell so many people who then had to send someone from the table to hunt down an ATM which were not close.

I still give them 5 stars because the food made up for all the mess with the service. And I will be back, armed with cash,...