Salt on the Harbour — Restaurant in England

Poor service and lack of attention regarding allergies and cold food.

We booked a table as a family (7 of us, 3 children included). When we arrived, we waited about 10 minutes before we were given a menu (I had to ask for them). We gave our orders. I was very clear that my son has a severe milk allergy, so could the server check that the children’s meal was dairy-free.

The food arrived (a different server brought it over) and quite a bit of the order was wrong. I also asked the server if she could confirm that the children’s meal was dairy-free and her response was “should be”. I explained that it was vital that she confirmed this due to his allergy and she rolled her eyes and walked away. The server came back with more meals and I asked if she had checked about the allergy and she said she will when she gets a chance (bear in mind my 1 year old son was sat there upset staring at food that he couldn’t eat until we knew it was safe).

Eventually all the food arrived (after some meals were sent back for being incorrect). Food was cold due to this as we eat as a family. We asked if the bread we ordered would be arriving and was told it’s on our way. I asked if the bread was dairy-free and the server said she could get us gluten-free bread. I asked if she would still check the ingredients and she rolled her eyes again. Eventually, she brought over the allergy menu and, based on what she said, it appeared as though she didn’t understand what dairy-free meant. This worried me, if I’m honest, as she was the same server who confirmed that the children’s meal was dairy-free.

Condiments that we asked for also didn’t turn up until we were about 3/4 of the way through our meals.

No one came to clear our plates at the end of the meal or ask if we wanted desserts, so we just asked for the bill.

When it came to paying, we weren’t given an opportunity to give our feedback regarding our experience.

My husband and I have dined with Salt many times upstairs and were very disappointed with the poor service as usually it’s very good. I’m unsure if they are unable to accommodate larger parties or perhaps families (especially those with dietary requirements).

Most importantly, staff should be much more considerate regarding allergies. As a parent of a child with allergies, I need to be able to trust that the staff and kitchen are taking...

We stopped here for a drink and then returned the following morning to join our friends, who were staying here, for breakfast. The staff are very nice and friendly and made good recommendations regarding drinks. The gin menu was extensive and includes some classic mixes along with some more unusual combinations of gin and mixer. Service was good and prices were reasonable given the location. Our friend's room was up a single flight of stairs, nicely decorated (recently refurbished?), clean and had an excellent view over the harbour. They were slightly concerned about the time that the young gull on the roof outside would wake up, but it wasn't a real problem :) Breakfast was OK, but service was a bit slow. We had to ask for extra milk as the single, very small jug we received wasn't sufficient for four people and wealth had to remind them to bring juice. They apologised for the toast (a choice of brown or white, supplied with packs of real butter and a selection of jams) arriving slightly after our breakfasts. The traditional English breakfast consisted of a sausage, a slice of black pudding, a good portion of baked beans, half a tomato grilled, a few mushrooms, two slices of bacon and a choice of fried, scrambled or poached eggs. The poached eggs were perfect from my perspective, no runny white, but a runny yellow. If the service had been a little better, breakfast would have been good value given the view. It maybe that Salt is experiencing difficulties in recruiting enough staff like a lot of restaurants at the moment? We will definitely return and would also consider staying here as the room we saw and the location is so good. Only one real negative for some is the parking for the hotel/restaurant/bar. There are very few spaces allocated for customer parking and none of the spaces are for disabled people. This is fine if you are able to walk a bit or you are happy to be dropped off, but it does make staying here a bit of a challenge. The overnight parking costs £1 but this runs out at 08.00 and you can't buy a ticket that runs until 11.00 (hotel check out time) until after 08.00. A minor detail for a lot of people, but if you have limited mobility it could make a stay here...

I stayed at this Hotel when I was in town for a concert.||The hotel is not really a hotel - there are rooms above a Chandlers’ supplies shop, and you get the key from the pub/restaurant below. The manager, Ariel, was very nice and welcoming when we arrived.||My room was fine - the decor was very dated and I had a view over the carpark, but that wasn’t an issue. The room was equipped with everything you might need - kettle, tea, coffee, ironing board, iron and hairdryer. There was also a very good vertical oscillating fan.||However, the bathroom wasn’t very clean. It had obviously not been deep cleaned in a long time - there were yellow limescale circles around the sink’s plug hole, and pink mould on the bath. My friend’s room had cobwebs on the ceiling and her toilet was not clean.||On the following day, we needed access to the room throughout the day, and when we realised that our rooms would not be cleaned until the afternoon, we told the housekeeper that we only needed some extra toilet roll and our bins emptied. The housekeeper said no problem. By later in the day, however, that had not been done. I bumped into the housekeeper and asked her for some toilet roll - she gave me a roll but none for my friend.||The staircase leading to the rooms was not vacuumed during our stay - the same hairs that were there on Day 1 were there when we left. The front door, which leads to the room, had a dodgy brown stain that clearly nobody had cleaned in ages.||Breakfast was fine, and there was a vegan option, there were no pastries, or fruit. The only option was a cooked breakfast. Unfortunately, the table mats weren’t clean, the tables were sticky - everything felt sticky and slightly grimey, even the door to get into the pub/restaurant. We decided to skip breakfast on day two and leave asap.||I don’t know if my friend and I were particularly unlucky - we have other friends staying at the Salt during that time, and they didn’t report any issues. I showed one friend the picture of the pink mould in my bath and she was horrified.||I wasn’t expecting a 5 star hotel, but the place should have been cleaner for £225 for two nights. It’s a shame because the manager was very nice and the...