Swim — Restaurant in England

Embarrassed. We have been here a number of times in the last couple of years. Always been fine until today. Today of all days when we invited our daughter, son in law and grandson for lunch. Having bigged up swim for its sea front position and good food and service. I have to say I was embarrassed. Let me explain. Since the restaurant reopened after lockdown this was our 3rd visit. I particular liked it here as they serve GF fish and chips which i have enjoyed on many previous occasions. It took a bit of encouragement to get me back to restaurants due to the covid pandemic but on our first visit upon their reopening the waiting staff wore face masks which gave me reassurance. The second time they had stopped wearing facemasks instead relying on safe distancing. This 3rd time it all seems to be nearer to how it was prior to covid. We put in our order eventually having had to attract attention of the staff. When the food came out my Gluten free fish batter was soggy so I had to pick that off, once we were eventually supplied with cutlery with that being handed to us in a bundle with the waiter holding that bundle 2 handedly with his hand wrapped around the entire bundle of utensils. We had not been given water as per normal and the chips were pre salted by the restaurant and very over salted at that. Even my young grandsons kids meal chips had been salted. At no time were we asked if everything was OK by any of the staff and it was only once we had finished and had managed to get a staff members attention was I able to give the feedback. The waiter was pleasant and apologised and I asked him to give the feedback which I heard him give to what I suspect was the team leader. The team leaders response was well they should have complained earlier. Fair enough you might think, but not easy due the inattentiveness of the staff. In addition the toilets were not to there normal standard. Such a disappointment as I did like it here but will need to give it a miss for a while until we observe some improvements in safety and service when...

I am gutted to be giving this 2 star review, the effort we made and the money we spent meant we actually deserved better.

I'll start with the good, what a lovely view in such a central location right on the seafront, though surprisingly this didn't completely translate to atmosphere.

The starters were great, the salt and peppered squid looked excellent and the nachos were fantastic: guacamole homemade (a rarity these days), chilli the right level of spice, lots of jalepenos and tons of cheese, very big and very tasty we loved it.

The problems started then, the mains were brought out whilst we were still eating the starters, no apologies, I felt like they just wanted us to get on with it.

The mains were largely a letdown. The katsu curry was good, my burger was nice but dry, you need to add fat to make it juicy, a textbook mistake. The Mac and cheese was pretty small and again pretty dry as if it was reheated for too long, it was not unctuous or juicy just dry and pretty plain.

We ordered some more drinks, one beer was not available as it has run out so an alternative was offered. This is fine, these things happen.

The staff then tried to clear the table, except one of us hadn't finished and had to wrestle the plate from the staff member.

On completing our meal we asked for the bill which we had previously asked to be split, we got the bill it wasn't split, they forgot, no worries we got the calculator out only to find that we had been overcharged (it was the replacement drink), we told the manager this and he got quite snotty and dismissive, no apology for the overcharge. We were then approached by several staff members wanting us to pay, despite us trying to work it out after removing their overcharge.

Finally we were ready and asked to pay and were ignored. Wow.

Such a shame, the restaurant was busy but not full. We did not let it ruin our evening but we won't go back.

I reckon if they sorted the management out this could be a lovely restaurant, until then I'll...

We visited Swim in Lyme Regis on a busy, sunny Sunday morning and were really grateful they managed to seat our group of 7 without a booking – definitely a plus! The menu looked great, and the location right on the seafront makes for a lovely setting, especially from the terrace.

The food itself was tasty, but a strange pricing issue left a sour note. I ordered “eggs any way” with scrambled eggs, only to find out later that the “toast with scrambled eggs” option gives you 4 large doorstop slices of toast and costs £4 less to my two thin slices. When I asked a waiter about it, I was brushed off with a pretty blunt “not now, mate, I’m busy.” He then went on to complain to the bar staff how annoying it was for customers to ask for changes when they could clearly see it was a busy day. Another waitress was more helpful and checked with the kitchen, but ultimately told me that’s just how it is, and that she could change the price, but it would “only save you £4.”

The pricing inconsistency didn’t make much sense, and the dismissive response from one of the staff members wasn’t great. I’d come back for the food and the view, but I hope they take a closer look at their menu pricing – and their approach to...