The Waterfront Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in England

We recently went to the Waterfront for a large family meal. Most of our group are vegan and had been a few years previously when they had a separate vegan menu and they had really enjoyed it.

The Waterfront is in a great location right on the seafront and we were seated with a wonderful sea view.

The staff were very attentive and helpful and made sure our large group was well looked after.

The members of our group who ate the seafood dishes really enjoyed their meals and said the food was very good. However, myself and the other vegan/vegetarian diners were very disappointed. The vegan menu had been removed and instead a couple of vegan options for mains and one option each for dessert and starter were on the menu. We were told by the restaurant that this was due to staff shortages in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the vegan food was incredibly poor. We tried all the options between us and they were very bland and lacked effort or imagination. The Thai vegetables especially seemed to just be some cooked vegetables and some rice noodles with some coconut milk on the top. The mushroom pate and vegan stew were ok but again lacked any real flavour (though the vegetables were well cooked). The vegan carrot cake bites were almost inedible and we actually had to send them back which is something I have never had to do a restaurant before, but it only tasted of the coconut flakes grated on top and the consistency was more like stuffing balls than cake.

There seemed to be a lack of any sort of effort to make the vegan options on the menu taste good and I am surprised that any chef could have tasted or even looked at those dishes and felt that they were acceptable to serve to customers, not to mention charge £16/17 for them. If a reduced vegan menu is to be offered then the options need to be good, whilst I appreciate that it is a seafood restaurant and it is good to have options, the quality offered here for the price charged was unacceptable.

I have still offered the restaurant three stars as the staff were very good and took our feedback on the vegan food well and the diners in our party who had the seafood really enjoyed their meal. But if you are vegan I would definitely avoid until they take steps to improve the...

A very disappointing visit means we will not be returning. Firstly, despite being half empty, we were told we could only order from a limited menu if we wanted to eat outside, on a table right by the door. We opted to therefore eat inside to access the full menu, only to be seated less than a meter away from the table we originally wanted, with an open doorway connecting the two. Table was extremely sticky, despite appearing clean and being pre-laid for service. Wine glasses, plates, salt and pepper shakers etc all literally stuck to the table when attempting to move them. Left seated at table for approx 10 minutes before anyone came to take our drinks order. This pattern of being ignored followed for ordering mains and also desserts. When it came to paying we ultimately gave up and approached the bar (despite numerous signs saying you can’t do so, as well as various other strict rules). Waitress taking our mains order announced, half way through ordering, that she would be “back in a minute” and literally ran away. When she returned she advised it was because she had forgotten to write something on the previous customer’s order ticket. Male member of staff decided the best time to come and tell me vaping isn’t allowed outside (which seemed fairly ridiculous in its self) was whilst my young daughter was seated on my lap crying in pain (sitting outside to avoid disturbing other diners). He then stood over us giving unhelpful and unwanted advice on how to stop crying sooner after the (poorly timed and frankly pointless) conversation was clearly over. Food was all “ok”, nothing bad, but largely lacking in flavour and certainly not worthy of the hefty price tags. Signs up blowing their trumpet about being in the Good Beer Guide, however we were not allowed to approach the bar to see the beer selection and our waitress could offer no information on the beers available other than “why not try this one, it’s local”. Overall it was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time, but the one star is given for the fantastic...

DIETARY REQUIREMENTS BE VIGILANT! So a small point first which has nothing to do with my 1 star rating.

Waterfront bar and restaurant make a big declaration of being dog friendly, when really waterfront bar is and the restaurant isn’t. We booked a couple of tables in the restaurant going off this promotion statement. Sadly half the group were turned away as we were told “that’s (small dog) going to be a problem !” . We understand rules and policy’s, it would be just more helpful to give more transparency up front rather than search through the small print, most of us are on holiday. It’s a small point for them but a big point for us planning our days out on holiday.

The food I noticed a obvious mistake as I looked through the menu stating a prawn starter was vegan. Using common sense I didn’t choose it and moved on. After my main, which was, as far as I know vegan as stated, I ordered my pudding “sticky toffee”. I did ask confirmation, it’s vegan as stated on the menu!!. The order was taken by what seemed to be the manager who returned to let me know it isn’t vegan. Thanks, always helpful to let people know what they are eating, especially when different to what the menu states!!.

When finishing up and paying, I spoke to the ( manager) I suggested he needs to check the menu and the dietary declarations by the options. He tried to correct my observations and thus I asked him to bring a menu over. He said the sticky toffee was just stated as vegi, and said they did the prawns without the butter to make it vegan. I corrected him on both, he seemed shocked confused.

In a modern world it’s not hard ensure you give your customers the correct dietary information they need when ordering. Both for allergies or dietary preferences. This experience gave me little confidence in what I ate and the menu they offer.

We booked places relating to our groups needs, we should have doubled checked regarding a small dog but having vegan options that aren’t...