WAX Watergate Bay — Restaurant in England

We (2 adults, 1 5yo) visited wax for an early dinner booking. We had great food and a lovely time.

Let me get my gripe out of the way first - despite booking well in advance, our allocated table was in a canopied area of the upstairs restaurant which was roasting hot and no view of the beach. I don't know why this was and other tables were available. It's my pet moan but this is an all too commonplace occurrence when you walk in somewhere either being friendly or with a child I find. Anyway, I discussed this at first with the waitress who wouldn't budge and had to get the manager who then "found" us the empty, unreserved table out of the heat I had been pointing out so we were eventually happy :)

I'm glad that bit's over because the rest was great.

The food was very good. Expecting smallish portions we ordered starters - the Fish starters were cooked to perfection and the portions very ample. Expecting a couple of bits of baguette instead my daughter's garlic bread was a 12' inch pizza style affair we had to box up and take home after a couple of slices. The mains (avacado chicken salad, wax burger) were equally good and again bigger than expected (needed!). It's worth noting we did have to wait a while for the food.

Despite the initial hassle service was good and we enjoyed Wax. It has a proper informal surfer/beach cafe feel and has a good vibe, something "The Beach Hut" by the hotel could learn from. Plenty of people were having just drinks and we could have stayed there longer had we not had a tired little one and...

Upon our arrival, despite having a reservation, we found our table was not ready. The staff attempted to accommodate us in the less desirable bar area. We opted to wait for a proper dining spot which, surprisingly, became available within a minute/2.

After being seated, we were informed we had to order from the bar since there wasn't any waiter service available. Our drinks were promptly served but our food took an excruciatingly long hour and a half to arrive!

The food, when it did arrive, was far from satisfactory. The burgers were overcooked to the point of being tough and burnt, albeit still edible. The pizza, on the other hand, was disappointingly undercooked. And the children's meal? It was akin to charcoal, which was incredibly frustrating.

It was evident the waitress felt awkward, as she hesitated to inquire about our meal. In what seemed like an attempt to justify the situation, she mentioned it was only the chef's third shift. If the restaurant is keen on retaining its reputation, it might very well be his last.

The experience was marred further by the sight of numerous customers returning their unsatisfactory meals, with management offering full refunds and complimentary drinks in an attempt to prevent negative publicity.

While the overbooking issue possibly lies at the management level and might contribute to the decline in quality, it doesn't absolve a professional chef who is expected to perform under pressure.

Given this horrendous experience, it's unlikely that we'll revisit the...

Was very disappointed with the way a mistake in preparing an order was handled. We placed our order immediately after our friends who we were sharing a table with. Our food took 50 minutes longer than theirs to deliver. When questionning our waiter what was happening, he went into the kitchen to ask the chef and returned, barely controlling a smile, explaining that it will be 3 minutes... 10 minutes later, our food was delivered and when questionning the waitress who delivered it (a different one this time) what happened, we were told that they were very busy... Working in the same sector, I know, unfortunately, how orders can fall off the ticket grabber in the kitchen and get completely missed. An apology would have been enough, but they insisted with the 'busy' story, even though when we placed the order there was one other table occupied and afterwards 5 more tables arrived, ordered and got served before us... Very bad customer service from the waiters. Sad, as food was nice, but we will...