The Beachcomber Cafe — Restaurant in North Devon

I wasnt going to write a review but for the sake of helping a business i thought i should. I actually run and am a shareholder in quite a successful group of cafes and restaurants so this doesnt come as a hobbyist or enthusiast.

When you employ older staff - customers assume they are their because they have the relevant experience and are authorised to lead. The gentleman on the till was an older guy who seemed to be appointed the leader - however was very clueless to all of the requirements of maintaining a structure throughout the day. Taking orders but not understanding the knock on effect if at any point theres a build up of tickets or tables waiting - i can only assume the kitchen works through gritted teeth when it’s like that. The amount of staff you guys have you could easily take the orders from customers without them coming up to the table, this actually means you get to control the waves of customers coming through the door and release the burden on some of the talented staff you have (the young girls getting battered on the coffee machine)

Too many staff not knowing how to talk to customers properly. There was multiple bad interactions that could have been handled differently - one that stuck out was an east asian man asking where his food was a curt ‘its coming’ followed… guys, even if its cursory… walk away check the ticket and come back… it breeds confidence.

You struggle poaching eggs. Throw the thing you’re using away and stick to a big pan of water with white vinegar in. It will cook the membrane immediatley and hold the egg together. Thank me later. You could even cook these the day before and regen them for one minute in hot water - they will fly out.

The guy in scenario 1. When asked if i could order some sides he curtly cut off mid sentence and said “we dont do that”… ok, didnt want an argument but what if i just ordered eggs on toast then a load of sides? Could you still do that? This guy didn’t want customers at all - he wanted them to leave.

I watched 3 different tables of 2 people come in and get told they were not allowed to put an extra chair on a 2 seater.

I then watched the same guy… shake someones hand, who then said he needed a table for 3… “dont worry I’ll sort you out” and guess what! He added another chair to the table of 2… HAVE CONSISTENCY.

This could be a great place but until the older experienced people step up, you’ll be annoying customers and not making...

My family and I stopped by for a quick bit of lunch at 15:40, which I didn’t think would be an issue as the cafe closed at 5. The veggie/vegan options seemed appealing. I asked a senior waitress if we could bring the dog in, she was initially very friendly, stating we could.

My wife and I asked for veggie breakfast burritos which they didn’t have, fair enough. We then mis-read the menu thinking we could order falafel, but this was actually an accompanying side to a £9.00 salad bowl, which would have come to £14 each, so we passed on that. An honest mistake on our part, but the young waitress serving us was very patronising and did not hide the fact she was exasperated with us, making us feel like an inconvenience.

At this point, she told us the kitchen would be closing in 5 minutes and hurried us along. We tried our luck asking for veggie or vegan breakfasts, but not available. At this point we were happy to just have a drink and place our kids food order. Then, the waitress loudly declares to the senior waitress how she “wished it was Friday so she could go home!” Pretty funny really; she didn’t need to say this as it was already obvious that she didn’t want to be there.

We tried to order our daughter an Eggs Benedict, but that wasn’t available either. Finally, when asking for fresh orange juice, she replies with, you’ve guessed it, “sorry there’s none available, only squash.” At this point we replied “don’t worry we’ll leave it thank you.” As we walked out the senior waitress said sarcastically “oh dear thats bad timing”, and the 2 of them sniggered as we left.

Clearly they’re making lots of profit, as they didn’t want...

My family and I went in to get some breakfast and as soon as we walked into the door, there was 8 of us, we were given a dirty look from the man behind the counter. When we went to order, the man refused to substitute any of the items on the breakfast. Then when we asked for a small portion of chips, he outright refused. We tried to explain it was for an autistic child who struggles with change but he still refused and was downright rude to my mother. We decided to just get drinks and he put them through with what I can only describe as a triumphant look on his face. When our drinks came over, we spoke to one of the ladies and she agreed that he was out of order. She was absolutely lovely and managed to get a portion of chips for us. She was the only person that made us feel as though our presence was valued. The man behind the counters behaviour was abhorrent and we won't be returning. This is the first place in Woolacombe we have disliked and it is completely disappointing. Every other member of staff we spoke to was absolutely excellent and we thank them entirely for their accommodation. It was just the man that let the whole place down. The rest of the staff deserve a medal. If only for putting up with...