High Tide Social & Play Cafe — Restaurant in Thanet

It's taken me a couple of weeks to get my self under control enough to write this review. I've been so overwhelming upset at the incident that took place I thought it best to calm down a bit before hand. This was the 2nd occasion I have visited the cafe, the 1st was super positive. I'm pretty sure who was working that day must have been the owner who was great to speak with, gave fantastic service and prompted us to come back again soon.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, it was a Saturday morning and we (myself, partner and my 1yo son) decided to pop in for some breakfast and to give my son some additional fun in the kiddies area they have.

On arrival I could see it was very busy, but in no rush as my toddler would be entertained we proceeded to get a table near the kiddies corner, nose through the menu and order at the counter. I was asked to pay in full, which I did. I thought £35 for a breakfast, breakfast roll and a slice of toast and scrambled egg with 2 coffees on the pricey side, but we had enjoyed our experience previously and like I mentioned it has the added bonus of the kiddies play corner.

The wait for the food was long. But again, we were quite comfortable and due the the nature of the kitchen layout could see the chef was busy.

Moving onto the incident. I hadn't realised but the cafe seems to be dog friendly, now my 18month old loves all animals but dogs are a favourite.

A chap came down to where the kiddies corner was and immediately my son saw the 'dogdog' and gave a squeal of joy wanting to interact with it. He's still learning and finding his voice so though it was a loud squeal I had assumed being kids friendly it would be ignored. I shhhed him gently and my partner spoke to the owner and my son was introduced to the dog.

To my surprise at this exact time, the chef who was working directly opposite me, gesticulating with his arms, making faces announces "I wish people would control their kids" I was taken aback! There was a real mean look to his face and with a roll of his eyes turned around and carried on.

As you can imagine I was upset at his outburst, especially in a family friendly place. Kid's make noise and babies unfortunately do not have a volume button nor can they be made to cooperate, he's a baby still and not able to understand.

A short while later the waitress came over with some of the order. I took the opportunity to explain that I'd heard the chefs comments about my child and I was not happy. I wondered out loud if maybe working in this environment was a good idea if baby noise was so bothersome to him. The waitress was super apologetic and I had assumed that that was tge end of it.

I few minutes later a younger girl bounded up to my table declaring "I'm not happy about how your speaking about my staff" I can only assume she was in charge that day, he tone was accusatory and aggressive. I repeated what had happened. She advised that she had heard what he said and was within his rights to do so as the baby had squealed. I explained he was 1 and though I could shhh him, there is no way to mute him. He will do what he does. I explained his excitement o er the dog. This seemed to fall on deaf ears as I was repeatedly told that I needed to "keep the noise down" "make him quieter" I again went over what had happened she said that I should "consider the staff having to hear that all the time" that "there are rules about noise" Looking over her shoulder the rules clearly attached to the entrance of the kiddies area makes no mention of noise restrictions.

She was not there in her capacity to try and smooth over the situation but I felt she had bought it up a notch.

I had been polite and had calmly explained. I explained that I cannot mute a child and that her chefs attitude and actions were appalling. And that I was offended by the "control their kids" comment. I am not a bad, inconsiderate parent.

She offered out of the blue a free drink, I declined.

So very disappointed by this experience.

Such a shame as very close to home and wanted to...

Came here for coffee and breakfast with a group of friends, staff were friendly and drinks came quickly.

I ordered the loaded hash browns with added chilli sauce, as did most of my group, so there was an expected slight wait on food. When it came I was happy enough with my serving, albeit a little on the expensive side for what it is (£10.50). Some of my group said their food wasn't hot enough and didn't have that satisfying dippy egg we all love, however not enough to complain and enjoyed it all the same.

There is a small children's toy/ place space towards the back of the cafe, which is great for children around 1-2 years old. I liked this as you dont usually have this sort of space in essentially a coffee ship.

Coffee was tasty and couldn't resist...

We had a bad experience there. Slow service (more than 30 minutes wait for mostly frozen food). We forgot to say that we wanted vegan sausages when ordering but we corrected ourselves and indicated that we did not want meat prior to getting the food (we were said the vegan sausages would have taken 15 more minutes to prepare as it is frozen, we were ok with not getting any as we did not have 15 more minutes to spare and it was our mistake) the plates finally arrived with bacon on it … we said again that we are vegetarians and we do not want bacon, we were told by the waitress, quite rudely, to push it on the side … so we had to eat with bacon in our plates … it made the dog happy though but I have rarely encountered such...