Saltwater Inn — Restaurant in Wales

Good food somewhat let down by indifferent service. Thought I'd pop into the Saltwater Inn yesterday on a quick trip to Porthcawl.... I've been intending to have a look at some of the pubs and restaurants in this area....to be brief it seems like a good 'pub' style seaside restaurant....as it should perhaps!....decor fine.... nothing out of the ordinary....a sea side fish and chips restaurant with wine vibe perhaps....male and disabled toilets clean and smelling fresh....no mirror in the disabled....the menu seems varied and promising for this type of place....I ordered the mustard chicken with potatoes....the food was well presented on a trencher style plate and certainly was a generous portion....the dish was really tasty....I had the lemon cheesecake to follow....I ordered ice cream as a side but received pouring cream instead....which was fine and went unmentioned....the cheesecake was an adequate size and certainly lemony and tasty....the meal was really palatable and good value also!....HOWEVER....service and staff experience was another matter....curt would perhaps be an apt description at best....one waitress in particular seems to have attended the Basil Fawlty school of hospitality!....(a presumably 30 something lady with dark hair worn in a ponytail!)....best described as flinty I feel!....a Soviet style attitude perhaps!....maybe she was having an off day.... sometimes British customer care has to be experienced to be believed!....I certainly wasn't getting a smile and a 'thank you for coming'!....to be fair the older lady doubling as maitre d was more friendly...the kitchen seems clearly superior to front of house....at least imao...in summary a potentially good experience marred by indifferent...

Been going here for months for Sunday lunch (was highly recommended by all my family) telephoned on the Monday to book a table for 2 people for Sunday lunch. Sunday comes and we travelled all the way from Pontypridd to there in appalling weather, had a quick look around Porthcawl but as the weather was so bad I said to my wife we will try and get in earlier (booked for 2:30 and it was 1:40) so at the desk we said we were early and the lady said if you return about 2:10 we will sort you out..went and sat in the car until then. Returned back at 2:10 to be told our table was still not ready so she put us on a table to the left of the bar, which we didn’t mind. The girl came to order drinks and promptly ordered and I also said we would have 2 beef dinners (as we always have done to save time) she said there were really busy and another girl would come along after she had dealt with all the others before us. 20 mins later the waitress came and we said 2 beef dinners to be told there was no cabbage and only a bit of pork!! I told her that we had booked and specifically said Sunday lunch and she said you didn’t speak to me!! I was not very happy after travelling all that way to be told that. We promptly finished our drinks to go to the bar to complain and pay for the drinks we didn’t really want …to be mortified to say that the said member of staff said I was highly aggressive to her and used the F word several times to her!! I asked the so called manager lady to ask the diners either side of us to back up my story she would not!! I was livid… my self or my family will not set foot in this den of liars ever again-very very poor and they even charged us for the drinks!! 😡😡😡 I’m...

04/09/2024: Still value for money

15/5/23: booked a table for 2 & again didn't disapoint 🙂 food & service 10/10

Popped in here with my wife & our dog to see what the food was like as this is our pick for date night this month 😉

I had cajun chicken burger & my wife had corned beef pie.

OMG, the portions were huge. The handcut chips were like we wedges & everything was cooked perfectly.

It was very busy when we arrived at 12.30 (no booking) so we had to wait for 30 minutes for a table, not a problem as we went shopping.

Surprisingly my pint of Pepsi max was only £1.98 😲 where I'm used to paying a lot more.

Very friendly staff, excellent value for money & a nice atmosphere for a lunch time.

We will definitely be coming back for date night & I'm looking forward to a 20oz steak.

Also will recommend to family & friends.

Sorry no photos as we...