West Farm Southerndown Coastal Retreat — Restaurant in Wales

I was so excited to visit West Farm as it looked amazing. Unfortunately our experience there did not meet expectations. Upon arrival we asked a member of staff if we needed to be seated or if we could find a table and order food, she advised to queue and then find a table. The queue was about 20 minutes long and when we got to the till, we were asked for a table number. We explained we were advised to queue for our table - this then left limited options as to where to sit. We found a table outside but my 7 month old baby was too cold so we asked to move inside. The gentleman we asked said he would find out and walked off. We waited but he never came back and continued doing other things. We then started to move inside ourselves and whilst moving to the bar area, I asked a member of staff if we could sit inside as it was too cold for my baby. She said no we are fully booked and walked off despite there being a few seating areas available. So was I to sit outside with my baby cold then? My friend managed to ask another member of staff and she seated us in a waiting area. Whilst sitting here I was trying to set up the high chair for my baby and she became flustered and moved my pram saying we were in the way of the walkway (this is with no assistance to move the high chair, we did this ourselves may I add). When we got a table, we were on the move again and I was holding my baby and trying to drag the high chair, my friend pushing the pram and not one member of staff offered any assistance. A member of the public on another table moved the high chair for me which I was grateful for. As we were at our table, the waitress advised she was going to get a cloth and clean it down. Waiting standing at the side of the table with baby in hand, my friend holding our drinks, she starts to clean and seat another couple before us. At this point we sat down beyond frustrated with the service. She did clean it afterwards. Food then arrived and the food was really lovely and very good quality however we had to ask for cutlery to be able to eat it and the staff appeared flustered and rushing us, as though we were a burn and nuisance to them. In my years of working in hospitality I have never seen such carnage in running a coffee shop. It was quite busy when we first arrived but it quite quickly emptied and the service continued to be poor and the atmosphere was not very relaxing. The staff were really quite rude and unhelpful, not providing any solutions or assistance just behaving as though everything was very taxing and difficult for them. I was incredibly disappointed with my visit and would not come back again nor recommend it to any friends or family. Deeply...

Just left my review on trip advisor for west farm cafe - Title: If Fawlty Towers opened a brunch spot…

Worst service I have ever experienced (bar one member of staff, who deserves a medal for surviving their colleagues).

We booked a table of 12 well in advance for a quiet celebration brunch. When we arrived, someone else was happily enjoying our table and the staff complained to us that they weren’t expecting us. (The email confirmation we waved in their faces apparently wasn’t convincing enough).

We were told repeatedly that they “don’t cater for parties”, which is odd, because they were more than happy to take the booking. Then came the menu fiasco: they sent us one to pre-select from, only to announce on the day that it was obsolete. A few of us chose pancakes with fresh fruit only to be told that fruit doesn’t exist after midday. (Time zones clearly affect their fruit bowl.)

What did arrive was cheap pancakes drowned in honey with a garnish of tinned fruit. We returned that masterpiece, which was replaced with dried toast. Insulting at best.

We eventually abandoned ship to sit outside, only for some of our group to return half an hour later and catch the staff gossiping about us backs turned, voices raised with other customers. Unfortunately for them, one of those “other customers” happened to be the husband of someone in our party. Awkward. When challenged, their response? To blame us for daring to show up at all.

If you enjoy shambolic service, missing menus, fruit with a curfew, and staff who gossip about you within earshot, this place is for you. Otherwise, I’d suggest brunch literally...

I would have scored this higher, but we were in a queue for food and drinks for over 20 mins, they stopped serving food around 2.30. It was full because of the really sunny weather and being st David's day. They seemed to be working very hard, all staff rushing around. We had the lamb cawl, corned beef pasty, sausage bap, luxury hot chocolate, coffee,lemon drizzle cake, and all food was amazing, although the pasty was cold, may have been our fault for not specifying. Lamb cawl was gorgeous, sausage bap seemed to be on a sourdough type bap, gorgeous too. Been many times here, it is very popular. There was a massive queue at 2.30, but all got served. Some cakes had run out and as there wasn't anymore hot food being served a few disgruntled customers. Always worth a visit though and we...