Cliff Restaurant at St Bride's Spa Hotel

Judy (3 June 2007)

This is a beautiful restaurant but a real disappointment in the service and standards of food. First our dinner reservation was wrong - I know I had the correct time as I wrote it down in front of the receptionist and showed it to her at the time to confirm the time. Sat down at 7.15 (after kerfuffle re time) and didn't get out until 8.55pm. We only had two courses as we thought to go for the (very dull looking) dessert would take another 45 minutes. Waited 20 minutes for bread at the beginning. Hated the 1/4 bottles of wine and very poor range - agree with another reviewer that this is not what you expect for what aspires to be an upmarket restaurant.

The meal was a great disappointment. The orders for our table and another were mixed up and wrong drinks served (for which the waiter seemed to blame me!) and when my fish came it looked like and tasted like a flip flop! It had obviously been sitting under the lights for ages (as had the lamb which we were told would be pink but was well-done by the time it was served). The 'salad' of watercress was cooked and the watercress reduced to stalks. When I queried if it was meant to be a hot salad the waitress just said that was what happened when you put hot fish on leaves!!!

The table wasn't cleared of unused glasses or the nasty 1/4 bottle and I had to ask for it to be wiped of crumbs between courses. Of course the bill went to the wrong room - by chance the person checking out at the same time as me had received it. But even transferring it to my bill was complicated. Breakfast was also not worthy of the hotel - cold and minimal food. Thin slices of cold toast and warm yoghourt. These are all examples of a hotel that is all about looks and style and not about guests and quality standards.

Gary Doyle (12 April 2007)

I dined for the first time at this restaurant on April 7th. I had been looking forward to the meal after reviewing sample menus and press comments for a couple of weeks beforehand.

The view is spectacular, although our promised and booked table for four near the window was denied to us due to it only being for couples. This fact was not mentioned on booking.

The food was of a good quality with a good choice of fish dishes and some carefully chosen wines.

Now for the negative points. I have dined all over the world and it is seldom that I have had to virtually get off my seat to attract the attention of any member of staff. I had to get up and ask for the wine list. After two more reminders our wine arrived. A similar scenario emerged when trying to get a second bottle.

The staff seemed more content with chatting to themselves than looking out for the customer.

I would dine there again if we were just a couple, seated at the front and with a half empty restaurant so that I might not have to spend half the meal trying to attract the waiter’s attention. 5/10