Beaches Cafe Bar Bistro in Southend-on-Sea

Not bad. Not great. Chip butties in a roll sounded great, would have been better if they had used a better roll. Male toilets have no baby changing unit, server told me to use women's toilet. felt weird walking in and using the women's toilet to change my daughter's nappy.

Food isn't great but the service is great, when do you expect the best food somewhere on the sea front, you aren't rushed and the staff always interact Great pitstop if you don't want to hunt for food away from the front

Just ok. Breakfast not served after 10:45. I wish there were more umbrellas on the balcony.

Absolutely awful service! The staff were friendly, but we waited an hour & 20 minutes for our food. After asking around 3 times whether our food would be arriving, we were just told it was coming out soon. Unfortunately places like this don’t have to take accountability because they’re in a prime location & know they’ll get customers no matter what.

Great food, chips were amazing! Friendly service too. Prices are mid to high but you are paying for what you get as food is top tier!!

We had takeaway lunch here, fish and chips and vegan burger and chips. The chips were freshly cooked and the fish / burger were decent enough (the burger was maybe a bit overpriced). It's a seafront chippy so don't expect Michelin star dining 😂 The staff were friendly and the service was prompt. Not sure we'll be back this trip, but we promised ourselves we'd have chips on the seafront and this place definitely delivered 😁

A male staff (he looks Asian) with long curly hair at the takeaway counter is very rude by yelling at customers ordering hot doughnuts. The hot chocolate was badly made from the machine feels like having pure water with cocoa powder. Won't come back again

Simple order for drinks and got forgotten

Lovely place on the beach front. Defo going back

Great atmosphere staff singing Great variety

The souvenir store in front of the cafe staff was very rude.. spoiled the good sunny day vibe..

Me and my family which includes two young children visited this cafe today. Service was lovely, quick and friendly. Staff were nothing but helpful, polite and kind. Food was reasonably priced, presented well and tasted delicious! We all had cod and chips. 10/10 would recommend and would visit again!

bought 3 fish and chip portions, £9.95 each for takeaway but £15 each in resturant, so i had the takeaway looked very much like a battered fish fillet from the supermarket rather than fresh as described by the server, nothin like the resturant pictures on here, all 3 portions of fish the exact same size and the chips very much like supermarket cheap chips, i dont mind paying for good food but this was complete tripe, it looks like you get real fish and chips by payin a lot more in the resturant they have by the side of the takeaway, i call this fish FRESH FROM THE FREEZER so do you self a favour and avoid this RIPP OFF!!!

The service was not great and when we received our food the chips weren't cooked . Asked for new chips, and they tasted old. Coffees were badly made, and even before you get your food, they make you pay for it. Wont come back again.

Excellent coffee, cake & service.

Not even fresh fish , absolutely vile . Reheated chips and a piece of fish that resembled a Birds Eye fillet from the supermarket . Overpriced and absolute rubbish .

Staff were very friendly and helpful and service was excellent

Nice place shame we couldn't sit outside as it was a beautiful day.

STRANGELY MANAGEMENT NEVER REPLY TO BAD REVIEWS. We went here on a quiet February mid week day. After sitting 35mins waitress came with menu and took our drinks order. 10mins later she took our order. 30 mins later two luke warm meals arrived followed by the other 2 10minds after that. This place has a nice venue but meals and service are dire. I probably could not find a quieter time to go but had to wait ages. They take payment with the order or no way would I have stayed. Save yourself a hassle and go elsewhere. NOW REPLY TO THAT MATE!!@

Nice place to sit,.rest, and enjoy some cake and coffee

Grey day at the end of September, but it's good to sit and watch the waves. Good coffee and a bacon/egg breakfast bap...very tasty. Friendly staff and clean toilets too.

A great cafe situated on an excellent view which was right above the beach on Southend sea. There was great outdoor seats and the food, a beach burger, was delicious and fat. The service was good enough and the overall experience was smooth. A solid 5/5 for me, would definitely recommend if you're looking for a cafe near the beach to eat!

It's nice to sit down outside and enjoy the food

For the first time in my life I actually enjoyed fish and chips and didn't leave even one bite on my plate

Beautiful views and doggy friendly! Lovely place for a drink, coffee or a small bite!

Visited with family including 2 toddlers and 2 dogs and they could not have been more accommodating! Service was brilliant with really friendly staff and food was very good. If you're in South end I would highly recommend. We ended up dining here both days of our mini break. Thank you for a great experience!

Ok so we had a breakfast bap, thinking it’s ok we’re just going to have a small brunch. And honestly, this is the best bap I’ve ever had. Location is very nice near the sea with good weather, and prices and very decent for the quality of food. Kept seeing large plates going by with good looking foods. We did wait a while but was a very busy day at lunch. Very good overall, would recommend!

Popped into this cafe bistro on Mon 12 Jun 23 @ 1230. Pleasant lady greeted us and showed us to seats outside good view of the sea. They were not particularly busy it appeared. We ordered food for 3 adults and1 toddler. The waitress was helpful and obtained a glass of milk for the baby. But then we had to wait and wait, other guests were getting frustrated and at least 3 covers left. I am an insulin dependant diabetic and my sugar levels were starting to drop to a very low point so at about 1310 I went inside and spoke to a member of staff who kindly got me some thing to eat to raise the levels so could avoid taking glucose tablets. The meals arrived a few minutes later. The important thing for me is if it is going to take a long time please be upfront with the customer and give them the choice. I think priority may have been given to customers at the takeaway window.. lastly on leaving I observed one of the serving staff at the takeaway window lifting a couple of handfuls (no gloves or scoop) from a basin and placing them on a plate that appeared to be going into the restaurant, had I seen this before we we went in, we wound not have gone in!

Great little bistro right by the beach with very friendly staff, magnets, postcards and delicious victoria sponge cakes :)

My wife and I had a couple of drinks here today and a chip butty.The waitresses were all lovely and very friendly and the place was spotless.Great views and good value for money what more could you want?. Perfect.

We went here today and the food and service were excellent. Staff were really friendly and we were allowed inside with our 2 dogs whilst we ate.

Absolutely awful don’t go there.The service is awful, first of all the owner of the cafe was racist towards me and my family because we aren’t English. Second of all it took around 18 minutes for our food to arrive, and also the staff was very rude, our experience was horrible. Even worse they said that I wasn’t allowed to be in the restaurant when I haven’t even had my food yet!

Great food, staff so friendly and manager was a breathe of fresh air. Great service and location. Recommend!!

Took 20 minutes for someone to finally serve us then took a further 50 minutes for our food. I asked someone for a drink they said they'll send someone over. 15 minutes later I ask again got told the same thing then gave up and left

Staff need more training as it didn’t look like they knew what they were doing and not very professional just standing around, the dining area was not cleaned properly with plates left on tables nor were the tables wiped down after the plates were eventually cleared. Food was okay but the chips were cold and was served on a slab which isn’t practical. Very disappointed with the service as they weren’t busy either!

Such a nice place ☺️, the staff is very nice, friendly and helpful 😊 Vegan friendly and dogs welcome ☺️

Popped in Sunday morning for a coffee and donuts with family. The service was really friendly and we had a table at the window with a great view of the pier.

Friendly staff, good coffee, great atmosphere :) a lovely place to chill out!

First time in here will be coming back food was lovely very clean My grandson loved his burger and chips Coffee was lovely to I'm very fussy about my coffee Thanks x

Wonderful place which I visit regularly

The view was nice, but unfortunately, the service was very poor. The floor staff doesn't communicate with each other. First, we were waiting 15 min for tea. And because the waitress who took our the order went on a break, she didn't pass this on to her colleagues. We were waiting 30 min for a burger and if we didn't ask, we wouldn't even know they forgot about our order. I have been working for 20 years in hospitality and I have never seen so an unorganized restaurant.

Waited 45 minutes for a chips and mozzarella which never arrived. The waitress couldn't even remember the order what she took and made us paying with the drinks. Not recommended at all.

Great service. Freshly prepared food. Nice view over the Estuary.

Great little seafront café that sits on the seafront overlooking the beach and the pier. Food was of good quality and the prices fair for the prime location and view.

lunch with friends from London who wanted to sample some nice fish n chips . Thought we'd give beaches a try and was certainly not disappointed. Delicious fish and scampi we picked a great day ,service very good and shall definitely return thank you .

We called in here on Friday morning 9th September had donuts which were best we have ever tasted thank-you good service very friendly staff

Very nice food and nice friendly staff.

This is usually my go to for d-nuts & a coffee when at Southend. Today I ordered ice cream, drinks & D-nuts but sat on the sea wall instead of eating in. My daughter needed the toilet so I took her in there and asked 2 member of staff if I could take my little girl to the toilet to which they both said no! I said that I had just purchased food and drinks already but they still didn’t let my 6 year old daughter use the toilet because I wasn’t eating in. I think it’s disgusting that they did not allow my daughter to use there toilet after I just purchased food & drink from there cafe! You have lost a loyal customer!

Absolutely disgrace of a 'restaurant'. My pregnant partner asked if it was possible to use the toilet with my 2 small children and was told that only paying customers were aloud inside, she asked to buy a drink so she could use them only to be told it had to be a full meal. I returned to speak with the member of staff and management and explained that my pregnant partner and 4 year old daughter had now wet themselves looking for another toilet only to be told that it 'wasn't their problem' and the policy was so that people didnt 'mess up' the toilets. So thank you very much for completely ruining our day and humiliating my partner. Staff need training in etiquette and customer service.

Great view!!! Can’t really say anything else positive. I would suggest they stock up on ice when it’s this warm. Oh and not being able to give a receipt when you pay cash is a red flag

Me and my partner have had terrible service and rudeness from the manager/owner of this place. We have travelled 2 hours down to south end on sea. We have stopped outside to buy from there counter outside as we didn’t know there was a restaurant inside. As soon as we knew there was a restaurant inside in the scorching sun we brought our 8 week old daughter into the shade to feed her whilst we ate our meal from the counter. They then would refuse us seats inside (even though it was empty) baring in mind we have already brought from them. After this we had to buy a further drink from the cafe to be able to have a seat inside to feed our screaming daughter. And we asked multiple staff for the managers name and they all refused to give her name. We have tried to speak to the manager and she will not have a conversation with us. Totally disgusting with how we have been treated. I understand if it was packed and we was bringing food from somewhere else but this was not the case. As a new anxious mum as one of my first adventures out I am a total nervous wreck as to how I have been treated and left a little option to feed my daughter I do not recommend to come here terrible service and terrible food

My husband and My son was in Q ordering for drinks . We asked mix race girl for toilet she brutally said no toilet for public, I was shocked, i said are you serious then manager come out who had have Really bad Manager attitude. He doesn’t know how to talk to ladies . Plus his staff doesn’t know about customer service. Shame on you guys if you can’t respect ladies .

Great service. Great staff. I was told that my breakfast was going to be freshly cooked and that it would take 10 minutes or so. Fine by me. And it arrived on time and was delicious. My waitress was I think called Milda. She was brilliant. Very professional and friendly. She is definitely an asset. Highly recommend.

Nice location and surroundings but very slow service and a tad over priced. We were the only table sitting inside at one point with lots of staff just wandering around. I had to ask 3 times for someone to take our order. £2.40 for a cup of tea is also steep even given the cost of living rise.

Worst experience ever…they made you pay at first and then made you wait 1.5 hours for food…such bad experience.

If you want your food on time I would suggest dining elsewhere. We were asked to pay the second we ordered. Then sat for 40 minutes after which I went to enquire about whether they had forgotten about our order (many people had come after us and received food) the food then came after another 10 minutes without any cutlery or napkins. After raising our concerns to the waiter she walked off and went to laugh with her colleagues about it. To make matters worse the food was not even worth the price or waiting time. My friend said her fish tasted of nothing at all. After leaving we raised our concerns with the manager who got defensive and pretty much wasn't bothered. Don't waste your money here.

This is the worst fish and chips I’ve ever had. When we told the staff about it they were very unhelpful and wouldn’t give us a refund and was laughing as we left. Everyone avoid like the plague!!!!!

We had our annual coach trip to Southend and to The Beaches Cafe Bar Bistro, as usual we had a lovely Fish & Chip lunch followed by a hot donut and ice cream. The food and the staff are amazing and always so helpful and friendly. Thank you David for looking after us again and making us all feel so welcome everyone had a lovely time. See you next year

Randomly drove down to Southend midweek for a spot of fish and chips. They’ve done the place up, they offer table service. Mind you service was a little slow when there were only two other tables. However food quality was good and prices were fair for seafront chippy.

Amazing vew. Lovely food but we where very supprised when we had to pay straight away when we have not decided if we would like the dessert yet.

Pleasantly surprised. Really good calamari

Food is OK but very over priced table service but you pay for your food before you have it...drinks are charged separately for some strange reason...when paying £60 for 3 meals I'd expect a cheek back to make sure everyone is happy with there food..maby some staff training for the kids that where running the floor

Quick service at the ice cream booth. Delicious plain whipped ice cream cornet.

Friendly, helpful but limited menu, food was good well presented and very filling

Ice cream gorgeous, also bought some rock and a fridge magnet

I waited for half an hour, they did not come and take my order, they took the order of everyone who came after me

Lovely view on the Terrace. Friendly Staff .Good Menu

Been waiting for the order to come more than an hour. Then approached a member of the staff to ask for it. And the answer was "please wait for someone to take your order. In total 1h 10 mins waiting. The fish and chips were good but the service is very poor.

Get service. We all felt really relaxed.

Nice views over the water pretty grim day though other than that quite impressed with the food. Finally a decent sized fish for the price although chips unfortunately cremated, to the point there is nothing but crispyness young staff very good customer service.

Great little place on the front. There were 7 of us and we didn't want a full English so they did us bacon and sausage sandwiches which weren't on the menu. Great and friendly service and beautiful views of the sea while you sit. Would go again when we come back. Thank you

Great location overlooking the beach, we only had drinks but the fish and chips being served looked very tasty and huge plate fulls! Only negative, very young staff not very organised seeming to be running the service when we visited on Sunday.

Delicious food, very friendly staff and no waiting to pay the bill. Sweet chilli sauce is amazing!

Had lunch with kids here, food and service was good and view from balcony outside was great.

Place was about 25% full (75% empty). That should have been a warning on a very busy Bank Holiday. Ordered 6 hot drink two bowls of cheese chips and a toasted tea cake. Cheese chips arrived in about five mins. Ten mins later we remined them that we ordered drinks and tea cake. Was told they will be here soon. The chips had been fi ished and still waiting for drinks and tea cake. After a total of 30 mins, still no drinks and tea cake. we went to the counter to tell them to cancel the rest of the order and was till the drink almost don't they just putting the cream in one. A outher two mins they arrived. But still no tea cake. Two of the 'hot chocolate'drnk were luke warm one has hot. Hot chocolate drink finished as it was so cool and eventually the tea cake arrived. They did apologise saying they were very busy. Despite being three quarter empty and loads of staff. They had about one staff member for every three tables in use.

We came here for breakfast on good Friday and was a horrible experience, waited 20mins for someone to take our order then rude staff came with drinks demeaning to pay now which was horrible tone of voice. It's so overpriced for what we got burnt sausages, rubber egg, about a table spoon of beans, toast was inedible and that's 10pound worth no way, it cost us over 40 for 2 breakfast and 2 small kids sausage and bean way way overpriced for rubbish food.. Won't go again. Only. Good thing was the lovely lad who was by the front door who helped when our order was wrong. Won't go back

Amazing view and great place to have your fish and chips. Fresh, yummy and the portions are huge. Both the Cod and Chips and the Calamari were good. Though the wait time for food was long, it was worth.

I thought this would be a nice place to get a drink. Arrived here with my partner, was told to sit down and we would be served. We sat and waited patiently. The waitress did not acknowledge us once. We continued to wait. After 20 mins we left. I felt very disappointed. Was looking forward to a drink but didn't happen. Staff need to communicate properly with each other

Food was really good an d staff were friendly and polite. We sat outside ad the weather was lovely and warm the whole experience was great

The staff was very good .polite and helpful. But we had ordered 2 x CoD and chips , and chicken nugget and chips for our 4 year old ...half hour later we was still waiting it was 3 in the afternoon and they was very busy but when the food did arrived it was luke warm ...and the batter wasnt cooked proberly....we complained and the manageress did refund the money and apologized nicely...but of course it didnt help that my pregnant daughter and grandson was really hungry ...

This was our pit stop before going home after a great day. A nice cafe with good grub and friendly staff. I couldn't finish my burger and chips, the portion was that big ( and im a gannet...) , thats not a criticism by the way.

Nice, reasonably priced grub, friendly staff, fab views of what some nearby teenagers were certain was the Pacific Ocean. Update: still much the same.

Lovely place right on the seafront, however, quite a few problems. Staff lovely and polite but a bit unorganised. Staff seem to be in their own clothing with no kind of uniform or colour code. Service is slow and I am sure staff shortages don’t help but as someone who works in hospitality - accommodate for the staff you have and not customers. Couldn’t see any sign of a senior staff member guiding the young waiters and waitresses who were doing particular well to keep up with the flow of people even if slow. Toilets don’t seem to be checked on throughout the day as they were not in best condition by 5pm on a Sunday. The view was the best thing about the place. Just needs some guidance and some staff

Popped in for a pint after a lovely afternoon tea at Sands by the Sea, the table 9 was very unstable as our drinks nearly tipped over. The staff were friendly but wasn't a great experience.

Perfect seaside lunch! Service was fast and friendly. We had a cooked breakfast and a Beaches Burger. The ingredients were excellent quality and the burger, bacon and Cumberland Sausages perfectly cooked. The coffee was also delicious (Illy coffee) We will definitely return next time we are in Southend.

Excellent service full covid protocol in use overall a wonderful experience

Great food at good prices and friendly staff.

Nice cafe, with a nice outlook over the estuary. A place that we have visited many times over many years and the staff are alway pleasant but we visited yesterday and had 2 paninis, which didn’t come with any salad or sides, with one small portion of chips, a tea and a coffee it came to nearly £22, which seems rather a lot. There are a lot of cheaper places to eat along the front, which we will be investigating in the future, which is a shame!! Add this to the price of parking now in Southend it works out to be an expensive day out.

Great service with a beautiful view. Food is nice to!

Had fish and chips and the fish was full of tiny bones and the batter was tasteless. The chips were cooked well but me and my wife couldn't eat the fish. Definitely not worth the money we paid for it, and count believe we had to pay for our food before it was even served. Won't return the next time we go to Southend.

Well Beaches was great! First in! We took our friends to Beaches. Breakfast was great! Service was great. Truely lovely people! Can't wait till the next time!

Went on an quiet weekday. The food was delicious and the staff was also very kind.

Lovely coffee and toasted teacake. Animal friendly as well.

Fish was very tasty, the view and outdoor terrace fab. Everything let down by the inexcusable use of frozen dry disgusting chips. Why use such an inferior product? Left them as they’re not worth eating. Let the whole meal down and everyone at my table bitterly disappointed by receiving a substandard product.

Lovely place on the beach, with good food and drink selection. Friendly staff too.

Great location and view but.... Service isn't great, one two of the waiters are ok, there is a slightly short chubby one with long straight here, she needs a course in customer service. The quality of the fish is good but they need to work on the batter. The squid rings the batter is good but the quality of calamari is not great. They need a head waiter to control things a bit more, they lack organisation. Payments before you eat is strange, I have never come across that before. This place has huge potential but needs someone with experience.

Our fish and chips were nice, but we had to wait for more than half an hour as the staff completely forgot to send our order to the kitchen. They did apologise and gave us a bottle of Prosecco on the house. I would give it a 3.5 stars instead of 3, but I don't think it's 4 stars

Although we rate this as a four, we were a little disappointed with the service and to a degree the high prices. 6 mugs of tea £12

Visited this place in the morning around 10.30am for breakfast. Nice location right next to the seafront. As I entered I was greeted at the door immediately, no waiting.... possibly due to the poor weather and the early-ish morning. Was given some paper menus (which was a little unexpected due to Covid - I expected to have a QR code menus). Found seats outside on the balcony that were wet but were quickly squeegeed and wiped dry by a friendly waitress and as we sat she called for another waitress to take our order. One thing to note is that payment was taken before we got our food. The bistro must have its own reasons for this, and this was totally fine with me in any case! The breakfast took about 10-15 minutes to arrive and was around £10 but you get ALOT! There where chunky sausages and slightly smoked bacon, both very tasty plus two light and crispy hash browns, two roasted tomato halves, mushrooms, baked beans, a sunny side up egg and a slice of white or granary buttered toast . All was cooked really well apart from the egg which wasn't to my liking but that's personal preference. I had already started eating it before I took a picture because it looked so good! all in all it was well worth the money! I would definitely be going back if I am around the area again!

Food was nice but staff need a massive improvement. If I had read the reviews before probably wouldn't of attended. But does have a lovely view if you sit outside.