On The Waterfront in Exeter

Just had a small burger and fries and a beer. All good.

Very nice setting. Staff were good.

Wondered along here late morning on an early-Autumn Sunday. Many venues along this side of the Quay had their doors open and were visibly bustling inside giving a really welcoming vibe and enticing us in. On the Waterfront had its doors shut and was dark inside. We were after a specific dish here so we ventured in anyway to be told they were open but only served the dish from midday. The servers were sitting finishing their breakfasts. We returned 1.5hrs later after coffee in a lively cafe nearby to find the doors still closed. We went into the deserted bar and ordered and the remains of the servers breakfast dishes were still lying on the table near the bar! Our pizza arrived fast and was really good with happy service. Sitting outside we saw many people walk past with only a very few deciding to try the doors of this place, others being drawn to more vibrant venues. Such a pity that the staff in charge hadn't made the place look alive by opening the doors, wiping the damp seats and tables down, putting signs clearly directing customers towards doors etc to encourage more custom. We enjoyed our food but certainly wouldn't have eaten here if we hadn't planned our visit with a specific dish - Crime against Italy pizza - in mind! The managing of this venue seemed a little like a crime against the owners due to the lack of care and enthusiasm for encouraging custom!

Great place for a drink and pizza. Much better than Venezia on the other side which I would advise to avoid.

Average food, just about average service however a great location and great atmosphere. I think this place has the potential to be a lot better, I felt I just needed someone to orchestrate the service, a bit more attention to detail required

An impromptu lunch at Waterfront and didnt expect to be blown away!! Just Wow .. we love a pizza neither of us originally from Exeter so eaten pizza all over the country and Wow firstly we had to take home half each as they are huge, secondly, they were possibly the best pizza we’ve ever had !!! I had the Mexicans which was an explosion of flavours my Partner had BBQ 🍖 one !! Service excellent, the waitress was so friendly and chatty couldn’t do enough for us so thank you !! Could have sat all afternoon but so full needed a nanna nap after 👍

Bit disappointing… online menu ordering not working. Ordered food at bar. 45 minute wait, cheap burger in a stale bun no salad. £17. Would not recommend.

We had pizza's they were perfect as ever, we sat outside lovely venue would highly recommend

3 stars - First off the food was ok as were the staff BUT very disappointed that, as is the growing trend, they added an ‘optional’ service charge which you have to go through the faff of asking to have it removed (person paying the bill decided to) which spoiled what was a nice evening.

Great pizza and great service. Thank you to our waiter nathan who was extremely attentative and on the ball! Thank you nathan! X

Great way to celebrate a birthday of my 9 year old. Food was excellent, great portions as always and had to take a box of pizza away which was no trouble to staff. Nathan in particular was brilliant with sorting out our birthday cake, decorating the area to help us celebrate and very attentive. Really appreciate it especially as its where I grew up celebrating family birthdays (30+ years now!). Thanks OTW team and be back soon.

great little tucked away restaurant as the name says on the waterfront, last time we visited was around 6 years ago and the pizzas were just as good! (not sure why the trip advisor reviews have slipped?) only niggle is the size of the round tables in comparison to the size of the pizzas as they can become cluttered(book a rectangular table if pizzas your go to..) overall good service and food in a lovely locale

I love going for pizza here! Their tapas, burger etc are nice too, but their pizzas are exceptional. Lovely setting, down by Exeter Quay. Reasonably priced considering how big the pizzas are - they offer you takeaway boxes to take home your leftovers. Staff always seem pretty chirpy even when they're super busy.

After many lovely pizzas here in the past, I was looking forward to this. However, all of us who had pizzas remarked they were like something from a kebab house - not bad, but nothing special - a shame because pizzas here used to be on point.

Had the cauliflower spinach and chickpea korma! Meal came out promptly! Was dried on the side of the bowl, cold, and tasteless! It was sent back and returned a few minutes later piping hot. Very poor portion size, I was asked by a member of our party if I'd asked for a child's portion! Since this is a pizza place you'd think they'd get that right! Nope 2 came out burnt! Only 6 pizzas so one third burnt! One pizza was cold. The restaurant was less than half full so you cannot blame it on being busy! Very disappointed. We will not be going back.

This used to be our fave spot for good pizza however the last two visits have sadly meant we probably won't be returning here now. We gave them the benefit of the doubt the first time when our food took about an hour to come as this hadn't happened before and it was nearing summer so a bit busier ( not heaving though and was later in the eve). We then went again at the start of October and ordered a pizza and a ceaser salad. It was a fairly calm evening ( tuesday night) not too busy and nothing complicated ordered. After 20 mins another table of 2 behind us was seated and they then ordered their food. 15 mins from that their burgers arrived and we still hadn't gotten our food. By this time it was about 45 mins since we ordered. We then asked someone to check if our order was coming to which the boy said he would, then he disappeared and didn't return for another 15 minutes. He then came over with the pizza and no salad but didn't say it was on the way or anything just walked off. 5 mins later he came out with the salad which was strange as a salad is cold and probably takes about 5 mins to make so not sure why this would've taken longer than the pizza. The chicken was cold too so wasn't like it had been cooked to order. That also was a shame as it tasted like cold ready to eat chicken out of a tesco packet. For £16 it was very expensive for what you got. My partner was sadly not too happy with the pizza either as not like they used to be. Such a shame and now twice we have had to wait for such a long time for food and then for it to be not great is not ideal so not even worth the wait. Such a waste of money that night which we were sad about as looking forward to a nice meal out.

What was a go to place for pizza in Exeter is sadly no longer.. the pizza was bland, children's meal of Mac and cheese cold and tasteless, Burger just passable.. do not recommend.

Went for the drag show entertainment and staff great, Will go again as great fun. Pizza was ok, I suppose it's not the easiest thing to serve on mass, there was plenty of it.

We had a lovely date night dinner here. Special thanks to our waiter Daniel for being so helpful, kind and smiley (even when there was no garlic left in the restaurant!). He is an asset to the team! The pizza was lovely, only feedback would be that it’s quite hard to cut when on the stand (dustbin lid).

The great weather helps. Excellent espresso martinis!!!

Was in a group of 6 people and all had different meals which were fine. My Philly Cheese Steak pizza was very nice and full of flavour, could have done with a slice or two more of the steak though. Atmosphere good and pleasant staff.

I booked the restaurant for dinner with a group of friends (12) for Saturday night dinner. The place looked very nice, and the location too. It's a pizza place with some unexpected flavours (mexican fiesta, Vulcano, crimes against Italy) that seems interesting. I had a Philly steak cheese pizza wrap and it was very good. But I cant say the same for the rest of the group, the food came late. All at different times, starters arrived after the main for some of us. When the last main arrived half of the table was done. They lost one of the mains, and kept coming to the table asking "everything is fine? Everyone is served" when it was clear that some didn't have any food served. At least they didn't charge my friend after we waited 1h30 for a cheeseburger. And when we tried to pay, they had items duplicate that we didn't consume. At least the ambient is nice but very noisy, and difficult to hear other people.

Nice food, good atmosphere but it took ages and ages to get our food

Great place, lovely staff, fantastic pizza.

Need abit of aircon but pizzas gooood. Hoisen duck.. mmmm. Tho the cowboy was good too. Just get some aircon. I was sweating heavier that a virg . Ah. U You know

Look like hunters burger 🍔 chicken overcooked & bacon too hard

Staff were very friendly and mindful of dietary requirements.

A great spot on the quay for having lunch and dinner. Always fantastic pizzas and other really creative and interesting dishes that taste great. Fantastic fast and friendly service. Our server Maisie did a fantastic job.

Nathan was so professional, attentive & well mannered - all the staff were so kind, caring it felt like the good old days of fabulous etiquette and excellent table service ( retired silver service waitress) . You all re installed my faith in eating out . Delicious food , wonderful relaxing and unique atmosphere with staff who seem to genuinely care about what they do. A very special occasion and and so our choice of venue was perfect in every way. Thank you. .

Lovely view. Nice staff. Use to be very affordable place to eat. Can’t believe paid 18 pound for a mushroom pizza!

I had a booking with my family on a very busy Friday evening. The staff were still smiling and so welcoming after what looked to be a very stressful shift. The food we had was absolutely amazing and incredible. Massive shoutout to Emily who couldn’t do enough for us absolutely amazing service. Will definitely be returning with my family again very soon.

Would never come back here. I'm the pizza lover and I left half of the pizza in this place, because it was unable to finish it. Felt like it was named "taste of salt". And all meats on top looked like it was cooked second time... Ceaser salad was huge portion, but was surprised by served with cold chicken breast. Would not recommend this place to anyone who wants a nice Lunch or dinner.

Mini Burger, chips and Nachos for £35.05 would be fine if it was well cooked. Both dishes were a mix of over cooked, cold and it was a 20 min plus wait when it wasn't that busy. Great location and we visit Exeter alot and so we know the he quay area isn't cheap but it was over priced and poor value for a Tuesday lunchtime.

I’ve order as a starter Kalamata Olives (5,60) they were MAKRO OLIVES….Amstel Pint (£5,00) & Pizza (16, something). Stuff very unwelcome and bored… 🥱 Outside seating area very dirty & seagulls are attacking you constantly…. Not a safe place if you have a child with you…

Oh dear. Family visit after the we spent an afternoon in the area. It would seem they can do Pizza as those that had it gave them the great compliment of being 'OK'...... The burgers though didn't get as much praise, they were dry, overcooked and like chewing on a beer mat. One of the staff did seem interested but the rest didn't. It's also VERY noisy, made worse by a couple of women on another table cackling like a couple of demented witches, at least their partners looked embarrassed. We won't be visiting again.

This is such a shame, such a fantastic location, drinks are great but food standards really are not what they were, not somewhere I would return to in a hurry

Good location near the river, can watch the swans and people on the water, canoes, pedaloes etc. The quay is worth a visit and good for a walk. The pub has friendly staff, the exterior seating area could be spruced up a bit and does suffer from predatory seagulls if there’s food left on tables. But it’s nice on a good day. Didn’t see much of the inside except for ordering at the bar. We had a glass of Sauvignon each and a couple of small plates which were tasty, a tomato salad and an aubergine dish which was slightly spicy. There was an error on our order but the staff sorted it out, all good and would visit again 😊

Very disappointed to spend £18 on a pizza and it to be served with red onions which I don’t like instead of jalepenos.

Great location. Expensive drinks with not much choice of real ales. My food was very nice but my partner's was truly awful - £16 for some rubbery chicken, burnt chips and wilted salad straight out of a packet. Service was very slow and nobody asked if our food was ok. Children's portion was very small for the price

Very slow lunchtime service today. Not enough staff? 10mins to wait to order drinks another 10mins to arrive and we ordered food. It then took took 45 mins for food to arrive. Pizza's a bit stingy on toppings and dry. Philly cheesesteak was great though.

Simply love this place. Great location and brilliant pizzas.,. vegan ones too.

Nice staff, good beer, absolutely terrible burger

What the heck. Tables empty at 8.00pm. Told only serving people that have booked.

Had the burger pizza (cannot remember the exact menu name) taste was good, could definitely tell what it was going for. The restaurant is situated right on the quay. If you visit, you have to sit outside, it’s so peaceful and beautiful.

Updated review: We had a great experience here with our group of 6. First of all the booking system is so easy to use through Google Maps. The attention from the staff is balanced brilliantly and the menu is extremely varied. We ordered the children's pizza which was a great size for our youngest (6) and our eldest loved the 'make any pizza a calzone' option. The nachos as a main were a little disappointing as it was quite heavily cheesed and sour creamed etc. which meant that the ration to dry and wet was a little too on the soggy side for her. The korma pizza was great tasting and a really interesting choice and the Sicilian sausage was tasty although (as it's a salted sausage) a little salty. I chose the Phillie Cheesesteak sandwich and I was probably the most disappointed. The sandwich wasn't that big and the chip I had weren't cold but they weren't hot either. Overall it's a good place to eat but I did feel that averaging £20 per person it needs to be great! Do delicious Pizza (Korean BBQ) and a great outside area - just watch out for those pesky gulls!

Wouldn’t get served even tho I’m legally allowed to absolute rubbish

Great service from Ben, so friendly and great service time. Amazing with allergies and great knowledge of menu

Really nice pub, more a 3.5 for food, was just ok, location is lovely but took over an hour for food to arrive, even though we had pre-ordered, would try again.

If you’re gluten free just save your money and time and go elsewhere… was so bad I struggled to eat it. Was burned and was very dry. Wasn’t too happy I had to pay an extra pound considering I can’t help my allergy and don’t think it’s totally fair. Many other places you can go for a good gf pizza in exeter.

If you like pizza 🍕 it's the place to go.

Pleasant river side coffee stop at Exeter quay.

Over an hr to get pizza. Asked for it all together, left after 2hrs didn't get dessert pizza ordered, Birthday boy left sad without his food.Bar staff very nice

The inside was really nicely decorated with hanging plants everywhere. The random monkeys were a nice touch. Food was really good too.

Lovely burger and chips and a pint of Yellow Hammer.

Came in for Lunch some time ago, the waitress Beth was exceedingly courteous and treated us very well. Would 100% recommend and come back with friends

Great dining experience here, music and atmosphere being by the quay was brilliant. First visit to Exeter and would definitely return to this place next time we’re down. We were served by Beth and she was so helpful and lovely to chat too! Lovely experience in Devon

Really enjoyed the big pizzas and love the newly refurb restaurant!!

Strictly average - think the chef should test the food! Especially the Mac and Cheese - extremely dry no sauce st all. Also two salt cellars on the table so my husband had a double dose on his food. Pretty shabby tbh.

Fantastic experience here with good big pizza and acoustic music. We ordered half-half, one duck and one beef. Too sweet of the brownie but still nice. The area for acoustic is quite cramped and weird IMO.

Fantastic food fantastic service will definitely be going back

Absolutely amazing food, drinks and service. The staff behind the bar were having a laugh and it was really nice to see someone enjoy the place they work at and the people they work with. Will definitely come back and highly recommend to anyone else thinking about coming here for food.

Amazing food! Loads of gluten free and gluten free options as well as vegan and vegetarian! 100% recommend! - staff are brilliant and super friendly. Will definitely be coming back when we are in Exeter next :) thank you! X

Beautiful location, right on the water. Service impeccable. Pizza - best ever. Hot day, sat outside under a table brolly to escape the heat. Member of staff saw us arrive and immediately advised 40 min wait on food, but no wait on drinks. So glad we decided to sit in the beautiful location and wait for the fantastic food. Faultless experience in every aspect.

Great location. Food was ok but nothing special though rather over priced. Quite annoying to have QR codes for app ordering plastered everywhere but for it to be broken

We booked a table for 8 of us but on arrival were told dogs were not allowed inside restaurant so sat outside instead. Theo our server came to the rescue when it started raining and found us all somewhere to sit inside and somewhere inside the bar that the dogs were allowed. We didn't ask him to do this and no one prompted him he just saw our dilemma and solved it for us. There seemed to be a lack of anyone managing the place very well as the wait on drinks and food took forever and paying at the end took an age. All credit to Theo though as he was here there and everywhere just making sure he was doing his best accomadate us all. Future manager right there!!! Selection of drinks was ok, not huge, wife had a fruit juice which tasted past it's sell by date. Had the crimes against Italy pizza which is lasagne on pizza and I actually really enjoyed it, plenty of cheese and a good base. Wife had the salad with tomato, baratta and these clever balsamic jelly balls which tasted delicious. Everyone enjoyed their pizzas, just a shame we had to sit separately due to dogs and that this wasn't mentioned at time of booking the table online.

Went today, having not been for years. I was really disappointed. Pizza was dry, tasteless and expensive. Won't be returning.

Great evening, the pizzas are toppy moneywise, but we aren't talking a typical Dominos. Great service and deal with groups really very well

We went on a sunny day and there was plenty of seating outside which was lovely. The food seems very expensive for what it is though.

Not recommended, we had lunch here today and you served my pregnant fiancée raw chicken! Which she only found half way through the burger. Not happy to say the least. Bearing in mind it wasn’t that busy so that excuse can’t be used. We had a refund but still should not have been served undercooked food. I hope for your sake she isn’t ill.

Had a lovely burger 🍔 and chips 🍟 for my husbands cousin's hen night, had a lovely time, 1st time being there, would definitely recommend On The Waterfront, when we are next in the area would love to go back.

Had a lovely family dinner here after spending some time in the city center. The location is very unique and had a cosy feel inside! It wasn't terribly busy but we pre-booked and food didn't take too long to arrive. I would recommend sticking to the pizzas as this is what they are known for! Plenty of options to choose from as well. Would definitely visit again 😊

Great place and friendly staff, but the food isn’t that good. We ordered a burger and it was a bit tasteless. Too expensive for such low quality.

I've had good meals here before but we went a couple of weeks ago for my son's birthday and the food took ages to arrive. When it arrived 3 items had to be sent back because they were cold. It turns out that one of the ovens was broken and there were no trained cooks in that night - the bar staff were cooking. Incompetent and a bad experience. The serving staff were helpful and friendly, but it wasn't good enough.

Lovely pizza and great service from Jodie I. Really nice surroundings and enjoyable music. Bustling for a Monday but quick service.

We had pre-booked a table but even so, waited almost an hour for food after ordering (4 pizzas and a veggie burger and chips). When we asked how much longer we’d be waiting, after 45mins, we were told there was a problem with the pizza oven so they were having to go in twice. One of the pizzas arrived completely overcooked (like a biscuit) and pretty much inedible but my friend was so hungry by that point she didn’t want to wait for a replacement — our waitress was lovely and had it taken off the bill at least. My chips tasted like cheap oven chips and were cold but I mentioned it and a bowl of hot chips arrived soon after. Unfortunately they just weren’t good chips and seemed dry somehow. The bowl of slaw with it was absolutely tiny and the burger was ok but fairly bland, with a thin spread of relish and a lettuce leaf. I’m glad I ordered aioli and burger sauce as they were the only redeeming features of the meal. I honestly don’t know where they get off charging £18 for a pizza and £30 for a slightly bigger one! I felt the place was gimmicky, trying to do unusual flavours rather than just getting the basics right. I definitely could have made myself a much better burger and chips meal at home for a fraction of the price.

Great pizza 🍕 😋 👌 👍 Go for the dustbin lid!

Staff were great and really understanding. I reckon as long as you order a pizza here you’re fine. However I ordered the Cesar salad which was quite literally just cold chicken and lettuce. Generally speaking I’m completely skint so paying £17 for this was fairly crushing. My friend also got up sold a “bigger” starter for double the price but when it arrived there was minimal difference in portion size. We won’t be coming again…i would say it’s a rip off for something that isn’t particularly special. I’m sure they do the pizzas well but everything else seems to be a problem. The staff were great though and were really understanding.

Imagine my surprise - no tea (Spar shop just down the quay!). Also no Stowford Press. Flat ( not carbonated) tap diet coke. ☹️

Good job I asked for a receipt! On the receipt it said £10 'voluntary service charge' cheeky sods and we gave a generous tip aswell. I managed to get my £10 back and apology for not informing us. But now I always check the bill! Easy money for them if someone just pays contactless and doesn't check! Be warned!

I've been eating here for years and over the recent months, it's just not been as good, waited quite some time for pizza, came out with a pool of grease in the middle which took napkins to soak up and cleared/cleaned our own table. The place stinks of kitchen fat and could be smelt on clothes even when got home. It's a shame as perfect location but just lost its way in recent times.

Really good pizza and other items (burgers etc) menu, with friendly service and a good bar area and menu. Would recommend dinner here!

Great location for our works night out. Big thanks to Kaidy for being so patient and being incredibly helpful. We will be back

Absolutely amazing food and drink and the service was fantastic, nothing was too much trouble for kaidey, she took the time to recommend cocktails and talk us through the cocktail menu

Visited last night for a birthday meal drinks and staff were good although the meals were disappointing for the price the fully loaded pizza wasn't and was dripping with orange grease everywhere and the burger was so bland just tasted like mince the cheese was tasteless and there was a tiny lettuce leaf and that was it. I don't mind paying a good price for a lovely dinner but we was left very disappointed.

Arrived without booking and although busy staff found us a table. Quick professional friendly service and dietary requirements catered for. Food served quickly and nice and hot, tasted lovely.

The food was amazing and the service provided by seb was great. everyone was very friendly and helpful. i will defintely return.

The fact that glutenfree is served gives our family the ability to come and enjoy food together. Having someone in out family that is celiac can make it difficult to get that enjoyment.

Just stopped in for a pint... perfect..!

Great food and good drink selection, excellent service and locale, a bit pricey but worth it.

Disappointed, food was bland, tepid definitely not as described and overpriced I would have complained had it not been for the fact it was my friends birthday and I didn't want to spoil it, clearly it's profiting on the location definitely wouldn't re visit

The vegan burger was stodge awful 😖

Over rated, far from the best pizza I have ever had, very overpriced. (menu on this site in out of date also, now £18 average not £12) Many items were unavailable tonight, drinks and food items. Poor show for a Saturday evening. Bad planning in the table planning, a loud stag party were seated in the same area, where all couples were already dinning. I really couldn't hear my husband, over 'their' raucous laughter and banter. So left earlier than I might have wanted. Waitress was sweet.

We visited the restaurant, in a party of four , on a Friday night and the place was exceptionally busy. We were promptly shown to our table by a friendly and welcoming member of staff. Our drinks and starters order was promptly taken and the drinks arrived reasonably quickly. Unfortunately our starters took an exceptionally long time. When they did turn up they were great , very tasty and perfectly served. Our main course was even longer in coming and we had to prompt a server to check. A more senior staff member arrived and profusely apologised for both the delayed starters and the late arrival of the mains. He kindly offered a free round of drinks or to take the first round off the bill. We opted for the second option The main courses turned up about 10mins later and was a mixed bag. Two of the three pizzas were excellent and piping hot. The other pizza and the burger were cold. The burger bun was also scorched on the top. The senior staff member turned up again later to check things out and we advised him of the situation, he again apologised and took the cost of the two problem meals off the bill as well. The delay and cold food was a shame as the quality of the food was excellent, very tasty and some great pizza variations. We can particularly recommend the beef lasagne pizza; it works very well. The firey volcano pizza is also great. It doesn’t hold back on the spiciness and the central cheese dip built into the dough was very tasty. We will certainly give this place another try as the pizza’s were great but probably not on a Friday night nor the weekend as I suspect the staff are perhaps very stretched when the restaurant is full?

Very nice lunch. Food and service good.

Been many years, so happy to have gone back. They thought the pizza was too small so gave us an extra! Great tasting pizza, lovely service. Excellent.

Food was quite nice however the service was poor, took us an hour and 15 minutes to get our main meal from sitting down.

A nice evening at The Waterfront. Had a couple of different pizzas between us. Both were very good. Pepperoni was slightly overcooked on one but that's the only real fault with the food. We didn't book so we're sat in the bar area which was fine. Nice enough tables and space etc. It was a very quiet Monday night so comfortably fitted in. The service was pleasant enough, but for the prices paid you would maybe expect someone to check on you and see if you needed anything. Tiny improvement - No napkins handed out with cutlery which when you're eating a greasy pizza are pretty much an essential, we had to Go and find someone for these. All in all a nice visit, maybe a tiny bit heady on the price compared to other places. But would recommend.

Service was attentive and overall good but the pizza felt a little bit undercooked

Just returned from a lovely meal. The service was amazing I'm sorry we didn't catch our servers name, he was amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. Food was amazing, didn't have our starter of choice but was quickly informed once ordering. Food was delicious, highly recommend on all levels of food service and standards

This particular booking was for a birthday and we just wanted to say Thankyou for the amazing service. The food was lush!