The Beach Cafe in Isle of Wight

What a gem by the sea! Excellent views of sea and pier. Great menu, and food tasty, fresh and plentiful. Service with Adam was extremely efficient, friendly and professional. Fresh daffodils on the table, and they are dog friendly!

I had high expectations for this establishment after seeing so many glowing reviews and the current maps star rating of 4.7, however upon entering the cafè, i was almost immediately let down. The staff were friendly and helpful, however the first thing i noticed was how dirty everything was, bearing in mind that it's a Wednesday morning at the start of February, there's not a lot going on, it's not busy and there should really be no excuse for mess, however the menus that were plastic laminated that were handed to us, had dried food and other stuff all over them, couldn't take more than a few seconds to wipe those down. The chairs were filthy with the cushions clearly not being hoovered or washed recently with lots of objects and food all over them, and no this wasn't just my table either, and so on. So time to look at the menu, i was expecting a little bit of cost due to the decent views, however this was ludicrous, for 2 people we came out spending £40! See photos attached for current pricing but the pricing on the menus weren't even up to date or correct! £3 for a cup of tea, £2.50 for a can of drink, £20 for a regular steak, £15 for a fish and chips, £10 for a breakfast! You may think, £10 for a breakfast is okay! Well, it would be if it were a full breakfast! A "Full English" costing nearly £10 consisted of 1 small sausage, 2 supermarket rashers of bacon, 2 small eggs a slice of a tomato, a bit of baked beans and a toast. After asking can i change it around a little bit, the immediate answer was "no, it makes it too complicated, however you can choose one of our 'extra add-ons'" so i look at see the costs, jesus! £2 per extra sausage! I can get a pack of 8 sausages from tesco for 1.50! £2.50 for a hashbrown, £2.50 for some mushrooms and £2.50 for a single black pudding that should already have been part of the so called "full english" again, can get a pack of 6 black puddings for that price in tesco, so clearly a money grab. After going through all of this back and forth, we settled on a fish and chips as it said freshly made in the kitchen caught from Ventnor, so i quizzed her, she then changed what she said to, she doesn't know if the fish is caught in Ventnor or not and when i asked if she could check, she nodded yes, but never did. Anyways, we ordered and what came out was hardly very fresh, or of great quality. Your classic frozen chunky chips you get from the supermarket, with a bit of frozen pees and the fish was certainly not fresh either. All of it was bland and tasteless and had to stock up on a lemon juice and ketchup combo with a load of extra salt to actually make it appetising, because even the salad that came with it, wasn't all that fresh and consisted of a few leaves, 2 extremely thin slices of cucumber and 1 leaf of lettuce. Anyway, we ate as much as we could but couldn't actually finish it because by the time we got towards the end, we were both feeling a bit off. I asked repeatedly for a pint glass of water as i was very thirsty, and i kept getting a tiny not even half a pint glass of water so kept having to ask for constant refills, and the glasses were not too clean either. For this entire meal, we were given 1 singular little napkin and when asked for more, we were given literally 1 more each. Now with a bad tummy, the bathroom was spacious but the light was flickering so bad that if anyone had epilepsy, they'd be in serious trouble, although they had such a huge room, they chose the smallest sink possible so i couldn't even get my regular sized hands in it properly, and to top it all off, the hand dryer sounded like an industrial shredder that wanted to eat your hands and barely actually did anything to dry them. So by this point, it's so abundantly clear that this is purely a bare minimum, money grab of a cafè that has such amazing potential, if done right. Finally, the choice of music was rather interesting, and not in a good way, because the genre was over 70 years old, didn't match the theme or vibe or the age of any of the customers and didn't help add to the atmosphere.

Food was amazing generous portion sizes, fairly priced maybe even a bit under priced for what you get! Staff were so lovely, friendly, attentive and welcoming. Couldn’t have done more.

Fab cafe, went in there with my sister on Sunday. We both had a bacon, Brie and cranberry sandwich. Came with lots of salad and crisps and was delicious . Table service which was excellent. Spotlessly clean and lovely friendly staff.

Pretty good food and great location. Friendly service. Nice decor. One thing noted about service, was when our drinks were delivered, the waitress handed the drinks out with her fingers holding the rim of our glasses. Was a little off putting. Other than that, we will return.

Visited here for lunch one Sunday and was really surprised to see so much choice on the menu. Very friendly and perfectly attentive staff without being too in your face. Obviously attracts lots of locals which was nice to see the friendly interactions. Ordered a chilli burger and chilli nachos and they were delicious! It was a sharer plate but first time I've ever been beaten by nachos. Very generous portion sizes!

Fantastic place. Pet friendly, delicious food, especially the juicy homemade burgers. Staff lovely and always prompt service. Our go-to place whenever we visit the IOW.

We were served by Adam, he was charming, nice polite conversation and really good service, 10/10

Lovely food, views and great service. Decent food choice and reasonable prices.

Always a great place to go. Their cheese scones are always delicious.😋 And the staff are always friendly and welcoming.

It's a wonderful place with everything I needed when all others were closed and still the best food and worth.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Lovely food and delicious cake & coffee. Daily newspapers and popular music - I always stay longer than intended! Can’t recommend enough.

Great cup of tea,friendly staff and good for light meals.

Just a nice cafe with freshly cooked food and lovely friendly service. Sea and pier views. I would go there again.

Was so pleased to have found this gorgeous little place. Accommodated kids and the dogs. Pancakes and big breakfast were hot and good size. Really friendly staff and very attentive. Loved the Halloween decorations and sea view. Real gem! Toilet and out door seating.

Clean, tidy, efficient, fresh and great value for money, a regular stop for us when in Sandown.

Really impressed with the Beach Cafe, catered for 9 of us with no booking. Service was quick and the food was really good quality. Great value for money.

Great cafe. Food was amazing and fresh, plus at great price.

Happy and courteous staff, excellent food, great service and value. Highly recommend!

Friendly welcome with a soggie dog! We ordered the fajitas & tortillas which where delicious. Wish we had more appetite as the desserts looked amazing too. Glad we popped in!

What a lovely place fabulous ploughman's lunch,staff very helpful and friendly ,managed to get gluten free bread and delicious lemon drizzle cake.

Fantastic food and staff thankyou

Four of us walked here from Bembridge and enjoyed a good lunch. We all chose different dishes and I had the lamb kebabs, which were delicious. My friends said the Pinot Grigio was rather insipid though. Friendly service.

Had breakfast today I had kids one egg sausage bacon beans slice if toast cappuccino it's was lovely nice atmosphere clean overlooking the beach will be going again now I have found this lovely cafe

We visited this Cafe just before they stopped serving food, however a warm reception and willing staff welcomed us to order, and there were 6 of us. We all ate and drank well, the food being great and all really good value. The venue is airy, well presented and fronted by great staff. My wife and I popped back a couple of days later and sat over the road on beachside tables. Despite the staff having to walk over the road and back with each order, the same enthusiasm and warmth from all was welcoming. Many thanks, we will be back.

It's mostly amazing quality food, with only one exception (they seemed extra busy at the time). A table of five isn't always practical, as a chair was pulled up to a table of four (in our experience), making less room whilst eating. All-in-all a great Café worth eating at.

We have visited this place a few times before and highly recommend. Staff are really friendly. Beautiful location and fabulous fresh food.

We absolutely cannot rate this little gem of a cafe highly enough it should have a star rating for the food produced.We have been to more expensive venues on the Island and been extremely disappointed.The home made quiche melted in yout mouth, eveything was fresh, cooked perfectly and we will definately returning and reccomending to our friends .Compliments to the chefs cooks and staff, what a great cafe .

Having to look for alternative option for my breakfast ( not due to allergy but for the quality) I came across this FAB local cafe the view was equally amazing to my breakfast . Visit to the ladies has taken me by surprise ! Big thanks to the team 🙏 I'll be back :)

Food was lovely. Nice atmosphere and location. Interior is fab. Decorated lovely with a beach theme. Staff very friendly and even had a free sausage to give to the dog! Would come back here :)

We came across this little gem today! Amazingly placed with fantastic views. We had Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Sandwich, Prawn and Marie Rose Sauce Sandwich and Mussels which were fantastic. The service was phenomenal! Well done to the amazing staff of this outstanding establishment. 👏 🙌 👌 😍

Stopped here for breakfast after checking reviews and were not one bit disappointed. Every thing was excellent. And this place can do an egg perfectly, where many cafes can’t even manage a runny egg yoke. Congratulations. Highly recommend and would return. Thank you

Food was fine but when we asked for the bill it wasn't brought over and after 15 minutes went to the desk to pay. We had scones and tea.

Nice little cafe. very pleasant good food very busy.

Came here for a sneaky elevensies with the mandem. The guy serving us was probably the owner I would've thought. You could just tell. He was a man with a PURPOSE...like he probably knew exactly what he was doing and where he would be in 5 years time. A lot of the reviews i read have misunderstood him...he's not angry or rude, he's just focused. I respect it. Drinks were great and the toast we got given was brown and seeded, I presumed it would've been white but I guess that was my fault for assuming har har har 😂. Overall pretty great vibes and a gorgeous view of the beach from where we were sat

Just a quick review on The Beach Cafe service. We were looking for a place to sit outside and have a quick drink. We turned up as TBC was closing, they were just cleaning up while a couple of tables inside were finishing their meal, we asked if the tables on the front were available, the gentleman on the door, apologised they were about to close, but if we only wanted drinks, he would serve us, which he kindly did, he told us to sit at the outside tables and they would bring the drinks across. Thank you, so much, I know at the end of a tiring day serving everyone wants to get home, you all went above, with your service.

Me and my friend went here on the 16/08/24 to have lunch and it was amazing. Best ciabattas we have ever had! Thank you to all the staff at The Beach Cafe!

Lovely little cafe - have had a ciabatta here for lunch and also done cakes and coffees. Sat by the open window overlooking the beach and pier.

Excellent cafe for a lunch out. Great food, great service. Would heartily recommend.

This place stands out. Could not fault it. The feeling you get from all who work there is one of a family and care. You are a priority and they want you to enjoy your time there. I would and will go back again and again.

Good price, good food, great service. And a super location as it looks out over the beach and pier. Breakfasts are really good value, come very quickly and with a smile. Lunches are substantial, well cooked and there's a wide selection. We keep going back.

Great location, breakfast a bit pricey , should include tea or coffee

Beautiful location. To have a table to have coffee nice touch a short crust biscuit with It friendly staff reasonably priced definitely worth a visit

In Sandown with my best and oldest friend Alan Stone and come across this Wonderful beach cafe of the same name their breakfasts are absolutely amazing the eggs are cooked to perfection the Sausages and bacon fresh, tasty cooked to perfection like the eggs and the beans and toast perfect lovely mug of tea, the staff are excellent too and are nice and friendly a fantastic place which I would recommend to anyone.The rest of their food is top notch, thank u Beach cafe.

Popped in today with my daughter for a quick bite to eat. Very clean and the staff really friendly and helpful. Fish finger sandwich was delicious 👌

Splendid cafe: friendly and attentive staff, super food, great location, good value.

Stumbled across this place and had a delicious salmon salad from the specials board. Quick and friendly service in the sea air!

Great service ,nice breakfast with a lovely beachside setting

We have reviewed this place before and after visiting again this week are happy to report that it is just as good. Arriving for an early lunch, we were given a nice table inside the open windows overlooking the prom and pier. We ordered food and it all came reasonably quickly. The sandwiches are BIG, making use of nice thick soft bread and come with salad and crisps. Each one was great, especially the Wife’s “one third of her holy trinity” crab sandwich. One point I would perhaps make is that the choice of kids sandwiches is limited; peanut butter, jam or marmite. Our Grandson is a cheese fan but disliking the other three. We asked if he could get cheese instead but we’re told that he would have to have a full adults sandwich, which is obviously more expensive. To make a point though, he ate the lot !.

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast here, with sea views.

Good value for money, great menu with a wonderful beach view as you eat. Staff were friendly and tentative

Clean friendly environment, great variety of ice creams for everyone. Great location with a variety of inside and outside seating.

Sat by the beach front, having chips and a drink before the long walk back to car park.

Lovley food,dogs welcome and service was next to none

Very good place, very nice service and good food

We love this little cafe, The whole atmosphere is lovely, The food is amazing, my Husband loves the Homemade Steak Pie, he says it’s the best he has ever had , The staff are some of the friendliest, Our visit was not a one off, we go in every time we visit the island which is every month and the service and Food is always the same.

Delightful little cafe. We're used to Great Yarmouth for our seaside holidays, where seafront cafes throw any slop on a plate and call it a day. This place is the complete opposite. Delicious food, friendly staff, and a care of presentation and delivery well above a typical cafe experience. Gorgeous seafront views. Had the ploughman's and other half got the salmon. Tasted fresh, good portion sizes. Definitely a place we'll visit again.

We stopped at The Beach Cafe for breakfast while in Sandown. The cafe is dog friendly too which was a bonus for us as we had our dog with us. The food was delicious and tasty. We had the full English breakfast. If we are back in the area we will be popping back!

Lovely staff, amazing breakie, great atmosphere! Highly recommend.

Well priced and big portions, have left extremely full. Kind staff.

Great little place by the sea. Outstanding views. Polite and friendly staff. Highly recommended. I would expect this place to be very busy in the summer months

Excellent food very generous portions I had the chicken fajitas which were very tasty we also tried the homemade quiche which was excellent. Excellent service very friendly staff good prices what more could you ask for

What a great find. The food was lovely and plenty of it, very tasty and I would recommend the Crab Burger (Special) 5 stars from us. And dogs are very welcome.

Excellent food, great service in a very well, located cafe. The chips were the best I’ve had for ages! I would definitely rather here again if back in Sandown.

Had home made pie absolutely delicious and the gravy to die for Love to know how you make your gravy

Took a break from a charity ultramarathon run around the island, paid £44 for a meal then asked to fill water bottles up but manager refused citing “excessive water consumption”. Ridiculous. Next door ice cream shop kindly helped us out

We have being past this place so many times over the years today we tried it and wow it was good value and tasty food with very friendly staff We will be visiting here again soon

I can honestly say this is the best cafe on the island the food is amazing and the staff are so polite and welcoming it’s a great place to go on a hot or cold day for some great food it’s not the biggest of places but it’s always busy and your wait time for your food isn’t that long I would recommend this place over any place in sandown well done the beach cafe staff keep up the good grub and work 😊

Excellent food, I had the ploughman's which was delicious, I would go back for lunch again if in Sandown.

Enjoyed lunch in the lovely Beach Cafe yesterday but it's so much more than a cafe. The food was delicious and plentiful, the staff although busy were very attentive, nothing was too much trouble. Will definitely go back.

On a cold wet Monday we entered the Cafe ,we were given a warm & friendly reception by Paul, had a wonderful fish & chips linch a generous portion..& Paul found time to chat with us.The cafe was busy but the service was excellent.

Lovely friendly cafe good service excellent food price good would definitely recommend this cafe

Lovely friendly cafe with tasty well made food and super helpful staff. Great job guys!

Bright, clean and open during the Winter. Popular with locals, good food, recommended

Definitely a must visit! Staff efficient. Had tuna ciabatta which tasted fresh and warm, the side salad was as fresh as you could get it. Chunky chips very tasty. The price is one you just do not see on the island. Its very expensive here for every day meals, The beach are producing tasty fresh meals without the expensive price tag. Great place for families on a tight budget, thankyou!

Just had Mother's Day lunch in here. Absolutely superb from start to finish. Compliments to the chef and all of the front of house staff as well. Would definitely come back.

What a great little find. We ate here today and it was fantastic,the food was delicious the service was excellent and we will be back before we go home on Monday.

Lovely beach side cafe. Great food with lovely presentation. Staff are all friendly and helpful 🙂

A fabulous cafe with a huge selection of food. The service is amazing and the quality of the food is great. The staff are so accommodating and friendly and the added bonus is it's dog friendly. We were a large party of 10 and one had food intolerances which they went out of their way to ensure they were safe.

First time visited, made to feel very welcome, had the soup and a desert, cream of vegetable and rhubarb crumble and 2 mugs of tea. My food was of an excellent quality. The cafe was spotlessly clean, waiter was very pleasant, other people in cafe having lunch which I noticed was very well presented and the return of empty plates showed the good quality. Would highly recommend a visit if only for a hot drink and a toasted tea cake. Lovely sea view as a bonus.

Great breakfast, very reasonably priced! Quick service too. I had the full English & the good lady had pancakes which looked great!

Excellent food excellent service excellent cafe. Excellent staff. Great atmosphere. Yummy desserts, homemade. The crumble is the best on the island as is the pie. The meals are very good value.

came here for breakfast it was absolutely gorgeous staff was lovely would 100% recommend coming here definitely coming back

Incredible café, staff were welcoming and very attentive. The food is spectacular for a cafe. Very high standard and would recommend to anyone. We came on back to back days, as the food really is that good and a varied menu. Keep up the great work.

Best place on the Esplanade for brilliant food at good price. You have to try either the full English, burgers or Mussels, and the service is outstanding with the sea view a stones throw away. We will keep coming back, and thanks to the team at Beach Cafe for always looking after us! Amazing!

Fabulous as always. Lovely food and friendly service. One of my absolute favourites.

We went to this little quirky cafe by off chance while we were looking for a place to eat at Sandown, we had a place in mind but was closed... Which turned up a good blessing as we would never have searched further and found this little Gem of a place... I was expecting a good average enough cafe food, however I was pleasantly surprised, as this cafe offered seriously delicious food and generous portions too... The staff were very friendly and a bonus it was also a dog friendly place. Had a great atmosphere, nice perfect location to see the beach and pier, nice tasty made coffees then some great unexpected dishes on the menu. I personally had the sizzling fajita, and enjoyed every second of it. The 2 others with me one had the chilli beef nachos and other had the salmon baguette and they seem to enjoy it very much too. I personally recommend this place from my experience and if I come back to Sandown again, definitely will be visiting again for another meal.

Food no more than OK although it promised more. Looked good but ordinary. Coffee very disappointing., American far too bitter and Mocha tasteless. However, It was a very popular place so we were obviously in the minority.

Great little gem by the sea - went in for coffee but stayed for lunch - friendly, swift service and really great food - had the crab cakes which were beautifully presented and delicious - wife had a ciabatta melt which she loved - deffo going back

Lovely little cafe in Sandown seafront , really friendly and attentive staff . The food was excellent and great value !

What a gem we found! From staff to atmosphere really is a lovely place. I have a lot of intolerances, rapeseed oil being my biggest problem and thankfully rapeseed oil isn't used in this cafe. They were so understanding over my intolerances. The food was lovely. When we visit IOW we will definitely be back and we will recommend! 😀

Lovely stop off at The Beach Cafe. Friendly atmosphere and fabulous food.

Four of us called in for lunch and we were all really impressed with the friendliness of the staff, the speed of service and the delicious food! Portions were very generous and the prices very reasonable. The place was spotlessly clean as well. I would thoroughly recommend it if you are in the area! Fabulous!

wonderful staff great location overlooking the pier and sea and top notch food

A lovely cafe offering a wide range of food and drinks - they catered for our party of 8 with ease with some wanting sandwiches, some just chips, some cake and one just wanting a beer! Very clean, the food was delicious (especially the home made cakes) and the staff very patient and lovely. Will be back next time we come to Sandown!

Amazing little gem by the beach

A really great find in a town struggling for decent places to eat. I had the Mussels and they, along with the sauce were plentiful and tasty. Decor was good as was the service. My 5 year old even got a free lolly at the end.

This is a cheap and cheerful diner, the view over Sandown pier and beach makes this a nice location, staff were friendly, food was alright, not the best nor the worse.

Stopped here for a coffee and cake, ladies were very welcoming. I had a danish pastry and it was like it had just come out of the oven. It was fluffy and light! Definitely worth stopping.

Great lunch spot with a view of the beach and the pier. The service was friendly and prompt and there was a very wide range of dishes, from snacks through to full meals.