The Riverside Cafe in Southend-on-Sea

We have been going here for years. Went last week and roasts were £14 up from £12 a couple of months ago. Just gone in today and they have put on a Christmas menu…….. roasts today were £17 !!!!!!! Disgusting Went to Dinos further along and had a reasonable priced meal.

Fry up not good. Fried Tomatoes inedible / not fresh at all & overall a very very oily greasy expensive meal. Fried toast was almost dripping in oil too and could only manage one bite before feeling sick. my partner couldn’t even eat the skin of her jacket potato because they were dry and tough as old leather boots and didn’t even have butter on them. God knows how old they were. Awful.

You would think that a seafront cafe that has been operating for the best part of 50 years would be pretty expert at serving up decent fish and chips. Think again!!

Excellent service, great food and looking forward to visiting again in the near future. Thank you

First time here.. Beautiful location views of the sea Lovely food 😋 great atmosphere fantastic 🍨 will come again

Absolutely lovely little place. We initially popped in for a drink but ended up in there for a good 2 1/2 hours. We decided to have food there and it was lovely. All staff were very friendly and very attentive. We went there the next day for breakfast, which again was lovely, and went again in the afternoon for a relaxing drink with friends. A lovely little place, food delicious and good value for money. Highly recommend. A nice relaxed atmosphere overlooking the sea.

Perfect seaside location. A wide selection of tasty, reasonably priced food for adults and kids alike. Definitely recommend

Great and affordable food. Friendly staff. Nice place to eat if you are hungry and don’t want to spend fortune for bland food. Will recommend!

Cod and chips better than Oldham and Dolphin

Lovely food and staff. I have special requirements in some instances with my food and they were really helpful and made sure my order was correct - thank you!

Great seafront location with excellent views across the estuary. Staff extremely helpful and polite. Coffee & Hot chocolate were both good and what was expected. Lasagne was indeed home cooked as was explained by the young waitress,however was dry and lacking in meat and sauce. Chips were excellent,crispy and not greasy. Jacket potato dry also with heavy mayo and very little tuna. All in all adequate at best,but service and view made up for shortcomings.

After walking out of estuary next door due to their poor service we decided to try the riverside with my partner as it seemed popular on a Monday morning and we were immediately greeted by a smile and a morning … much more than we got at the estuary! Despite being clearly busy and rushed off their feet the waitresses were not rude or short with any customers. Although we already had drinks,waitress seemed truly apologetic for the fact we waited to order food(it was no more than 10 minutes and they were busy so we insisted it was fine) My wife had the salmon and scrambled egg and I had the haddock special… The food was brilliant and while being pricey at first the portions are big so i did not mind paying that much. Our waitress was a young girl with a heart necklace and glasses? I unfortunately did not catch her name but she was lovely and patient with my wife who is fussy with food and it was so refreshing to see her pay attention and take time with us despite the rush! While waiting for our breakfast , which did not take long at all, we watched her engage with children in the cafè who are normally ignored by staff making it easy and chilled for the families who have come out for a meal and she happily spoke to each table with a smile (including us) which gave the feel she wanted to be there which is a rare sight to come by nowadays! Sad to say businesses only see you as another customer now but we thanked this girl for treating us as people! I regret not catching her name but hope to see her when we next pay a visit which we will be doing as the atmosphere was lovely with efficient and happy service. drinks were hot food was good.. which makes up for the price slightly and this may now be our new spot for food along the arches!

Not good cost £38 for 2 diet cokes 1 x garlic bread and 1 x chicken gougons, only paid £20 last time £18 increase, very poor did not reply to my messages either

Avoid on a Friday waitresses singing dancing talking in fact doing everything apart from waiting on tables and looking after customers ! The so called manager couldn’t manage a paper bag let alone manage the young girls ! Best time to come is Saturday afternoon without a doubt .

Nice little cafe/restaurant on the seafront at Westcliffe Popped in for a late lunch & a cuppa. Ordered Lasagne & Spag Bol which were both good. Service good & friendly. In good weather the front opens up & also noticed it was dog friendly Would return if in the area

Incredibly disappointing food and service. Scrambled eggs consistency and flavour of powdered eggs not fresh. Partner had to wait at least another ten minutes for the remainder of her order. But when we asked the waitress about it she looked disinterested as though we were an annoyance. Over priced too. AVOID!

Awful. Very slow service, got the order wrong and the food wasn’t cooked properly. I definitely won’t be going to this place again.

Have been here for awhile now sort of fell out of favour with the place for no of reasons music staff treating I inside building as private party ! This visit nice slow music playing no coats on backs of chairs waitress sitting about ! And the food as good as usual Thankyou

Normally excellent food and value but I went on Monday 07.01.24 and it was very disappointing.

Cod was very generous chips OK onion rings good drinks on the expensive side nearly 3 pounds for a small bottle of diet coke

Lovely place to go and have lunch, staff were really friendly and polite, service was really quick, overall a lovely experience!

Firstly, when ordering I asked to swap my beans with mushrooms which is the same price and they wouldn’t do it, I also asked for my eggs to be scrambled instead of fried and that was also questioned and seemed to be a big deal, I was also shamed for ordering extras on the breakfast which I am already concious about my weight but what they don’t know is im heavily pregnant! Eating for 2 with cravings ! And also asked everyone else if there meal was okay but never asked us Absolutely avoid rude rude and rude. I don’t mind paying higher price for good service but in this case no.

Disappointing Went in here with family for a nice sunday lunch. It wasn't a particularly big establishment nor that busy. The 3 servers on duty were stood chatting for the majority of the time we were in there which is fine if customers are not waiting. However, it took 5 mins for us to be given menus after we sat down and another 15 to have our order taken. Milkshakes were nice - probably the only good thing about our experience here. When our food finally came out it was unacceptable for the steep prices they charge - 2 roast dinners with about 2 roast potatoes each and the meat was clearly the frozen package kind that they warm up in the microwave. When you pay £12 each you expect at least average priced meat - not £1 chicken and beef that you would hesitate to food to your dog! I had the full English, I asked for the eggs well done - that does not mean burnt, they were inedible. I had to ask for my bread twice before they finally bought it over with no butter! At this point we had had enough and left it at that. Suffice to say I almost always tip and never leave bad reviews - I understand things go wrong. However, this experience was expensive and terrible - do not waste your time and money here!

The food is OK from a very limited and unimaginative menu. But the service is appallingly slow. With the ever increasing competition amongst the Archway Cafes, most of whom provide more interesting menus, I can see the Riverside's trade dropping away.

The service was slow, but very polite and friendly, no issue there. The problem was the quality of the food, primarily the sausages (they used to be absolutely delicious) so I’m guessing they’ve gone down the cheap route. Also the lack of mash potato options, no white bait…. It just seemed like maybe new management/owners who z don’t care as much as the last ones. Quite telling that for 40 yrs we’ve being going there and always packed; now on a sunny Sunday it was pretty much empty… Disappointing is the word

Misses and i both had cod and chips and it was the best I have ever tasted the cod was really big and tasty chips were cooked excellent and the service was top notch. Will be back again and again.

Best jacket potato I've ever had! Although expensive at £10 a lovely restaurant, excellent staff and the tuna sweetcorn jacket potato with side salad is the best I've ever had!

Great atmosphere, friendly staff, tasty breakfast

Lovely waitress (young lady with glasses & wavy pink hoops) however, would have been nice to be informed what food was sold out as we were given menus! We ordered steak but sold out so we took a little while to then decide on steak and ale pie to then be told it was also sold out 🤪 I understand it was late but could have saved time & frustration by getting told what was sold out at the start 😅 Finally our order: Fish & chips was lovely & although pricey it was big👌🏼 Lasagne was nice but would be best with less pasta sheets to balance out the meat content Burger was nice but bun was not very fresh as broke apart Lamb stew was nice but plate was not checked after getting washed so wasn’t 100% clean Cheesy garlic bread was lovely but very pricey £6 for 1 panini cut into 4 with cheese on top. Place looked clean, great selection of drinks too. Everyone seemed nice & nobody rushed us even though I think it got to closing time. I would probably visit again though for milkshakes & drinks

We both ordered a number 5 set breakfast, had two coffees each and sat on the front deck looking across the Estuary. The food was fresh and plentiful. We both left feeling very full up and satisfied. Very friendly staff and good value for money. As we paid by card there was no option to add a tip, which would have been a pleasure to add. 100% recommend and will be returning - thank you.

Linchpin was great. Hubby had ham egg and chips. I had the ham salad. What can I say but yum yum yum. Its value for money. Very good quality ham. And a very nice view. Defo come again.

My friends and I were so shocked at the way the young waitress spoke to us from the beginning rolling her eyes all the time she took down the wrong order on 2 of the breakfast there was only 3 of us ! Said she had to start again again rolling her eyes again she only had to add bacon to it !made a big deal , when the order came up the order was wrong completely I called another waitress and explain to her she said don’t worry it’s fine you won’t be charged as the other girl made the mistake so we eat the breakfast then when we got the bill the extras were added on the bill so we pointed this out and she said that’s the rules you have to pay I can’t stress enough how rude she was she got angry said to many things for me to put down and we didn’t ever raise our voices she made a mistake ! Charged us for food we did not order it was double what we ordered she told us we have to pay I think we were in such shock with her rude attitude we paid !! But as she was totally spoiling our day we paid to get out of there!!! (she was the young auburn girl with the nose piecing I am only giving you this description as ) didn’t get her name as we were all so shocked tbh but would hope the owner knows who it is.. On looking at other reviews I have noticed there were many more with the same complaint about the waitress’s as to rudeness I am totally shocked the owner has not sacked this awful young girl she totally spoilt our breakfast I would never go there again and have told many people to avoid !!!

Best creative Chefs and quality service

we decided to ignore the ratings on trip advisor as we always went to this restaurant in the past. We are glad we did the fish and chips was lovely the staff friendly and the place was spotless.

Had a great experience. We were greeted as soon as we walked though the door and offered a choice of tables. Drinks order and food order taken in a timely manner by a lovely polite waitress. Food arrived in good time, fried eggs cooked to perfection, chips were the best I’ve had in some time and that ham was thick and we had 3 slices. We will happily return again, thank you.

Had a cup of coffee, decided to have lunch as the food looked nice. Fish and chips was a good portion and nice not greasy. I’m vegetarian so opted for halumi salad. There wasn’t enough halumi. I chose omelette but can’t have over the weekend. Third choice was jacket potato with cheese. The potato was fine but the cheese tasted like mozzarella that goes on a pizza lacking flavour and stretchy. Definitely doesn’t do anything to enhance the flavour of a plain jacket potato! The menu was quite varied for carnivores. Surely vegetarians should be catered for a little better.

Food took best part of an hour to come and was mostly over cooked. Long waits just to be greeted, then again to order and for food to arrive. Asked by waitresses to get up from my table and get the door when clearing plates from another table. All round poor experience. There are plenty better spots along ‘the arches’.

Disgusting service. Service by Karina, really disappointed.

Absolutely terrible experience from the get go. The waitress Karina was rude and abrupt, describing our black group of friends as “that lot” when other customers asked how long the wait is. She shouted telling us to have our drinks request ready but when we went to order, was very rude telling us we couldn’t order drinks until the end??… a friend asked what the seafood mix included and she rolled her eyes very hostile as if we were bothering her and weren’t paying customers. Overall very sad experience and we had to walk out, terrible attitude if you want bad customer service then go here.

The worst restaurant. The racism was astronomically prevalent in this restaurant. We had to leave. The waitresses were very rude, dismissive, and far from informative. They referred to us as “these lot”, pointing, rolling their eyes at us and being very rude. We have never felt more unwelcome. There’s a certain clientele in the restaurant, and they did not make us feel welcome at all. The service was terrible and we were make to feel like a burden, despite being paying customers. Horrible experience

I had a extremely rude waitress, and cut me off during my order. This was an older women with grey hair in a ponytail. Very rude and was only nice towards the end as she wanted a tip. The two other young waitress gave an excellent service. Shame it was ruined by the women, ruined my breakfast with her poor manners.

Highly recommended cafe for a post park run breakfast. The Breakfast Number One with some fried bread with tea. My friends enjoyed their breakfasts too, and I feel that you get a little sense of Southend or Westcliff soul in here too. Service all came with a smile too!

I did the nearby parkrun in Chalkwell and remembered having a meal as a child in one of the restaurants in Westcliff Arches. It was a gamble because I think that the meal was around 1987, but I was so pleased to take the gamble, on behalf of my friends. It was truly impressive and surprisingly succulent breakfast. I loved the bacon and sausage and it was so different to some of the breakfasts that I have had after Saturday mornings in the past. I would higfhly recommend this place.

Fantastic cooked breakfast options available and dog friendly. I will be back...

My husband and I come to this lovely cafe we normally have a breakfast number 5 and side off mushrooms, it's always hot and very tasty. Staff always polite cafe very clean, can't wait to come back

Great food. Great location with sensible prices.

Like this place nice food .clean. good service .little bit pricier but worth it nice atmosphere lovely views dogs 🐕 are allowed

Having read the other reviews on here, some quite negative, I felt compelled to review this place myself. Luckily I ignored the negative reviews as I have eaten here in the past, it was good then so I decided to see for myself .. and...

Great service very friendly staff and good food. Will be back with my breakfast club of 13 ex West Ham players for our 5th get together.

Relaxed, clean, dog-friendly, generous meals... all with a view of the seafront.

I have been going to this cafe for 40 years on and off Sunday 7 August breakfast was not up to standard day befores bread and you needed a hammer chisel to cut the bacon

Yum Yum Yumdelicious. Best fish and chips on the same strip. Staff lovely too. Will definitely return.

Visited on Saturday 23rd April 2022. First-time visit and we found it delightfully. Not cheap but not silly expensive and your paying for the location tbh. Nice atmosphere and no issues with the cleanliness or rudeness described by some other reviewers.

Came at the start to dirty tables after waiting 45 minutes for food it came with tomatoes not beans and the waitress shouted in the kitchen “he did not order beans” just calling me a liar, unacceptable. Food turned up sausages burnt. Waitresses on phone...

Staff friendly! Food was horrible! Do not recommend!

Dog friendly and very nice food with a sea view.

Great view of the seafront but food is a bit 'greasy spoon'. Great for a good old friend breakfast if that is what you are after.

Arrived and a few of the tables had not been cleared first impressions got great so we sat done at another table which was cleared but had a sauce splatter and after some time we got a waitress and were served coffee and told another...

Great blt sandwich friendly staff

35 minutes to cook 1 egg 2 bacon and beans, bacon was undercooked... absolute rip off at 8 quid for 4 small items!! 1 child's pancake burnt to a crisp and charging 3 quid for the privilege.. absolute joke, you would think considering the are next to The Estuary Restaurant they would try a little harder.. but obviously not. I wouldnt recommend anyone visiting this place the only decent purchase were the drinks and that is mainly because they were sealed and required no preparation

Visited the above for breakfast dirty table to start .Had to ask twice, menus covered in ketchup. Placed order then revived card stating rules for owners with dogs. Ie don’t feed them only water to be allowed , Christ it’s 2022

Cod and chips was tasteless and the cod portion was minuscule. Chips were not freshly cut and seemed fake. Even the cheap tomato sauce failed to add flavour. Suggest walking on by.

Disappointed. Ordered Cod and Chips (Batter was soggy) Cheese Burger and chips (Burger had no cheese in it) ask for a slice of Burger cheese to go in it but they said they only did grated cheese, spaghetti Bolognese was bland with no taste. I...

Had a love meal with friends after a walk along the coast. The roast was quite substantial with lots of well cooked vegetables and plenty of meat and 2 yorkshires. The restaurant was very busy but the service was swift and with a smile. Best to arrive early to get a seat inside.

HI, we have been here numerous of times and I can honestly say the food is lovely, and a lot more inexpensive than near by restaurants.

Lovely food and great service. Highly recommended

Lovely views. Nice breakfast. Friendly staff

Visited this cafe with a small group of cycling friends on our way home after a long ride Now I know that cyclists aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but we always try to be respectful and understanding to those around us On arrival, I asked...

Very good experience here. Great breakfast served, friendly staff, very reasonable price. the only whine is that the waiters seemed very rushed and we did have to wait a little to take orders - but it was quite busy. Other than that a great start to the day.

The food is tasty only a couple of constructive points 1 - The plates are just slightly bigger than a bread plate so everything is piled high 2 - There are no toilets so you have to go to the public one up the road which is not ideal

Excellent as always. Clean, tidy, Excellent Breakfast and polite staff. What's not what to like.

Food was ok but the order and time it took to bring out 1 egg 2 bacon and fried tomatoes was ridiculous and at £9 extortionate.

Eaten there before. All ok but today the older server was rude. Avoid if you can .

Really good breakfast, really good staff and nice views of the estuary. Will defo use again.

Best Place On The Seafront For Breakfast,Wouldn't Go Anywhere Else,

Had our tea in here today ,was a bit worried as it was the only place open so a limited choice but was great , the burgers are delicious and everything was served piping hot , great service and very clean ,we’ll be back again soon ,thanks

Great food and really friendly helpful waitresses... such good service

The food was ok big portions would of liked a vegetarian sausage option. I ordered a latte and I could tell it was made from a sachet which was disappointing.

Good food great home style cooking

Visited the riverside today with friends. Cafe was steadily busy. Breakfast was ok. However I feel absolutely appalled on how another table of customers were spoken too. The group of people sat down with a small dog, because he/she was barking then put the dog...

I’ve eaten here a few times & the food is actually really good. However today we went in with our little dog who was barking a bit. I picked him up to settle him & the chefs wife came over & said we had to...

It was okay it did what it was supposed to

Had lovely breakfast great service the manchester crew. Xx

Only pop in for a coffee waited at least 20 minutes hadcto ask fir a menu

Stopped off here as it’s our favourite Arches cafe for a breakfast after my wife’s hospital appointment on a cold blustery Monday morning, nice and cosy though inside the riverside. Friendly greeting and orders taken, drinks arrived quickly followed by our food……..my wife the scrambled...

Brilliant breakfast, really nice views over the Estuary

Visited the Riverside Cafe this morning with six members of the family. Service could have been slicker, my food came out on a small plate with a sausage short, it came out later but unfortunately was not cooked right through,I passed the comment to a...

Always a favourite of my family. Best breakfast, service, location.

The chips was hard and been cooked once before and the fish was wet and under cooked giving me the squirts on the toilet The chef had a dirty apron on when cooking the food and came out the toilet and wiped hes hands on...

The coffee is not good is water black

Fab quality food, and all day breakfast 👍

Good food and friendly service. A nice cafe on the Southend sea front. Would recommend and will be visiting again!

Only stopped here for tea and coffee after a walk with friends. Sat outside and had our drinks then decided to have something to eat. It was around 5.30pm on a cold November evening. Other cafes were closing. Lovely and warm inside. Drinks order taken...

Back again today, for coffee with my mother. Great food and ideal location for watching the world go by.

The worst service we have experienced in years.the older lady was rude and hygiene was a no go. Tables a swipe across leaving 70% of table not cleaned, food very greasy. So there busy but no excess for rudeness.

With our usual place to eat (9 The Arches) closed, we decided to choose this place. What a poor choice me made as food was really unappetising and service was definitely without a smile. Its a shame, as food was basic menu for a cafe,...

Always enjoy a good breakfast when we visit. Cater for gluten free. Good service although a bit of a wait for the food.

My husband and I had a lovely breakfast at the riverside this morning. The staff were friendly the potions are generous and the food was cooked to perfection. We was even able to sit outside in the sunshine with lovely views. We fully recommend this...

I rarely take the time to write reviews but I feel so angry about the situation Riverside Cafe put us in that I had to take the time to write this. We had an enjoyable meal here. When it came to pay for the bill...

I rarely take the time to write reviews but I feel so angry about the situation Riverside Cafe put us in that I had to take the time to write this. We had an enjoyable meal here. When it came to pay for the bill it became clear they were having problems with their card machine. We tried contactless on my phone and chip and pin on a card for a completely separate account - neither worked due to a “communication error” (according to the card machine). The table next to us also tried another three cards to pay for their bill - which also all failed. Given that the problem was clearly with their card machine (which they accepted) they were then completely inflexible when trying to come up with alternative ways to pay. The table next to us offered to pay via bank transfer - “not allowed”. We asked to leave our details whilst we went to get cash - “not allowed”. We had two young children with us (both under 5) so splitting up wasn’t going to work. The children were already starting to get restless and due to needing to drive to the nearest cash point (there are none nearby) we needed one of us to stay in the car (with the children) and one to get out to get cash. We ended up having to leave my wife’s phone as a deposit whilst we drove to get cash. We then had to pay £1.80 to withdraw cash at the nearest cash point. Then drive back to retrieve the phone and pay the bill. All because the Riverside cafe seem happy to use an unreliable card machine. They were barely even apologetic! The least they could do is forewarn customers about their card machine before ordering. Why not see if they can agree with a neighbouring business to use theirs when they have issues? Just do something other than leave customers in this kind of situation. It completely ruined the experience. We won’t be returning. Appalling way to treat customers.