The Waterfront Public House in East Staffordshire

Popped here after pumpkin picking nearby, I found this place on my GF app. Was busy when we arrived around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon during October half term. Didn't have a table booked, but was seated straight away by a friendly member of staff. Our drinks & food order were taken straight away,didn't wait long at all for food,considering how busy they were. I ordered GF fish & chips with tartar sauce & side salad, hands down the BEST batter I've ever tasted being GF 👌🏻 even my husband didn't believe it was GF fish. Thank you for catering for people with intolerances. Saw quite a few people order the Sunday roast & omg they looked yummy! Just wish the Yorkshire pudding had of been vegan too as I'd have chosen that. Restaurant had a cosy,chilled vibe & toilets were very clean. Would definitely recommend & return if in the area.

Evening wedding reception, fantastic food and great bar service

Food is usually lovely, but last time I went the breakfast was mediocre at best. Rather disappointing

A very pleasant experience. Not having a reservation was not a problem and we were seated promptly. The service was superb as was the food. I had a pan fried seabass which was delicious. Would highly recommend.

Don't visit. Prices are crazy and staff are rude. It's £10 for a glass of wine... You'd have to be crazy to book a wedding or function here with the staff. It's also the only place where babies are banned, truly crazy in today's world.

Just had an amazing afternoon at **The Waterfront** at Barton Marina! From the moment we walked in, the ambiance was perfect—a lovely combination of cozy and stylish, with stunning views of the marina. The food was top-notch, but what really made our experience stand out was the exceptional customer service. A big shout-out to **Tash, the assistant manager**, who went above and beyond to ensure everything was perfect. Her warm and friendly demeanor, along with her attention to detail, really elevated our night. She made us feel like valued guests from start to finish. Highly recommend The Waterfront for anyone looking for a great meal, excellent service, and a beautiful setting. Can’t wait to go back! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Came for a wedding it was amazing, lovely food definitely be going back

Full English breakfast on offer at buy one get one free. The meal was freshly cooked and very tasty and plenty full

Was invited to a wedding here, lovely room upstairs with a balcony. Downstairs was spacious with a large bar and plenty of selections. Outside was very beautiful with seating looking over the marina. Shops and places to eat are behind the "waterfront", plenty of parking and well lit up at night. Very nice place.

Only went in for a drink but seemed ok.

Very expensive and poor food, next to no beef in the beef stroganoff! Cold plates. Massive profiteering, go somewhere else.

The venue is nice and has great views, especially the summer. The staff are always welcoming and friendly. First time having lunch here, as we always had drinks. Baked Camembert for starters. Mains we had Sunday Roast and the Steak and Ale Pie was delicious and cooked perfectly, highly recommended.

Watch out for hidden up-selling! I no longer recommend or endorse The Waterfront for dining, for several reasons noted further below. Casual drinks ordered directly from the bar and enjoyed outside of the restaurant are beyond the scope of this review. ---- Date of visit: 13 September 2024 Purpose: Birthday meal in the main restaurant (4-persons) TL;DR: An expensive, premium vodka brand was added to our dining bill by default, without being given a choice of brands, unlike the wine/other drinks at the time of table-service order. The three double Black Cow vodka measures (total 150ml) came to £22 on its own. For context, a 70cl bottle of Black Cow vodka retails at £29.50 (15x doubles @ 50ml each). Total restaurant bill for 4-persons was £153 including the meals. This issue was addressed at the time, directly with the staff member, and with the duty manager, who advised that the staff member was known to be great at up-selling, but agreed they should have asked which vodka brand was preferred. We followed up the next day with an email to The Waterfront, yet no response had been received by 24 Sep*. I will not name any staff in this review; however, I will strongly recommend that you ask for the drink options from your table server if none are given at the time. ---- Review: A long-standing relationship between us and The Waterfront has sadly been ruined by a seasoned member of staff who up-sold a drinks order. Being sat down at our reserved table on time, the four of us were there to celebrate my birthday. The Waterfront venue was chosen as it holds special meaning, I won’t go in to here. As an all-adult family, we don’t often come here, but as a couple, we are [were!]. A lot. It wasn’t busy, and after a few minutes a drinks order was taken; The usual medley of wine, soft drinks and a spirited drink. The double vodka and diet cola drink did not arrive with the others, so after a few more minutes watching staff zipping by with drinks for other patrons, we asked our server if it was on its way. They returned after checking and apologised as it hadn’t been put through. At the original time of order, we were given a choice of wine, but not the vodka. A choice still wasn’t offered with this follow up request, but we naively weren’t expecting to pay for a premium branded spirit that was going to be used with a mixer either. The food arrived, looked lovely and well-presented, however it was noted that the portion sizes seemed to have been dramatically reduced in size over the past 6 months, especially as some dishes were repeat offenders on our table. Two double chocolate brownies with honeycomb ice cream (£7.25 each at the time of visit) were ordered for dessert, but when they arrived the whole table was taken aback. Simply the smallest slice of chocolate brownie, accompanied by a small ball of ice cream. It was at the point of receiving the table bill, it was realised the up-sell of three double Black Cow vodka measures (total 150ml) came to £22 on its own. This issue was addressed at the time, directly with the staff member, and with the duty manager. Total restaurant bill for 4-persons was £153. The food is well seasoned, vibrant, and presented well. However, it’s certainly not value for money in today's high expectations of any respectable hospitality establishment, so simply not worth the pretentious prices The Waterfront are charging. Of course, all of this is subjective, but it’s very much objective for us, and why we will no longer dine at The Waterfront, or endorse it as a great value for money eatery. The atmosphere and location are great, but for us it will be just for drinks outside of the restaurant area now, thanks to one member of staff that chose to up-sell drinks without our knowledge. *Update 26-09-2024: The Waterfront Team requested 24 hours to fully respond to me directly (25-09), then simply thanked me for my feedback. A subsequent call to the duty manager thereafter didn’t highlight if the staff have been made aware our next steps could be to Trading Standards if this has not been addressed.

This is a great place to go. Lovely warm atmosphere with log fire. Great menu for when we were there (lunch time) good selection of drinks. Staff were very helpful and friendly. Toilets were impeccably clean (I didn't go in the ladies)

We had a meal here on Saturday afternoon before going to the red carpet theatre. We sat in the conservatory with lovely views out over the water. It was waitress service and the food was decent. I had risotto, my partner had fish and chips, he had a very big portion ! Would definitely recommend.

Quantity of the food was huge. It was tasty and heavy. Service was little slow, but may be it was busy hours.

Well worth a visit, we booked for Sunday lunch and wasn't disapointed great food, and choice's It was busy but the food was served promptly. Staff were very friendly and worked hard. We will be back soon.👍

The food here is amazing. It is freshly cooked with a good choice for all tastes. All the staff are really friendly and our server Hannah, was particularly helpful and gave us great service. Highly recommend for quality food in a relaxing setting

Great location. Friendly and helpful staff, good selection of drinks, and great food.

Six of us visited at lunchtime today - our meals were delicious and staff were excellent. We all had a great time - thank you!

Lovely on the waterside or indoors.

Second visit recently for Sunday lunch which again was very acceptable particularley with a 30% discount making the whole experience very cost effective.With the large amount of diners booking for a noon time slot prompted me to wonder whether the Beef had been pre-sliced well in advance as it did not appear to be from a joint cooked on the spot,but still very palatable.Being residential this a good hopping off base for the Peak district including Alton Towers as the bed rates are very competitive especially for children

Excellent service received here last night, they went to so much trouble with my fiancé to make his birthday truly special and special it certainly was as I proposed to him, he said he'll remember it forever, food, atmosphere, service is 10/10 Hannah was our server but more like a friend as she made us feel so relaxed and welcome all the staff were genuinely lovely people. Fab place

Another disappointing visit breakfast undercooked sent it back there was burned pieces in the scrambled egg Breakfast arrived back bacon still raw almost everything just microwaved Not difficult to get right first time Staff management inexperienced and rude

Amazing food & very friendly staff who were very accommodating when I customised the salmon! It was a lovely afternoon out & very picturesque being literally on the waterfront!

Fantastic food and fantastic service, all the staff were really welcoming and friendly. Some of the best food we’ve had in a while.

Lovely place, great food and great staff.

Lovely pub in a beautiful setting. Staff friendly and a very reasonable £10 for two pints of Madri.

Not a big choice on the breakfast menu and coffee was served cold. Location good and staff friendly.

We've had a few visits here in the last few months. Each time we have had a really good experience. The staff are friendly and helpful, the food was nice and the white wine was nicely chilled 👌. What more can you ask for?

Wedding day had a wonderful time Congratulations to the Bride and Groom X

Lovely views over the marina with fishing lodges at the back of you want to take a walk. Food and service have always been excellent when we've visited.

Service slow , roast beef very average and chocolate brownie was undercooked and they forgot the icecream , not worth the money we spent.

Breakfast advertised until 11:30. We were surprised that they could not offer us this when we went at 11:00 so why advertise. Very unhappy.

Would not go here again if you paid me. Refused entry to a 9 week old baby that just wanted somewhere to sit and be fed. And me a drink Was one of the hottest days of the year 30° and was told to leave. I appreciate since 2014 you've banned children because they are lound run around and cause a mess. But my 9 week old can hardly lift his own head let alone create you problems. Shameful that you did this. Luckily barton marina has some other lovely places that allow a baby to be fed id recommend going to one of those rather than the waterfront

Really nice service and good portions of lovely food (I had the sea bass which was excellent) . Our table was in the Quarterdeck area with a great outlook over the marina.

Breakfast was really nice, especially compared to the marina cafe across the road. Music was way too loud though for breakfast time and sounded like it was just someones Spotify playlist rather than restaurant background music.

Very nice to go, friendly staff, good food , good price. Access very good & parking good.

Absolutely stunning space with food and drinks available and then you can take a leisurely stroll around.

Went out to Barton marina on a lovely day to enjoy a lunch and drinks upon sitting outside and going into to order food I was told by multiple members of staff that they are not serving food outside. Despite this we decided to have a drink and call it a day. While drinking our drinks for the 30 minutes we were there multiple tables had food coming out to them! Disgusting liars do not come here

Tables in need of cleaning. Management would not let a child taste an ice cream flavour prior to ordering….”stock management…”Not feeling loved here.

Excellent food and fantastic service all of the team we interacted with were a credit to the Waterfront. There was a delay in recieving our desserts for which we recieved many apologies and they were worth waiting for. Nothing was too much trouble and the two coeliac's in our party had plenty of options from the menu. 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Another fantastic visit to The Waterfront! A quick stop for lunch and we were not disappointed. Abbie was lovely and looked after us perfectly. I will forever keep recommending this place to friends and family.

Good English breakfast. With the 2x1 offer is such a great deal! I have to mention the coffee, overpriced like in most places in UK but here at least you pay for quality. Best expresso I've had in the last few weeks.

This pub is ideally situated overlooking the marina. From the moment we arrived the staff were friendly and helpful. The order arrived quickly and was spot on, despite making a few dietary requirements changes. We were looked after throughout the meal, with staff checking to make sure everything was ok, The manager is really approachable, and you can see the rest of the staff respect and support her.

Overall it was good, but it shared a common issue with many others. Despite informing them we would only be there for an hour, we were seated at a table with a view obstructed by a wall. To make matters worse, all ten tables with better views were empty throughout our visit, labeled as ‘reserved’.

breakfast was awful , sausages uncooked /smelt old out of date , hair in food , felt inconveniencing them complaining , however place has a lovely ambience .

Very lovely venue and location however breakfast was terrible, out of date undercooked sausages soggy bas smelling bacon watered down beans and hair in the fried egg. Eventually recooked bacon but sausages still off. Refund on 1 of 4 full breakfasts only offered. Coffee expensive and served cold. Much better spend £60 odd at Mcdonalds next time.

Had a lovely lunch. Beautiful food Excellent service, marvelous atmosphere. Definitely going back again.

Great place for a beer with friends ( or without) have a bar area, restaurant is separate. Food is good quality pub food in the bar, a tad on the dear side but not enough to moan about. Good decor, very friendly and efficient staff, can get busy at peak times. Give real ales on the bar mainly Sharpe's brewery. Good selection of wines and spirits. Thoroughly recommended.

Little pricey but lovely nonetheless

family visit had a great time drink and food was excellent best fish chips had for ages staff friendly hard working love this pub wish it was my local

Poor service and very overpriced less than average food

Once again, lovely staff, very welcoming and very helpful. Food, as always, is lush. Love spending time with my other half here.

Had a lovely meal there. Staff were really good and made everyone with allergies feel safe. I had the beef stroganoff gluten-free for my main and it was really nice. I had the baked cheesecake for dessert, which I really enjoyed. There's lots of gluten free options and there's options for every taste.

Absolutely appalling customer service. We had a table booked for Sunday because staff want to watch the football they canceled our reservation. How can a business survive picking and choosing when they want custom!

Menu is very misleading..i ordered leg of lamb( which is clearly printed on menu) for a Sunday Dinner...Only 2 slices of lamb appeared on plate Very dissatisfied!menu needs correcting.

Went last night with a group of 5 friends meal And service was fantastic we all had a brilliant evening every dish that was served was beautifully presented and extremely tasty We followed our meal with an evening of laughs at the Drag Bingo which all of us enjoyed and can’t wait for the next Drag Bingo night later in the year Definitely the right decision to go for dinner before the event in the crow’s nest upstairs Would recommend Waterfront and Crow’s Next to All my friends and colleagues

Dropped in for a drink. Not tried the food. But was very relaxed.

sat in the conservatory on Saturday only to be told we had to move as we were not eating. How miserable, this is how to run a business NOT, absolutely pathetic

Went for a catchup with friends and waited over an hour for our main course and the two salads which were ordered came about 5 minutes after our mains!! I had crispy beef which was a joke, I couldn’t even cut it, it was rick hard. All the waiter said was, that’s how we cook it, no apology and never came back. Very rude and shall not be returning. However, the waitress’s were very good.

Lovely restaurant with a sun room overlooking the canal and many colourful barges. Food was delicious with very nice ambience. Outside were little boutiques situated along the canalside. Will definitely return to this surprise venue, near Barton-under-Needwood.

We ate here twice this week. Food was OK.

Lovely pub and great food at reasonable prices, lovely views onto the marina aswell 🙂

Good food well presented very enjoyable

Such a lovely place, enough space for disabled customers

Location is very good. You can sit in the deck and watch the marina and life goes by. There is a big function room with a bar upstairs. The view again over the marina is beautiful. It has A-V equipment. Food is good. There are vegetarian options. Service is very good

Lovely place to sit and eat looking over the marina. Had a really nice meal, staff really professional and attentive.

Lovely meal after visit to the cinema. My friend had fish & chips & I had salmon, both meals were served quickly & hot. The waitresses were lovely so thanks to all. We'll be back.

Fantastic venue for the concert in the crows nest. Thank you. We had a brilliant time. We also enjoyed a meal in your restaurant.

Very professional and friendly, great views...

My wife had a pizza today. It was rank. It was part cooked the base was soft, cheese has a weird texture. Clearly cooking a pre made pizza was too difficult for the chef. I told her never to send food back as you never know what they will do with it. She likes it there and won’t put her off but she’ll avoid the pizza in future

Been to this pub quite often ,fish and chips ,their signature dish always been happy,today was obviously different supplier for fish and maybe cheaper chef ,sent it back and second portion still way off what it was few couple of weeks ago,will not be going back,refund not offered,very poor,not worth a fiver now

Service slow, took 45 mins for meal to arrive and was cold when served , ordered a second drink which never materialised, disappointed

Regularly visit here to enjoy either a pint and a snack or to dine. Food is very good and great, busy, atmosphere

Really nice venue overlooking the water, perfect for enjoying a traditional breakfast.

Came in with a friend today who had never been before i had been but not eaten. We ordered drinks service was brilliant we were sitted we ordered sunday roast. Food was stone cold we ordered extra gravy hopping its warm it was cold like whole food was cooked day before but not warmed. When we finished we did tell the assistant manager she was abit rude interested no sympathy all we wanted was her to acknowledge say she will tell the kitchen she did say all this all she could say well should have said then. Was really dissatisfied with her attitude we asked for tje manage but told was not in had to leave cos of an emergency. Petty cos its such a lovely place drinks our waitress was lovely. The assistant manager needs to be tolerant and able to manage problems. We pay alot of money we expect warm food and warm welcoming people.

Nice views good food and service at a reasonable price

Beautiful spot but this isn’t even pub grub. The Ribeye steak was all fat/tough/cold! At £27 I expected more. My daughters warm sandwich wasn’t much better being cold and dry too. Very disappointing. Manager was rude when we broached the subject. Unprofessional. They made us feel like we were just out to get a free steak! What a horrible experience. Don’t bother stick to a bowl of chips!

A lovely setting beside the marina on a beautiful sunny May evening. A delicious meal and excellent, friendly service from Cat

The best time to visit is in the afternoon 🙂

We hired the Crow's Nest at the Waterfront for a Celebration of Life. Debbie and Shelley were very accommodating when we called in on the off-chance to look at the room. Communication was very clear and we had plenty of information to decide what we wanted. On the day, the room was set up exactly as requested and looked beautiful - many guests commented on how nice the venue was. The buffet was good and the team were busy topping it up before anything ran out. Again, guests had lots of compliments for the food. We're very happy we chose the Crow's Nest.

Disappointed visit to a wonderful setting. We arrived as a group of about 10. The place is set along the canal marina. There is some amazing boats docked and a large outdoor sitting area to watch the world go by. You are surrounded by some rather tall gas heaters. The drive to the carpark is lit up by a string of lights that sets the impression you are going to a rather exclusive venue. Once inside we were met by some friendly staff that led us to a secluded section of the restaurant. I opted for the Beef Stroganoff with mushroom Brandy and cream sauce, with Basmati rice, after watching some of my friends receive some amazing looking fish dish’s which I’m told tasted amazing as it looked. Others opted for Pizza which it too looked and tasted equally as good. I receive my Beef Stroganoff lastly (someone has too). This is where it all went downhill, I first tried the rice which was hot, tasty and rather fluffy. Then as I began to tuck into the Stroganoff I was left totally deflated. It was luke warm at best, I informed the waiter who apologised and returned a few minutes later with my dinner. This was obviously re-heated in a microwave, a few speckles of the sauce splattered around the plate gave this away. Sadly the beef was a little tuff although the sauce was now hot, but the rice was now volcanic. At £17:95 it should have been much better. I would go back, as I get the impression I was just unlucky. The place looks amazing and would be an ideal venue during the summer months.

A restaurant in a really beautiful setting by the lake. The restaurant is really clean and entertaining. The service is fast and friendly. The menu is very versatile and includes several local delicacies such as Steak n' Ale pie and fish 'n chips. The food is very tasty and the portions are large. A special thanks to Steak pie, which was incredibly good. There is also "Cold River" cider on tap, which is always a BIG PLUS! The perfect choice to come and enjoy the atmosphere and good food in a beautiful setting.

First time here today for lunch. Very graceful and pleasant place to eat overlooking the Marina bay.

Visited today. Sat outside as had our dog with us. Ordered two steak ciabattas, (plus sides and soft drinks), was warned of 35 min food delay but actually think it only took about 25 mins. Whilst the chips and onion rings were fine, I was disappointed with the ciabattas. The beef was very thinly sliced and had little flavour, the ciabatta was very very dry. It’d been toasted but think then left out in kitchen near heat so dried it out. Was quite hard to eat. I would normally complain but I know my husband hates me making a fuss so I didn’t. I just won’t have food here again. It’s a nice pub but the food definitely does let it down.

Quite a wait to order food. But we'll worth it

Excellent gluten free fish and chips. Comfortable seating. Unfortunately we had been there for a short time and the background music suddenly turned up so it was difficult to chat.

Excellent food, the service provided by our waitress Hannah was super, nothing was too much trouble, even to the point of changing a chair for one of our party, my only reservation is that we waited 50 minutes for our food, but I have to say, it was well worth waiting for. We have been here twice now for dinner and I would not hesitate to return and recommend to friends and family.

Love it here .. fantastic food and ambience and such a convenient destination as located just off the A38 (booking advisable for larger groups, but they always go above and beyond to accommodate everyone incl off spec en route moi).. The locality where it is situated is surrounded by a Marina .. Small Accessible Woodland Walks and Lakes .. Bijoux Boutique Shops .. Beautiful Location well worth a visitation 👌

Bar service was great young lad called Joe was brill. Sat near the pizza over nice table shame the young lad behind the oven was rude always on his phone was very helpful when asking him.

This is a Lovely looking pub from the outside and decor nice an d comfortable inside. Service bad. Manager awkward and rude. Food average. Would not return. Shame.

First time diners. A group of 5 for a birthday celebration. Service was great. Food was lovely. And to add to the experience a free glass of fizz for the birthday boy.

Such high hopes were dashed by incompetence. An excellent round of starters and good beer gave our family great hope of what the mains would hold. The fish dish was well prepared and presented, the children’s meals were average, avoid the fried “prawns.” The most disappointing part was the chef’s special, a 28-day aged steak filled with inedible sinew. I did my best to make it through 1/4 of the steak, which was not easy to cut, to begin with, before asking the waitress to take it back. Either the steak was improperly cut, or this was simply a bad piece. The disappointment continued when, after sending the steak back, the manager communicated that the Chef said there was nothing wrong with the steak despite a pile of half-chewed sinew on the plate. After being insulted for my intelligence (by the way, I have a year of experience working as a chef in a steakhouse, and currently have a chest freezer full of steak and beef), they only offered to bring back my inedible meal, nothing else. I asked for the bill, paid my tab, and left—a real shame.

Lovely spot, poor food. The Waterside is a lovely place to sit at the edge of the marina. Unfortunately the food us a real let down. The view profit is more important than value for money of the customer is prevalent. Ordered Coronation Chicken Ciabatta and very disappointed. Firstly it was the cheapest ciabatta roll I've ever had, in fact it wasn't much more than a bread roll. The filling of coronation chicken was OK but it didn't even cover the bread and spread so thinly all I could taste was the bread. But the company made a good profit off me but never again.

Always enjoy coming to this pub. Food is good and reasonably priced. The cakes on the bar (not on the dessert menu) let the side down recently. We travelled 20 mins to the Marina for coffee and cakes only to find that the bar cakes looked lovely but taste like what you'd expect wrapped in cellophane from Poundland. Couldn't finish my muffin. Would love to see some better quality, less processed cakes!!

Ordered a basket of wings and chips and received 3 wings. What an absolute rip off

It was good food, the food took a very long time to arrive, the staff were friendly but a bit unorganized. Lots of staff coming to the table who had not communicated with each other. Everyone seemed new. Would go again but not as posh as I expected.

Came here for Sunday lunch! First time visit in a long time and had heard really mixed reviews! Food was yummy and good value I thought for the portion. Only thing I would say would have been nice to have a few more green veggies on our plates it was all a bit beige with potatoes, parsnips, Turkey, Yorkshire with only 1 carrot and mixed kale/cabbage. However the food was really nice and the service was also good!

Can’t recommend this place enough! Every time I go, the service and food is fantastic! They have the best gluten free options in the area! Tonight I had gluten free fish and chips and it was absolutely delicious, so thank you so much!