Waitrose in Southend-on-Sea

I would like to mention Wendy on 11th August 2024 she went above and beyond to help me. So thoughtful and went out of her way to help me find what I needed thank you so much.

We had soup and a roll, soup was delicious and really tasty, homemade and the right amount. Laura was so helpful carrying the tray as mum was in a wheelchair, getting cutlery and water for us. Good experience all round

Cafe review I have graded a 3 on my experience with the lack of gluten free food on offer. Waitrose has one of the best gluten free ranges within there supermarkets. However this is not reflected in the cafe. They had some cake bars, jacket potatoes and soup. I expected more from a supermarket like Waitrose. I had a tuna jacket potato which was nice, the staff were knowledgeable and friendly. Clean and tidy. I am just disappointed with the range of allergy food.

Sad to see this branch being allowed to gradually deteriorate, through lack of maintenance, drop in staffing levels etc. Today I did a quick shop, and used the cafe. Looking up,the windows at roof height are DISGUSTING! Never seen them cleaned, now thick cobwebs hang above the tables where food & drink consumed…. Also, multiple floor areas around the shop are taped up, not being fixed, toilets often out of action, not clean etc. I went in opening week in Oct 1994, as I moved to the area, what a slow but steady decline. They will begin to lose their customer base if no change happens

What happened to Waitrose Cafe!! So disappointing to see the decline. 4 staff behind the counter disorganised, slow, seemed to be wondering what day of the week it was. Cake stale, asked for replacement. Seemed begrudgingly. Cutlery was filthy - who puts it out thinking it’s clean. No one clearing tables… Waitrose - sort it out

Pot of tea fine, however the person cleaning the tables was using the same j cloth for every table and thinks that because they have a anti bacterial spray that this is hygienic, no not the same cloth for every dirty table it should be a disposable paper cloth that is thrown away after each table is cleaned. Another pandemic is inevitable

Very disappointed with selection available at Waitrose bakery in Southend store. Very little choice and NO wholewheat rolls, and the rolls are tiny! Same every morning.

Waitrose is a really great place to do your shopping. Large free car park cafe loo"s Its clean large open spaces lots of various products staffed check outs as well as self service .A post office free weekend news paper and coffee for members with weekly discounts .

Bought toffee tarts 26th September at full price not knowing they was off the same day also the green baskets the vegetables are in stink of rotten veg not going there again

Use Waitrose quite often. Being local find the store so handy and find the vouchers for items so good. Fish is excellent and do like the store with the option for John Lewis items. Will keep coming here.

charming staff clean very good restaurant lovely food helpful staff nice veggie my favourite place very good with hygiene

Their meals were awful before the pandemic and I doubt they have changed. I won't eat there, only have a drink

The heavens opened up whilst we were inside shopping and when we came out someone was there with an umbrella for both my husband if we wanted. And once we had loaded up our car another very helpful young man took both our umbrellas and trolley for us. We felt appreciated and happy. Thank you Waitrose.

This used to be a fantastic store i have shopped here regularly since it opened... it was always a treat to visit good quality food wide aisles nice lighting and lots of choice for vegetarians and vegans thats still true but the store itself has really lost its appeal, it seems run down and struggling to maintain the usual standards synonymous with the waigrose brand. It feels shabby dingy and tbh dirty. I'm really disappointed. The home dept is faltering the bakery isn't the same as it used to be and it just feels tired and not like the luxury store it once was. Such a shame.

We visited this branch in Southend even though we live north of Chelmsford. The restaurant was unfortunately temporarily closed due to covid but we had extraordinary service from Luke and Natalie and everyone at the store. JLP service always hard to beat but this was unbelievable service outside a 5 star hotel. Thank you again. John and Kathy.

It's an ok cafe, but so slow to get served. But(ter) they now refuse to put butter on made sandwiches for 'health & safety reasons' ie butter/dairy intolerances. You get a little sachet provided. So, dismantle your sandwich, spread butter, reassemble your sandwich. 1. They could just ask if you want butter then put it on if you say yes (they won't, I asked, begged them and they said no). 2. What about the butter laden pre-packed sandwiches for sale at the same counter? 3. What happens to the discarded sachets left on people's plates, when they can't be bothered to DIY. Thrown away and wasted - or recycled back for the next customer? Seems more to do with speeding things up than H&S. And they do need to speed things up.

The restaurant is something to be ashamed of. Overpriced, surly arrogant staff. No imagination with their meals. THe whole area is grubby. Dried up food and two choices if you are lucky. Quite happy to shout across to each other about Coronation street etc whilst serving you. cakes and buns are not covered so soon become contaminated and lose all their moisture. Simply dreadful.

I took advantage of my age and went shopping in 7.30 to 8.30 slot.It was well marshalled and very civilised shelfs were well stocked. Full marks Waitrose Thank You

Stopped here to grab a quick lunch joking about it’s 3 rating as a Waitrose but sadly deserved. Staff unable to cope with demand, not informing customers of situation. 2 jacket potatoes ordered and 45 minute wait so we had a friendly refund as we needed to dash. Staff insisted we do it as impromptu (still valiant but painfully slow) takeaway! Nothing special!!

My husband and I went to this store last week. We haven’t been to this store for quite a while so we thought we’d go again for lunch and to have a look around the store, and I was really looking forward to it. I was so disappointed and will certainly never go back there again. If you want a bowl of soup in the restaurant, you won’t get a roll included, well, not unless you want to pay a £1 on top of the cost of the soup!! The assistant kept trying to push these rolls and didn’t like the fact that I made it public rather loudly about the extra cost for the roll. The electronics dept was a joke, most of the shelves were nearly empty, no radios, only one brand of a landline telephone and there was only 2 of them on the shelf, and only 3 printers on the shelf and that was by the same manufacturer!! The Christmas dept that took up quite a bit of space was disappointing too. The ornaments were tacky, and a lot of the items were all unpriced. When we looked around the food section, well, for a so called upmarket store the fruit and veg were most certainly not fresh, and I wouldn’t have been surprised If they’d have have sprouted a fur coat within a few days of purchase. The whole store is tired and rundown and I’m not surprised that this company is losing money if this is an example of their stores. I was not impressed at all, and have made a point of telling my friends not to go there either. Will certainly not be repeating the experience!!

Visited the Waitrose cafe today for lunch with my son. We had not been for a couple of years so was expecting it to be very busy like it always use to be but it wasn’t. There were lots of free tables which surprised us. There is nowhere near as much choice as there use to be. I picked a prawn cocktail sandwich which was just one of the ones in the normal cardboard packaging and cost £4.75 which was very expensive for what it was. My son ordered a sausage sandwich which took 17 minutes to arrive even though the sausages were on the hot plate waiting to be served!! I definitely won’t return to the Waitrose cafe and judging by the number of empty tables at what should have been the lunchtime rush, I think there may be a lot of other people with the same opinion.

I've been a regular here for quite a few years but the cafe seems to have lost it's way. On my last visit there now brown rolls - only white (not good for a diabetic) and no ketchup. I had to go look for butter and the bacon was bland. All this on top of no more free coffee's in the cafe. Disappointed I think I'll look elsewhere form my after gym breakfast.

Met a friend for a tea and snack, I asked for an extra tea bag as 1 bag doesn't seam enough to me when made in a pot. Was told I would have to pay for a second pot of tea which is £2, how ridiculous. We sat and tried to enjoy our catch up, but was bugged by flies, one landed in my friends breakfast, so she flicked it, and it landed stunned on the table, then we brushed it on to the floor. After this we started to look more closely wondering why there was so many flies, saw cobwebs above us high up on the ceiling Windows. Also we watched the person cleaning ( if you can call it that ) the tables, using one blue j cloth for every table no bacterial spray whatsoever and when she finished, hung the clothe back on the trolley. Think we will go to the greasy spoon next time. Usually a slow sevice but today was quick. on the

I would just like to thank the staff at waitrose,especially Ian who helped me recover my debit card in the store yesterday after a lengthy search. Thank you for what you did in regards to my shopping, it was very much appreciated! Kind regards Nathan

I take my mother to Waitrose on almost a daily basis. The parking is great with convenient spaces for both young and old. We generally shop and eat there also. All the staff seem welcoming and very pleasant and the post office is also very convenient.The staff in the restaurant are wonderful, if you give them the chance. Ok it's not the Ritz but a popular place for all generations to eat and as busy as it might sometimes become the staff seem always willing to put themselves out. My mother is elderly and they will always assist her and carry peoples trays and help them to their seats if they require any assistance. There are toilet facilities for the young and elderly which seem well maintained and if you have a moment a place to visit and relax and read one of the newspapers provided. Thank you so much

Awful food ! ( eg) Order egg on toast and the yolk is raw and uncooked.

Been going here a few years but those visits have become less frequent simply because they’ve done nothing to sort the utterly ridiculous queue. It smacks of arrogance as they clearly couldn’t care less about people coming here on an hour lunch break - you spend on average 20-30 mins just queuejng. Then you watch the staff and realise why - the most inefficient rabble of headless chickens With no leadership and a snail like pace that would seem bad enough in a retirement home. So many people have complained but the clear arrogance of the management means they couldn’t care less about wasting their customers time. What a shame as this could be such a wonderful place to go

This is a very large waitrose so can buy everything in store from food and wine to kitchenware and childrens clothing

Bored staff. Two menu options unavailable. Dirty glass. Chaotic ordering system. Got our order wrong. Gone completely downhill. Avoid.

Visited Waitrose coffee shop the other day very disappointed hardly any choice of cakes, not very friendly staff, hot food looked dried out my husbands coffee was just about warm. It’s a real shame because we used to enjoy a coffee & snack in there.

You expect a Waitrose coffee shop to be reasonably smart, well stocked and the staff polite and friendly. However our experience was quite different when we visited on Wednesday at 2.30. There were very few cakes left (no scones for example) and what was left hadn’t been tidied up or empty plates removed from the display. The staff were not very courteous and we witnessed a customer being told very off handedly that “ we don’t do free drinks now” - no sorry or an explanation as to why. The tables needed clearing - there seemed to be plenty of staff available but none were clearing or tidying up the displays. Not at all Waitrose standard!

As always a nice, clean cafeteria with a good array of cakes, tarts, sandwiches and hot foods. A shame they have removed the free coffee from the coffee shops even if you are buying something and are eating in there but still a very good place to meet.☕️

Great shop, Great cafe, great staff, Great value! Its not shopping ... Its an Experience! Love it! AB

Great store - charming staff. Priced like all Waitrose, slightly more than other stores but good quality and range. Has a small selection from John Lewis but somewhat limited. Mainly children's clothes, kitchen equipment, small range of small electrical, bed linen, toys, books, cards etc etc. Easy parking. Petrol alongside.

Arrived for my shop at 5 today- shelves empty, at checkout girl refused to give me a free bag for my raw chicken- gov guidelines say should be given- when mentioned this said it'll cost me 5p anyway as no longer provided . Very little on shelves.. almost like they want to close this store

We went for a quick drink and snack in the afternoon. The 'cold' drinks were all luke warm; I also had a sausage roll and asked for it to be heated. It came back cold and was quite fatty. We had waited quite a while in the queue anyway, so I didn't feel like going back to tell anyone. The staff seem to be running round but not getting very far. It was very disorganised and I would think twice before going again. In fact it wasn't at all value for money or very relaxing.

We use Waitrose for shopping very often and use the cafe too. My husband wanted the full breakfast but does not like mushrooms so he asked if he could substitute for extra baked beans. The staff said no that would be an extra cost. Husband said the breakfast wasn't great and not overly hot. Returned a day or two later with daughter in law and grandson. No sandwiches except those in the shop chiller. Grandson wanted a packet of quavers and cheese sandwich. The staff said kids lunch bags only and wouldn't change the pom bear crisps for quavers and sandwich had mayo on. As grandson has mild autism changing anything isn't easy. Staff totally disinterested. I said how do they offer dairy intolerant customers or vegans etc. The lady replied they can bring their own food. Yeah really helpful not what you expect from Waitrose.

I visited Waitrose coffee shop yesterday with my mum and six year old daughter for lunch. I do not usually shop in Waitrose but thought I could combine lunch whilst buying a few items.

Popped in for a quick bit of lunch. Huge queue which was due to the fact the staff are so dis-organised and have no process in place so all running around being inefficient & creating a long & slow queue. Chose some chicken & bacon toasties for £5.50 each - when we got them - more bread than filling - barely any chicken & bacon - just crusts - what a rip-off. Also - bottles of coke were warm, when we asked for a glass and ice - it was clear that was a massive inconvenience. We eventually got some ice in a warm glass !

We visited this morning between a trip to the spire and the weekly shop. We are vegetarian. Our choice was between a ‘vegetarian breakfast ‘ which was not listed in the menu options and a potato omelette. My husband chose the vegetarian breakfast which consisted of vegetarian bacon ( looked rather like a piece of plastic packaging) - utterly disgusting- vegetarian sausage - also unpleasant and baked too hard to eat anyway- tomato and cold fried egg and toast. The omelette was a little better and I was amused to come across this product on the supermarket shelf later on. Clearly freshly prepared then. Won’t be rushing back.

Queued for ages and i wondered why the second servery wasn't open for those just wanting hot drinks not late breakfasts. My single espresso came in a large, cold cup, by the time we sat down my coffee was cold and so undrinkable. Surely Waitrose can provide espresso cups, they sell them after all. I'll give it a miss in future.

We had just intended to go to Waitrose to spend my money-off coupons, but on arriving around lunchtime, decided to try the in-store cafeteria. My husband had the full breakfast, which had freshly cooked bacon, tomatoes and egg, together with sausages, hash browns, mushrooms and baked beans. He very much enjoyed everything, especially the bacon and sausages, which he said were full of flavour.

They do a lovely toasted sandwich which is yummy, and lovely Jane always goes the extra mile and finds some in the fridge if I can't see any at counter and lovely free cappuccino to wash it down

Doesn't matter what day / time you visit them, they always busy, which isn't bad I guess. The quality of the food could be better, since we are talking about Waitrose. The tables are sometimes dirty and you need to move the dirty dishes off of the table if you want to sit down. On a good note the staff are friendly :)

This Waitrose is clean, tidy, well-maintained, and offers a good range of products. You can buy home/kitchen wares, cards/magazines, candles, glassware, electrical, luggage, toys, and clothing, along with a good selection of fresh, deli, & frozen foods. The actual store is a joy to shop...

Condujimos desde un partido de cricket para Kent y paramos para desayunar. hermosa cafetería con una buena variedad de opciones. Al final todos pasamos un excelente salchichas bap servido con una generosa cantidad de salchichas en un rollo recién horneadas. Muy buen servicio, Cafe estaba limpia y había mucho espacio entre las mesas.

Este almacén en popa Avenue tiene una oficina de correos, que se abre como si práctico con la tienda. También hay una farmacia y un restaurante.

La comida es estupenda, aunque algunas cosas son caros. Las frutas y verduras es preciosa y fresca. No vi a muchos empleados a mano si necesitaba algo. Siempre vamos a la panadería y un pedacito de tarta para llevar.

i love the waitrose shops and this resturant is great too. it's a shame that they don't sell adult clothing now but i'll forgive them for that as i usually shop in the waitrose in leigh as it's only a short walk from where i live but they are small and thew big store has more to offer

Yo vengo a esta tienda regularmente y disfrutar con el café y relajarse leyendo el periódico antes de hacer mis compras. Muy servicial y educado personal, extremadamente servicial y agradable comida, bien preparada.

I regularly shop at Waitrose and find it good. However special offers don't always show up at till. I've found this happens quite regularly plus check sell by dates as these can be short on some items. Trolleys can be full of rubbish that people leave behind, but this is a growing problem at other supermarkets. What's with that?!

Good shop, staff very friendly large range of goods from food to home wares and electrical to toys. Recommend going there if you need good okay priced products. No more expensive then asda or tesco. Excellent restaurant there too. Go see for yourself and to top it off there is a post office and pharmacy.

Popped in Waitrose after a flight home from Malaga very disappointing choice of hot food namely 2 dried up sausages what has happened to this first rate store this used to be . Maybe the management could reply

Service not bad. Not a great selection of food. Staff cheerful but not keeping up with orders. Took age to get a cheese toastie warmed up. Restaurant nice and bright.

There are a lot of fed-up customers complaining about the Waitrose cafe'. Long queues and slow service. Whether you want the full English or just a cup of tea, it is always via the one queue - why not open the second servery for goodness sake! It is not rocket science, although clearly poor management. And there is never any improvement, even though the shortcomings are clearly evident.

It's nice. I like it here. Always clean and the staff are always friendly. Always well stocked too.It would get 5 stars if the car park was designed better, but it isn't, so it doesn't.

Popped in the cafe for a breakfast breakfast. No veggie option. Service poor, quality of food poor. I won't be back.

Set in a sweeping curved window at the side of the front door, this is a spacious and quite attractive space to stop. The food is of course as you would expect, of a high standard but not in any way special. The coffee is pretty good. Staff very friendly, as they are in the shop, but the shop itself has gone downhill and standards of service and organisation have declined in the last few years.

Very busy inside, nice shop is a tad untidy, staff are very friendly. Good choice of produce and products would go back!

Choose your time carefully, best get here early on. Limited selection of hot meals and often complaints made by customers.

Dropped in for breakfast picked up a tray and waited and waited and waited until I saw the hot breakfast available which consisted of dried out sausages and nothing else. Why the service and selection is so slow and bad I don't know but it's a shame because it lets a good store down!

We combine a quick snack with shopping and often visit the trouble is very stressful its so busy and people have their own speeds to do things but we are always clock watching but for a quick coffee and a cake if you have the patience to deal with fellow diners who maybe have a lot more time on their hands thats fine. The layout is not great but its a supermarket 1st and a cafe second so if you dont mind the obstacle course of pushchairs walkers, walking frames, while trying to not spill your coffee it does the job just fine.

We have been coming for years for lunch on a Thursday before our shopping but over the last 12 months the quality and choice of main meals has gone down and down. If you want bacon or egg roll you are ok but if you want something more substantial it is a problem. Even the jacket potatoes - which are very small - are not always available. Today there was meat or veg moussaka so if you don't like aubergine you are stuck. There always seem to be 6 or 7 but most of are cooking the bacon and egg sandwiches. The poor lady on the till has to do the drinks as well so service is slow. We did have a very helpful lady who managed to find a veggie option on sandwiches. It is so disappointing as it used to be really good here with lots of choice.

Waitrose is the best place to shop the staff are impeccable from the managers to the shelf fillers nothing is to much trouble no matter who you ask for information they all have the customers satisfaction bred into them and stop what there doing and solve your queries. The store is always clean and tidy and not cluttered with shelf fillers or boxes everywhere. There is always a very good selection of produce to choose from and for a few pence more sometimes of far higher quality of some other supermarkets so yes it does pay to pay a little more . There is ample free parking and you don't have to pay for a trolley . If you have a waitrose loyalty card you can get a free coffee/ tea as you do your shopping . Well worth a visit . On your way home you can also fill up from the on site petrol station who's prices are the same as most others .

My wife and I really like this Waitrose but unfortunately the cafe here is becoming a disappointment and perhaps requires a change of management. Today we went for lunch and things were just wrong from the beginning. First there was only one other person in the queue in front of us but we were kept waiting too long while at least 4 or 5 members of staff were busying themselves behind the counter yet we could only see the lady on the till and one other person actually serving. Then the lady serving literally grabbed my wife's sandwich for toasting out of her hands without saying a word and without even acknowledging her which seemed rather strange. Then we noticed there were loose sugar cubes in a bowl by the till apparently because they had run out of wrapped individual packets - not the end of the world but not particularly hygienic either as they will have undoubtedly been touched by human hands !As for the food well our jacket potatoes were too small, luke warm, and with just a tiny sprinkling of cheese on top. They were also obviously either reheated from the day before or at least not freshly baked. Also none of our three individual pots of tea were more than half full to the extent that my wife had to ask for more hot water which she did receive - albeit in a cup !Unfortunately this wasn't the first time recently that we found the whole experience disappointing which is a great shame because as I said previously we really do like this store and the whole John Lewis/Waitrose experience and when it opened this cafe was so much better.

I was working down the road so thought I'd pop in for a bacon roll and a coffee. The roll was lovely and with the My Waitrose card, the coffee was free! Spot on....

I picked up a "Bacon and Brie Panini". I didn't even think to look at the contents small print on the back. If I had, I would have seen that it was actually a Redcurrant pickle, brie and bacon Panini. The pickle completely dominated the bacon and brie.My wife chose a "Cheese and onion toastie". There was little visible and even less taste sign of any onion.So be very careful to check what you are buying!

I love this Waitrose!Smart staff, clean store, well stocked shelves, friendly helpful faces and a cafe full of coffee and cake.It is often busy but I think this is due to its popularity. I have never had a bad experience here and often pop on on a week night for a potter around and a cuppa.Great store and cafe

Having not been in for well over a year, I hoped the cafe had improved. It has not. We went in hoping for a quick bite on a Sunday afternoon and picked paninis from the display, only to be told they had stopped serving hot food. I understand that they need time to clear away equipment etc for hot food, but why leave the paninis and toasties out for customers with no information? Labelling has always been appalling here. The labels for hot food are small, moveable display cards placed on top of the hot food section. This means you gave to walk right up to them to see what is available only to find that the labels bear no resemblance to the food displayed below. Service is always slow although often friendly. This place is definitely one to avoid in a town full of cafés and restaurants.

Great shopping, lots of rush when on holidays and Black Friday etc.Still a great place, even with Café!

The breakfast was nice and hot along with the plates. As it is cooked fresh the pot of tea goes cold so would be nice if the breakfast and drinks came together. I used to go for tea and cakes in the afternoon but find it too busy and staff seemed to be overworked but friendly. There could be more attention paid to the cleanliness of the restaurant.

We use Waitrose supermarket fairly frequently and sometimes pop into the cafe for a cup of coffee/tea, today when we decided to use the cafe we tried queuing at the middle island which just serves drinks and cakes but the member of staff there seemed overwhelmed and was taking a very long time to serve customers although in all honesty there were just two customers before ourselves so we swapped to the other queue where people queue for food and drinks, here we were served more promptly but when we asked for a teaspoon because we had not been given one we were cursorily given little wooden stirrers used for take-out drinks and told that the dishwasher had not been emptied.Come on Waitrose, your store should be a flagship for your company and certainly has the wherewithal to run an effecient and well stocked cafe - I mean 'the dishwasher has not been emptied!!' Third rate service from what is cited as a first rate store.Will not use this cafe again.

We were in a bit of a rush so thought that having eaten at Waitrose Canary Wharf (which is pretty good) Waitrose Southend Cafe would be a decent place to grab a quick bite.The only hot meal.option on a Sunday lunchtime was a fry up so chose from some of the other alternatives. We received a soggy microwaved pasty, soggy microwaved sausage roll and lukewarm potato wedges....In addition it was very hard to find a table because the place was full of pensioners who can make a cup of tea last three hours. Avoid.

Been a good customer since Waitrose has come to Southend.Food is hot good, seating, atmosphere, but if you go there for a drink you will wait and wait and wait! Look at your store at Blue water! maximum wait 7 min top! Please look at this problem you only Open the drink section some times, why do we have to wait in the food section over 15-20 min!Also the men's toilet stink on sat and some days in the week that goes for the ladies as well.Please look at this for hygiene reasons.As I like my local Waitrose very much but if the men’s and woman toilet carry on smelling may have To go else were for my drinks and food.You will lose customers!

Having just recently been diagnosed lactose and soy intolerant, and missing my daily latte, we visited Waitrose Cafe Southend hoping to be able to get an alternative to milk or soy. The cafe was jam packed and staff were run off their feet, however, they took the time to go into the store and get some lactose free milk for our drinks.The Staff could not have been more helpful, what lovely service. We will definitely be visiting here on a regular basis now.