Watch House Cafe in West Dorset

Have been meeting up here for several years but the quality of the food has declined noticeably. Have just had a pizza which was wafer thin, with barely any filling, fairly tasteless and too small. Will not meet up here anymore.

The first hot chocolate we've ever had that was too hot to drink! We had hot drinks and cakes but the meals around us looked good.

A favourite of ours when camping nearby. Always a great menu and lovely food with friendly staff.

Good food except for the burger which was cheap poor quality meat. I couldn't eat it 😕 the pizzas, cheesy garlic bread and fish and chips were excellent.

Great food, amazing service and the staff are always so friendly and efficient. Dog friendly too which is a huge bonus. Highly recommend

Very expensive but very tasty Amazing location

Fantastic restaurant. Fantastic location on WestBay Beach. We had a Sunday roast which was so tender and tasty. Thank you. We will be back.

Friendly welcome and great breakfast. And easy parking. We'll worth a visit.

Brilliant value for money will always visit when in Dorset, fabulous beef for Sunday lunch 😋

Superb restaurant and perfect location. If you're fond of sand dunes, and salty air, quaint little villages everywhere..... IYKYK. Food is always great, service spot on.

5 of us. Brilliant! Will go again xxxx

Wow, this place has grown in size, it looks great and service and food was excellent, very tasty crab sandwich.

Great fresh pizza, fantastic chips and lovely team, what a great cafe, we'll be back

Always have a good time here. The watch house is a great place for breakfast. The full English is fantastic and so is the ciabatta (with bacon, sausage and egg!). Doggo friendly too. Right by the sea, so you can get a little walk in too. Parking right outside, this is a perfect option for breakfast at Westbay.

Booked 24hours in advance a table for 7 for Sunday dinner. Arrived on time at 2.30 and shown to our table and waited around 25 minutes for the server, who informed us that they had no cauliflower cheese left, a big annoying bit hey ho, she then also said that they had no chicken, we asked what the sharer meal would be if no chicken , she went off to check. At thus point they had no chicken, no gammon, no beef and no cauliflower cheese and all that could be offered was pork belly and nut roast. We walked out in disgust, having pre booked our table they had no Sunday dinners available and we had to settle for fish and chips at a takeaway as no other pub had availability. Awful and we would never return

We booked a table well in advance for Sunday roast for seven people. We arrived in time to be seated at our table and patiently waited for our server to arrive. Unfortunately despite having booked a table for seven for Sunday roast and being given a time for our booking we foolishly expected Sunday roast to still be available, lots of dishes were unavailable. the only items offered were pork belly or nut roast. Very disappointing.

Furious 😡. PRE BOOKED a table for 7 for roast dinner on a Sunday afternoon only to be told once we'd sat down there was practically no roast left. We promptly all left.! Basically shocked at poor customer service. 1. Look ahead at what bookings you have. 2. Make sure you've got enough food. 3. A call would have been nice to say you've no longer got roast on the menu, as that's what we said we coming for. Very poorly managed venue.

Great, right on the beach. Service at the table. Clean toilets.

Unfortunately we did not have a great experience here, the food was not great, we got the cheese burger and some onion rings. The onion rings came out cold the first time, and swimming in a pool of oil when we asked them to be warmed up. All in all, we were quite disappointed and the quality did not reflect the price.

Welcoming. Great views. Wheelchair accessible. Dogs welcome. Clean toilets. Very good service from a young team. Great value for money. Close to a public car park. I would definitely eat here again.

Great lively place, right on the beach, good food and service, good fast pizzas 🍕.... Needs a nice craft beer on tap 😂👍

5 stars all the way... Friendly greetings at door led to table of our choice ( sadly wobbly on uneven slate floor) promptly offered move to another table. Unfortunate mistake given monkfish curry instead of breaded chicken Katsu curry. Server mortified rectified promptly and given free drink to compensate.... Excellent service from Harriet this evening..... Excellent food, excellent atmosphere great value . Thank you

Classic seaside cafe,great value and friendly staff. Will be back!

Spent an evening there, good food & service ,

Good pizzas. Nice location on beach but shame it's now all behind thick plastic so it's very hot and your view is obstructed

Very friendly staff and great food. Lovely relaxed atmosphere. Recommend the pizza! Accommodated a party of 10 of us at a relatively short notice in a lovely area. Dog friendly too.

Great selection of food, we went for breakfast and world totally recommend. Dogs are welcome too.

We have been coming here for many years as they have great fish and chips with homemade tartare sauce. I would have given five stars for food however, they have changed the peas to garden peas - they used to be mushy and better in my opinion and the chips used to be crisper! Still good though.

40 minute wait for 2 bacon baps and the place was near empty

I love the pizza, but the burger and nachos are great too. It's nice to feel like you are outside but it's still lovely and warm too even if it's not the best weather

The experience was fantastic! Me and my girlfriend had a great time and THOROUGHLY enjoyed the food and the exceptional service. Lulu was great and very polite. The young lad with the blonde curly hair was extremely positive and sweet, they both deserve a raise! Couldn’t recommend a better restaurant in the area.

Food was okay depending on what you had. Expensive for a casual meal.

Food is mediocre at best, very little chicken on the chicken loaded nachos, never again.

Delicious fish & chips! Big cocktail menu. Great location right by the water.

Excellent on every level. We had four breakfasts ranging from veggie full English to pancakes and all were delicious. We also had dairy and gluten allergies in our group and both were not a problem. Staff were really friendly and attentive and venue was lovely. Highly recommend.

perfect fish and prawns and lovely service and drinks

Pizza are very nice , wood fired and good service

Had a lovely meal inside,staff were quick and friendly. The next night we had a takeaway stone baked pizza which was also very nice. Can't fault the food or the service

10/10 coffee and spritzes from the takeaway shack

Friendly staff, nice food, I had nachos which was quite tasty, good size portion. I also had a garlic pizza, which was so nice, I would like to try their pizzas as they use a pizza oven. It was a wet day, but the atmosphere was good, I recommend giving it a try.

One of the best places to dine in West Bay.

Brilliant in every way. Dog friendly, great service, delicious food. Staff were unbelievably friendly and helpful. Brought the dogs some treats as well.

Love this place, right on the seafront

Lunch lamb cutlet’s took 3/4 hour to arrive cold my wife’s pizza never arrived very poor service won’t be going back

Went for lunch on the spur of the moment. Very friendly atmosphere as were the Team. Good, varied menu. Reasonably priced as are the drinks choices. We had a Meat feast pizza, coleslaw and slim fries. I had an Amstel lager and my Wife had a 7up. The food was delicious and quite quickly served up to us by a very attentive Team member. We finished off our meal with a Chocolate Brownie Sundae and a Strawberry Sundae. They were the BEST we have Ever had. To finish off was the Bill and we were very pleasantly surprised at how reasonable it was. Well worth a visit.

Alway vome here the pizzas are the best in the world

Lovely location on the beach. Pizza was really tasty and service was great 👍

This restaurant is right on the beach and the eating area is protected from the elements but still allows a view over the beach. They do their own beers, wine and cider and the menu has a wide choice of seafood dishes, wood fired pizza, specials etc. The restaurant is dog friendly with a dog menu of treats. Food was very good value and the service was great.

Great service from the staff there and the atmosphere is wonderful. Very reasonably priced, and the food was excellent. Many thanks to everyone there.

Only popped in for a drink but will certainly think about a meal in the future.

Lovely beach shack. Total awareness of allergens. Friendly and professional. Hand made dough. Delish.

Well is a lively beach cafe.. exactly as I’d expect a beach cafe to be.. service was prompt and customer service was a sweet interaction with beach girls. Usual typical breakfast fare… Highly recommend.. reasonable prices with a great service..

Nice cream tea nice views friendly staff

Really lovely meal here with great choice of food. Most of the staff were efficient and friendly.

Not sure what happened when we went, out garlic prawn starter and fish dishes were so over cooked they were hard and chewy and promptly returned. The service was good. The food not so.

Not been in since it has been refurbed but even better now. Food is very good and 👍to the Hive cider. Friendly and efficient staff and we must visit more often.

Lovely atmosphere friendly service 👍😁👍

Great location and good food. Dogs are very welcome and even have their own menu

Food excellent and staff very polite and friendly.

Great live music, had pork belly roast and it melted in the mouth! Staff were great and attentive, and had a wholesome atmosphere and really relaxed will definitely visit again next time we are down this way

We have been to the other branches, The Club House at West Bexington and the Hive Cafe at Burton Bradstock, both good, but this one is the best. Great location, really friendly staff and very good food, our friend’s description was simple “definitely on the come back list” Think we will.

A wonderful lunch, we all decide to have the daily specials. All were delicious, great value for money and we had three dogs with us and the staff could not have been more friendly or accommodating. They bring you complimentary biscuits for the dogs.

Great food, lovely atmosphere and right on the beach, what more could you want. Will give the boxed cider a miss next time though - very warm and flat.

Not a fantastic experience sadly. Didn't seem that busy but service was very slow. One meal finally arrived but the other took another 5 minutes! I had chicken nachos which was very poor. Liquid cheese and a breaded chicken burger chopped up and thrown on top. Shame as lovely position on the beach and staff seemed very pleasant.

Wow, what a lovely experience! We were shown to a table outside quickly, had the most amazing food and was served by the nicest people, not sure of their names but they were 2 blondes and a brunette lady that really made us feel welcome, if your looking for a drink and a bite to eat in Westbay, look no further

The first time we came here was 7 years ago. We came again 3 years ago and today. These pizzas are some of the best we’ve ever eaten. The location is perfect. Service was friendly and efficient. We can’t wait to come again.

Crab sandwich to die for - and the price could well have that result.

quality food, excellent service.

The cafe couldn't do enough for us. Dog friendly which was amazing .even gave her dog biscuits at the end of our meal .very friendly and helpful staff considering there was 11 of us to feed

Friday 05/04/24 - Come here with family. Burger, chips and slaw amazing! Fish,chips and peas amazing. Really good value

Food was delicious, so good to see a menu with a bit of creativity and different options.

We love Watch House Cafe, been coming here on and off for quite some, now. Always friendly staff, great pizzas and lovely setting, next to the beach.

We were a family of 8 with 2 toddlers and two babes in arms. The tables were clean, the food and drink came really quickly which was great with two toddlers, as they only have so much capacity to sit still. The kids were given crayons and pictures to colour in. The food was really good quality but not fancy. I would definitely recommend.

Really good pizza, and a nice chilled out vibe

Mmmm! Difficult as initially service was good. But, my wife had eaten majority of her pizza before my sandwich and chips appeared. Interesting that table who ordered after us got same meal at the same time as wifes pizza appear. So suspect someone messed up. Food was OK £3 for extra chips not really worth it. Pizza was good but can't really recommend crab sandwich, a bit soggy. To be far they did discount our meal by a drink, hence 3 stars for service

Great food and drink excellent friendly service.

For a family of five with 3 young children. Ridiculously overpriced. £15 for a breakfast. £13 for a veggie breakfast in which they forgot to cook the halloumi, and doesn’t even come with toast. The children’s waffles were straight out of a packet and not fresh.

It was o.k. Not really geared to snacks. Great for a full meal.

Went on a busy day ; service very slow and the food was poor. Chicken was tough, pasta underwhelming. no fish and chips available. Kids sausages were fine but arrived an hour after we’d been seated! No baby changing and one small unsatisfactory ladies loo . Shame- it’s a great location on the beach.

A classic case of success spoiling service. Over the years its growing success has mirrored its declining customer service and this week was the last time we'll ever visit. Arriving at c.11.25 we were greeted warmly by a member of staff asking "Are you guys here for food?" to which we answered "Yes". We chose straight away from the "Served all day" [sic] part of the menu only for a different colleague to arrive (c.11.30am) saying they were no longer serving food as the kitchen were prepping lunch. Appeals that we'd been seated for food, pointing to the "served all day" on the menus, and requests to ask if the chef might be able to do something fell on indifferent ears. They just stood there like it was our problem. On leaving, the person who'd seated us was really apologetic and much more human, but it was the last in a long line of similar service experiences here. I guess all the new locals and tourists pay the bills just fine. Go there if you must, but pack a sandwich - just in case!

Ordered 2xsole for lunch and subsequently told there was only one left, my wife then ordered fish and chips . After about 50 minutes wait we we were asked what we were waiting for and was told they hadn't had any fish and chips all day !! . It looked like one boy In the kitchen trying to cope with a restaurant full !! . Never again .

Breakfast cost about £13 per person plus tea or coffee, nicely served, very nice service and a fantastic atmosphere, you can bring your pet and even buy something for it, in the afternoon we had tea and cake. Every place on the terrace was heated, so it was very pleasant.

They have dogs menu dogs aloud in side pizza really nice and tasty!

This has to be the best food in West Bay. The prawn linguine is the best I've ever had, and the Sunday roast is really nice. Each table has its own heater above the table, which is a great touch, and it's situated right next to the beach. Also have live music. Deffenatly try this if you're in West Bay.

Me and my fiancé stopped in West Bay on our way home from a weekend away. Had a little walk around and found this café, bloody brilliant. Staff were super friendly and welcoming. Food was delicious, especially the eggs! Located 20 meters from the actual ocean, was perfect.

1st time I've tried this place. I was pleasantly surprised, good quality home cooked food, reasonably priced. Friendly staff, dog friendly, dog treats on the menu😍

Food was okay ( I had a cooked breakfast) but the service could have been a bit better.

Brilliant little cafe. Fantastic staff. We visited with our very large dog and they were accommodating and understanding. Helped us out arranging a taxi home. Couldn't fault a thing. Also...Best toilets ever!!! Thank you staff xx

A great place...dogs are welcome too! I had a take away roast lunch and desert. Delicious.! Lovely friendly staff, nothing too much trouble.

Website says "breakfast until 11:30" but that's a lie

Went for a Sunday lunch and the service and food was INCREDIBLE. Very dog friendly (waitress gave them leftover chicken), free drinks for the “wait” - which felt like 20 mins and the food.. honestly wasn’t expecting cafe food to be THAT good. £20 for two courses - great value for money !! Live music was great. Atmosphere great. Decor amazing. We will be back!

We had a portion of chips from the Hive, Burton Bradstock. The chips were really crispy on the outside and fluffy and lush on the inside. We thought we would have takeaway fish and chips. Unfortunately the Hive was not open, even though the sign was out on the road stating takeaway was open. We drove to the Watchtower and asked if they did fish and chips takeaway. I mentioned the chips we had at the Hive and was advised that they were the same chips! We were very disappointed, the chips although cooked were not the same crispy chips as the Hive. The fish although cooked, the batter was doughy on most of the fish. Very disappointed at £36 for two portions. Won’t be buying these again!

Fish and chips, lovely,waitress very pleasant ,clean, quick. All good.

Great place to eat. Delicious food and lovely service. Location is great too. Much better than Hive Beach to which I will never go again.

Superb takeaway pizza, very quick. So good to sit on the beach watching the sunset and eating a very tasty pizza.

Nice spot, dined in for breakfast. Good food, really pleasant staff who were happy to make a few adjustments to menu. Would recommend and visit again

Lovely food and a wonderful setting right on the beach.

Amazing our waiter and waitress was Nelly and Harry, cannot recommend them enough, amazing service and unbelievable food. Thank you Credits to the chef also, for amazing food!

This place is a cafe, with restaurant prices. Ordered the jerk chichen burger, which was burnt to a crisp, no jerk seasoning. Not for me,.

Called in for breakfast before starting a walk. A decent breakfast with nice sausages and bacon. It could perhaps do with a slice of toast adding, £2.50 for toast on top of £13 for the breakfast seems a lot. The breakfast deal worked out well as the breakfast came with a choice of hot drink and juice for £15. A good location as it’s right on the beach. A place I’d recommend!