Whitewater in Babergh

I had spectacular high hopes for this little restaurant on the promenade with the most beautiful setting in North Norfolk. Then I arrived… they call themselves Whitewater … I assume from the dirty waves connecting with sand that gives a slight remembrance to a whitish colour…. I had read a lot of in house things from this ‘restaurant’ through their sister partnership with the Grove…but after a few weeks of research and seeing how they are trying to make arguably a very expensive setting count … I can only come to one conclusion: Most foul coffee… wasn’t even from a proper machine……I chose a pizza… I fancied the OG.. I was extremely intrigued to know what the OG stood for but unfortunately, the waitress didn’t seem to know what I was even on about …. I asked for a soft drink … it came as a warm can of Diet Coke from a plastic glass… as I took my place at the front of what should’ve been the best view was obscured by poor steamed up glass from a kitchen built so close to customers….. after 45 minutes of asking where my pizza was it finally arrived in the absolute only state I would class as charcoal…. Burnt to a crisp… I watched no one make fresh dough… it was obviously frozen…. Absolutely no care or attention prevailed such a worthy product … quite frankly the worse pizza in North Norfolk… if only the view was as gracious as the diabolical food… told the waitress … she argued that ‘most people like the food’ … not even these owners can count on this catastrophic encounter of dreadful over cooked and underwhelming food…. If you can’t provide a proper coffee machine why on earth would you believe you could provide great food…. I’ve most certainly will not be recommending or visiting this venue anytime in the future…. This is one place to quickly scratch off the list… and quick!

Stopped for coffee only, but the food did look good. Sadly the coffee was so poor, we had wasted our money. The server agreed the coffee was undrinkable and was embarrassed to serve it. It was not from a proper coffee machine. No excuse considering the business next door does amazing coffee.

Authentic seaside cafe, casual dining with indoor & outdoor seating. Amazing seafood, especially crab salad. Licensed with a limited selection of soft drinks. Staff were cheerful & attentive. Order at the counter, find a seat & await your food. Lovely position near the RNLI Museum. We enjoyed it so much we returned. Would recommend.

What a fabulous cafe, their home made Smoked Haddock Chowder is the best I have ever eaten. I have Coeliac disease and am very careful/terrified of being 'glutened' by my food being accidentally cross-contaminated with gluten containing food and I have to apologise to the Chef and waiting staff that I didnt believe that the toasted bread served with my Chowder was actually gluten free - it looked too 'normal' but to my joy I discovered that it was GF and made by a local Norfolk bakery called Krustys. The Chef I spoke with was absolutely knowledgeable and vigilant regarding the preparation, cooking and serving of GF food and I fully recommend the cafe to those suffering from Coeliac disease. Thankyou

We came for lunch on Saturday and the food everyone was eating looked delicious. All the inside tables were full and it looked like it might rain, so we didn’t want to sit outside, so we asked if we could wait for the one inside, which the girl said was fine. We only waited a couple of mins when 3 tables all left so we sat down at one. Within a few mins the other tables were also filled. Nobody acknowledged us, or came to clear the tables. The girl we’d spoken to, was busy behind the counter making refreshments. She walked past us a few times and didn’t say a word. Eventually the guy on the next table stopped her and in a loud voice asked if he could place an order. She just looked at him blankly without saying a word but another women put her head thru a door at the back and said the chef had concussion and the kitchen was closed as there was only three staff in total and they couldn’t cope. The girl could’ve mentioned that when we asked for a table! So everyone got up and left. surely just limit the menu to sandwiches only or let everyone know things would take a little longer, would be better than closing completely. Some changes have taken place since I last went in, and a big counter has been installed taking away a couple of prime seaview tables, which seems a bit odd, as there are so few tables now. We had a lovely lunch in The Jetty Cafe instead.

What a lovely breakfast. The quality ingredients were all local ( we asked) well cooked and presented. Good value. Friendly staff too, with fantastic views on a sunny but windy day. We will be back.

This place really has the potential to be a great sea front cafe but sadly it wasn’t when we visited. The front of house staff were lovely, but seemed to be a lack of management and not knowing what tables food and drink are being served to. Waited around 25 minutes for a black coffee and water, then another 30 minutes for food which I have to say was tasty but sat out on the counter for about 15 minutes which resulted in us having to send back because it came cold (might I add they just reheated in a microwave which we heard them do as the kitchen is open for customers to hear them discussing). All this place needs is clearly numbered tables, possibly even table service and a bit more management.

We visited Cromer with our large, nervous rescue dog so he could run on the beach. We were initially going to sit outside but it started to rain. We asked if dogs were welcome and they said well behaved dogs were. We felt very welcome even though our nervous boy was muzzled. Food and drink was lovely and the service was amazing. A lovely finish to our Cromer trip.

Came as i fancied a cromer seafood pizza, read reviews that said soggy bottom pizzas mine was not though i had ordered for takeaway, guess if you have salad with it that makes it soggy but anyhow it was beautiful and will come again the eggs benedict look good to, most of the food you have on the menu is what i love and look for when ordering local food done different

We had an excellent full English breakfast cooked to perfection at a sensible price and great service , we would highly recommend this restaurant to others

We had lunch here on a Saturday. We started with latte coffees which were good. Then we ordered the crab salad. No one can mess a whole crab up as it's bought dressed from the supplier - it was tasty. The salad was nice - finely diced ingredients with lettuce and a nice dressing - and wedges.

I was really excited for this place to open as it sounded brilliant. Sadly it wasnt soggy pizzas,dreadful crab sandwich (not sure it was crab) So underwhelming wont be returning very over priced for very mediocre food. Im local and definitely wont be returning anytime soon

This used to be the Lifeboat Cafe but it is now under new management with a new name and a shoddy makeover. And it’s gone massively downhill as a result. It used to be our absolute favourite spot for breakfast or the AMAZING crab sandwiches. It was completely unpretentious and totally charming. It’s now over priced and the quality is awful. The crab sandwiches were a joke. Some sort of pink sloppy paste between two enormous doorstops of bread with some wilted salad leaves. Nothing like the old place. And the falafel burger was pretty horrid too. Shame they don’t serve any local beer or cider either. All in all I’d recommend you avoid. RIP the Lifeboat cafe 😭

The staff are excellent, the venue clean and vibrant, and the food is delicious. And guess what?! It's also reasonably priced. We had pizzas, and can highly recommend them. The fresh crab salads also looked terrific. A particular shout out to the kitchen staff who popped out to the table to check how they were preparing the gluten free pizza was satisfactory for my coeliac wife. Keep smiling team, you made us very happy today. ❤️

This is the second time weve been to this cafe both times, Breakfast was fair standard, however states items that were not delivered. We chose this cafe for breakfast seeing that They were using Fruit Pig black pudding, however what we were given definitely wasn't this on either visit, 1st time we thought they may have just ran out, but twice? Especially when this time we ate at around 8.45am, being critical the sausages were very rusky and strange in texture and only fried on 1 side, meaning the skin was chewy, kitchen staff probably need reminding that as this is an open kitchen, their choice of language was unacceptable when "talking" to their colleagues working Front of house within earshot of several Families, this along with wearing heavily creased and Grubby chef jackets shows little respect and pride for the business they're representing. Waitress behind the counter was very friendly and coffees were very nice. Overall food was good but left slightly disappointed due to the rest of the experience, won't be returning.

We had a late afternoon coffee and fruit scone and sat outside overlooking the sea. The coffee was nice but the scone was a bit dry.

Nobody likes inconsistency. Had an excellent breakfast here yesterday and was very envious of the scrambled eggs that were on the table, therefore returned this morning. Unfortunately though, lightning doesn't strike twice. Ordered a side of bacon and a side of hash browns (had the hash browns yesterday) which staggeringly cost me an extra £5, one of which was instantly refunded by the co-server for being too much... you reckon! On arrival to the table, I was left astonished, by the sides... an extra £4 for 1 rasher of bacon and 1 hash brown (yesterday I got two), unbelievable scenes. Onto the eggs, one word... microwave! It's not difficult to do scrambled eggs in pan, so probably try that. These were over cooked and tasteless, not really what I was hoping for given the price and the look of them on the previous day. Thankfully the coffee was good. Such a shame as it's a great location.

We loved the Lifeboat, but it has changed hands and is now Whitewater. I didn't expect to like it - but sure did. We had the White Whale (?) burger. It was really very good indeed. We will be back.

The only thing wrong with this cafe is that it is too small (too few seats) which means it can be very difficult to get a seat for their excellent food. I was also disappointed that, even in the early evening, it had run out of a number of seafood items. Otherwise, it's all good: great location, friendly service, delicious food. I'll be back!

We have been to whitewater twice now, once with a group of 6 and then again for a brunch with the wife. Food was lovely, ideal spot to look out over the sea. First time 5 of us had lovely pizzas, 2nd time I had the crab burger which was delicious.. highly recommended after a sea front stroll

My wife and I thought we'd try this cafe after a recommendation by friends in our village. Although rustic - which we loved - the welcome was warm. I had a chimichurri chicken salad when my first choice of salt and pepper squid was unavailable due to a lack of chickpeas; my wife was delighted with her chicken burger in a spicy, breaded batter, and the Americano coffees arrived quickly and tasted very good. The food was delicious and of sensible portion sizes. The pizza menu was appealing and pizzas on other diners' tables looked delicious, We'll certainly be back to further explore the menu, which is more varied than other cafes' in town.