Windies Cove

Could never call this place a restaurant, one trick pony!!! including the management!!! Plastic carribean restaurant!!!
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, May 01, 2011

My family, friends and I visited this Restaurant for my niece's 21st birthday.....!! Well what a complete nightmare. We arrived at the scheduled time and had to wait 3 hours to be served. We were then served pre-packed burnt vegetable spring rolls, pre-packed bland chicken wings, no description for the fishcakes. The main courses were all served at different intervals, cold, tasteless and disgusting. The waitress served the bowls of rice with her hand over the rice, the macaroni cheese was plonked on a plate and looked horrendous.

The staff were all very laid back and never apologised for the delay in service. I could not believe what I had experienced on my nieces 21st. Apart from the beautiful company... the evening was a complete disaster.

I do not believe this restaurant can cater for large bookings and I will be contacting them direct. They did not deserve our payment...... but hey we were all respectful, fun loving individuals who were out celebrating my beautiful niece's birthday.
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CL
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Thursday, September 30, 2010

I recently visited a Caribbean restaurant called Windies Cove and to my dismay was absolutely disgusted by the level of customer service and the quality of food.

Firstly I was flabbergasted by the presentation of what they called a buffet. Food served in big tin cans which resemble that which they used in the 1970’s schools. The buffet consisted of a selection of only 6 dishes two types of rice not fresh and a selection of tasteless meats and sauces.

I am a very big fan of Caribbean cuisine but was utterly disgusted by what was offered for their buffet at £17 per head.

The food was cold and we had to serve ourselves on paper plates. Also to add dishes that were advertised as part of the buffet menu was not even present on the big tin cans. Disposal of the paper plates was in a black bin bag hung on the banister of the basement dining area.

The music was too loud for us to converse to and the selection definitely to suit the owners taste.

With the buffet they also said a complementary jug of fruit punch would be given they had 1 jug for 20 people. You judge that.

When we then approached management to say that we weren’t happy with the cold food and lack of selection. He stated that no one ever complains. We then suggested that we pay what we thought the meal was worth, and if I’m honest it was worth nothing but still said we would pay £10 per head, and we didn’t even eat £10 worth of food, he then said why should we come to his restaurant if we were not prepared to pay for the meal. I mean you judge that too.

I have only bad things to say about Windies Cove and this is from a food lover perspective. Go to McDonald’s instead and save yourself the heart ache of wasting your hard earned money in such a rubbish place.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, April 10, 2010

I had planned on visiting before and when I finally decided to I rang and made my booking, for 8. Arrived at 7.55 only to be told a party hadnt left yet. Ok, understandable. At 9 when we were finally seated my understanding hat had firmly left my head.

I attempted to order whilst waiting to avoid a delay on my food, pointless plan, at 5 to 10 when my food finally arrive. No, I am not joking... 2 hours to be seated and receive food. Evidently the party of 9 upstairs took a while to order... so clearly the kitchen couldn't cope with my 3 starters and 2 mains as well!!

The 'owner' offered me a drink on numerous occasions, one that I declined as frankly a 'free' drink of something is hardly recompense for the utterly horrendous service. When the bill came I was highly amused to see that EVERYTHING, including the jug of tropical juice which tasted interestingly similar to one I buy from a well known supermarket was all totted up.

I paid my £32... yes, that's right, £32 for a jug of juice, 3 starters, 2 mains and a 2hr wait and on the way home decided I would never, ever, visit this place again.

I advise you... to do the same.
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2 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

This is definitely the worst restaurant I have been to in my life! I went there

With friends for the buffet which was £17 a head, so for this price my expectations were quite high.

The food was below par; the curry goat was tasteless, the rice was cold, the fried chicken was so dry and the spring rolls tasted like they were supermarket bought.. not fresh at all. Standard caribbean dishes like mac and cheese, were missing, and we had to ASK to be provided with plantain and coleslaw. The coleslaw arrived in a battered plastic food storage container with the Asda sticker still stuck to the side, and the taste?? I took one small bite and could not stomach it!

And when we decided to give the manager some constructive customer feedback regarding the service, we were shunned and basically told we were wrong. He was aggressive, and rude and the waitress got very personal and they were both extremely unprofessional. Customer service ceases to exist at Windies Cove, so if you want to pay £17 to eat sub-standard food from plastic plates and be intimidated by staff. Windies Cove is the place to be!
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cici
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 08, 2010

I heard that this restaurant was really nice and decided to book a table for 14 people for a 30th Birthday celebration - what a mistake!

The food was very nice but the staffs were extremely rude and miserable. Thank God for the Bar man who had been employed there since the New Year. When I called to book the staff seemed very pleasant and welcoming. I was even offered a buffet meal because I was booking for more than 10 people; which I accepted. However, on arrival at the restaurant what a different story! We were not greeted on arrival and when we finally discovered that we had the room downstairs and took our own seats it took for a member of out party to approach a worker to ascertain how the buffet meal worked she didn’t stop to answer and as she was walking up the stairs she shouted ‘all the food isn’t ready yet’.

After 20mins (still no sign of any waiter) we approached another member of staff who informed us that the food would be serviced around the corner and would be ready in 10 mins.

There was not enough food serviced for a party of 14 and when we asked for refills only the dumplings were refilled. A member of our party who does not eat meat asked for something else and had to wait 1hours for a piece of fish (after initially being told it would take 15mins). We continued to wait for the refills of food and realised that this would not be happening when the staff proceeded to collect our ‘paper’ plates (end of buffet). They obviously knew that the service was poor because we were given 2 jugs of rum punch on the house. However, the service did not improve. We had to ask if they served desserts (as we were not given a menu). 2 members of the party order crumble which took 45mins.

Despite having a camera watching us and noticing that all the desserts were finished no waiter approached to ask if we required the bill. We had to physically approach the front desk and ask for the bill. We were told that it was being done and would be brought to us. 15mins later (to calculate 10 adult buffets at £15 and 4 children’s and 2 ice cream desserts and 2 crumbles)..when we had calculated it ourselves put on our coats and when upstairs the bill was seating on the front counter waiting for us. I was then informed by the lady behind the counter that service was not included as it was at our discretion (and it was a good thing too because I would have deducted it). I was remind that service was not included 3 times while counting out the money. I was also given the wrong change £1.76 short but to be honest I was so annoyed with the place I didn’t even bring it up and I just informed everyone that we had paid and could leave.

This has got to be the worst restaurant that I have every been too….I regret not booking Caribbean Scene (which is a great restaurant). Don’t waste your money at this establishment – you get better service at KFC and/or McDonalds
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Very dissatisfied customer
4 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5
Sunday, January 31, 2010

Hello, first of all I would not recommend this restaurant to anybody, it used to be a very good place to eat out but has recently come under new management. The food used to be blessed by Gods themselves and now seems like it's run by Satan. The chef clearly seems to have never been in a kitchen before or has a bad sense of taste and smell because my food was absolutely appalling and I wasn't the only person there complaining about my food. Not to mention the rude mouthy waitress, I've never been to such a terrible restaurant in my life, and to think this place was actually really well run.

Do NOT come in here, it is a complete waste of money.
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Louis F. Denzel
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, January 14, 2010

I would not recommend eating here. The restaurant has changed management recently and is no longer a quality eating establishment.

We used to frequent Windies Cove, however, after tonight's dining experience we shall never return nor will we recommend this restaurant to any one we know.

The previously excellent service has been replaced with a sullen, unprofessional and grumpy waitress who has clearly no basic understanding of customer service. We were not greeted on arrival and waited in excess of 20 minutes for drinks to arrive despite the restaurant being empty.

We ordered our food shortly after arrival but the food was not served to us until 45 minutes later. At which point, we were so hungry most food would have been deemed acceptable. Sadly, this was not the case. Luke warm, mediocre dishes did not satisfy our party.

Red Bream Steamed: The menu stated the fish would be served with Okra. It wasn't. Okra being a prominent feature of the dish, we would have expected to be told that it was not available. Only upon questioning did we find out that they had in fact, ran out. The waitress asked if we would like an alternative, to which they brought copious amounts of dry raw parsley and some slices of cucumber.

Ackee and Saltfish: Previously a generous portion, now a shadow of its former self - at the same price! Overly peppered and otherwise tasteless, it proved a major disappointment.

Plantain: We ordered 2 portions, only one was received. Again, not as good as previously. Tasted too dry and overcooked.

Jerk Chicken: Marinade had no kick and tasted bland.

The accompanying portions of rice and peas has significantly diminished in size. Had I been hosting a children's under 8s party, these would be appropriate.

THE BILL: We were overcharged on several counts. The plantain which did not arrive was included, and we were overcharged for drinks.

When the bill arrived, it stated that no service had been included. This was not true. A 10% service had been included.

As the service had been slow and unacceptable we disputed the service which was taken off.

We are upset, angry and disappointed at the downturn of this previously excellent establishment and regret that we will not dine there again.
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Sarah and Johanna Martin
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, January 03, 2010

My Name is Syreeta Nurse and my very kind boyfriend has just had a meal delivered for us. Im really very sorry but after tasting the food I feel compelled to give you some feedback.

In complete honesty it was the worst West Indian food I have ever tasted. Having eaten from all of the major West Indian Takeaways in the South East (Rice and Peas,Cool Breeze, CoCo Reef, as well as Quashies, Sheparhds Bush and Mr Jerk to name a few), and having lived in Trinidad and Tobago for 5 years, I have never had a meal as disgusting as yours this evening.

I am really dissapointed to be writing this as I have had my eye on your restaurant for some time now.I was intrigued by you interior design as well as your promise of contemporary food, and was thoroughly looking forward to sampling your menu.

The first disappointment came from the fact that one of the main parts of the order, the rice, was omitted from the delivery, but replaced with sweet potato mash, and the dumplings ordered were replaced with fritters. However, when I tasted the food I was speechless. We ordered:-Stewed Chicken. -Curried Goat -Rice and Peas -Roti -Plantain -Dumplings. -Fritters

The Chicken: I tasted it once and did not touch it again. It actually tasted like chicken cooked in ketchup mixed with water, sugar and pepper.

The Goat: Tasted as though it had been curried and then watered down with dishwater. However, I must say that the meat itself was cooked to perfection, and the meat was not overly fatty which was good, although it didn't taste good enough to enjoy that.

The Rice: Again tasted like soapy water had been added to it.

The Roti: This was really dry, and not soft and fluffy as it should be.

The Fritters: Ok. would not have them again. Too much dough and not enough mixture.

The Plantain: The best part of the meal.

The Dumplings: Not received.

I really am sorry for leaving such negative feedback as I am sure that your chefs work very hard. However, I have to wonder if this is the first time you are hearing such feedback. I really do feel quite ill and I have only had five mouthfuls of the food.

I really do feel that you should look at the quality of your recipes so as to keep a customer base. I am afraid I will not be recommending you and will leave feedback were I can. Unfortunately I can only warn people not to waste their money as the prices and aesthetics to not represent the the food or good value.

A very disappointing 'Unique Dining Experience'.
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syreeta27 - View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Friday, August 28, 2009