SHELL BAY FOOD VIEW: Great seafood in Poole let down by awful customer service

Poole's Shell Bay Seafood restaurant is a venue that many of us living in Poole have heard of, but sadly, great sea views and delicious food were let down by poor customer service and rude staff. Read our insightful food review of Shell Bay below.

I didn't visit Shell Bay with the intention of writing a review as my husband and I were there to celebrate our wedding anniversary. However, the experience was so disappointing I feel the need to share it.

I was so looking forward to a relaxed evening with my husband with good food and wine boasted by beautiful sea views, but we knew something was amiss even before we arrived.

We just missed the ferry crossing so called the restaurant to let them know we'd be 10 minutes late. The cold response of "well you'll have to order as soon as you get here as the kitchen will be closing" meant the alarm bells were already ringing.

The setting of the restaurant is so beautiful that I decided to brush my worries aside, but then we encountered another problem. The lady who greeted us couldn't work out the till system to find our table number (she was really friendly and polite though) and her colleague helped her but in an irritable manner and didn't acknowledge us at all. 

I felt for her as she was trying her best and we didn't mind that we had to wait a while to be seated.

To our astonishment, they then left us waiting to take our order - even after their request for us to order quickly. 

A recommendation was given as a one-word answer (I can't help but compare other restaurants that would have been a little more descriptive and passionate). 

Miscommunication meant that  another waitress came to take our order even after we had ordered and throughout the evening we must have had 4 different members of staff serve us.

The wine glasses had clearly just come out of the glass wash as they were hot to touch and the glasses themselves seemed basic and cheap - which wouldn't normally even enter my mind but for the high prices charged, I find surprising.

Fortunately, the food lived up to the reputation, I cannot fault it. My husband had Salmon Gravlax to start, I had Mackeral and for mains we had Octopus Tails and Whole Sea Bass - all fresh and perfectly cooked and seasoned. 

Vegetables/sides are an additional price, but they are generous servings and we shared seasonal greens and dauphinoise potatoes. 

Two courses for each of us and a bottle of wine came to £140 which is more expensive than St Tropez Lounge and The Guildhall Tavern - you do get the views but it just does not live up to their customer service. 

The evening at Shell Bay left me feeling cold, yet, whenever we have been to the other named venues, we always leave feeling warm and full of gratitude to the wonderful staff for giving us a memorable experience.

I don't write this to put anyone off - just to manage expectations and hope the owners take the comments on board if they spot this. I

I absolutely appreciate what a difficult time it is for the hospitality industry and their recruitment must be even more difficult due to the location, but I feel like the problem was stemming from higher up the chain and the team lower down the chain were trying their best. 

It's rather baffling as they didn't seem overly busy and rushed but the service was just wholly lacking any organisation or passion.

We'll go back and try a lunchtime as I think there is less room for disappointment during casual lunch service and I'm confident the food will be fantastic but we'll now be sure to stick to our favourites for special occasions in future.