July 2015 We visit Swanage every year and usually have 2-3 meals at the upstairs Mowlem restaurant during our stay. This has now changed. I would not recommend the place to anyone. We were taken to our table at approximately 8.30 pm, placed an order which took over 40 minutes to arrived (yes 9.10 pm -others being served around us – there was nothing ordered that warranted this length of time cooking) - my son had Penne Arrabatia - not a single piece of penne pasta in the bowl and when he had eaten it the bowl had a layer of oil at the bottom.My meal arrived last, I chose the Salmon with vegetables (£14.95) it arrived the vegetables were disgusting and dried out and colourless, apparently from the carvery server - how long does it take for mash potato to dry out? celeriac which I thought was cauliflower, red cabbage (I presume); rock hard honeyed parsnips (two about 3 cm long) and mashed carrot (I think) the size of the portions were also an insult, somewhere between a teaspoon and dessert spoon.The cook (definitely not a chef) advised that he had selected the vegetables himself, so lord knows what the peas or other green vegetables looked like. He also disagreed about his parsnips mentioned earlier and picked my knife and fork and tried to cut through them above me. The cook then said he would get me another plate but would take 10 minutes, I declined as I am not sure what would have come back. I believe for the amount this meal was being charged for should have had fresh vegetables.I will allow that the Salmon was lovely (freshly cooked as well). But I didn’t touch the vegetables. At the end of the meal I took my plate with me to pay which was quickly whipped away with the quick comment that the ‘chef’ had already told them of the issue. We did get a partial refund but attitude of staff was not the best – makes you wonder how many other issues they have during the day.The rest in our group meals were OK but because of my issue it put a pall over the whole meal. They also know I am not a person who makes complaints without reason and would rather soldier on. I will definitely miss eating in this restaurant with its fantastic sea views
Noodles
We have had sunday lunch several times at Quayside and have found both the service and the food to be excellent. The setting is beautiful, with large glass windows on 3 sides of the restaurant giving panoramic views of the seascape. In fact we like it so much that we have booked a large birthday celebration party there.
Robjc
Four of us visited for lunch on Monday 8th Dec. The menu is very uninspiring, not even an all day breakfast, and the service mediocre, which matched the quality of the food. As the waitress cleared away our first course she asked if everything was okay but, when told that the pork was tough, simply replied "oh". No apology, nothing! We could have been persuaded to have a dessert as well but in reality felt we were not really wanted as it was too much trouble. Very unlikely to go back. Very sad given the prime location of the premises; Swanage deserves better.
