Highcliff Grill - Bournemouth

Booked on late registration, but they were very accommodating for me and my partner. the service was excellent and has not visited us to finish our meal as we previously experienced in other restaurants.

The restaurant 'lost ' our booking and tried to palm us off with an inferior table despite my advance request for one with a view. To be fair, every effort was made to solve the problem once I made it clear that I wasn 't just making a noise to get a better table. Unfortunately, though, the overall standard of service at the hotel restaurants remains utterly unacceptable.

I booked a table for dinner online, when we arrived we were told we didn't have a booking but were squeezed in. We ordered a bottle of wine and were given some bread, we ordered our food which after eventually arrived over an hour later dry and overcooked. Terrible food and awful service, would definitely not go back.

We stayed as guests at the Marriott Hotel and were looking forward to eating at this restaurant. Friday night 10th April was relatively quiet approx. 15 diners in total. The decor was uninspired and looked dated. No music so lacked ambience despite nice view over sea. Experience let down by poorly trained waiters (fingers on plate/sauce, no charm/welcome, etc. we felt they all preferred to have the night off. We picked the set menu but what a mistake felt like the food had been prepared in advance by a chef who was catering for the 'coach party crowd ' (tasteless/overcooked . With a bit of passion, a face lift, and cookery skills this restaurant could be so much better... avoid until then...

Whilst we had a relatively nice meal at the Highcliff Grill in Bournemouth, I ordered Steak Medium Rare, and it turned up medium to well done, and when our starters came out they were initially taken to the wrong table, then back to the kitchen before coming to us a couple of minutes later which mean't my starter was just warm, although still nice. When ordering a Dessert I liked the sound of the Chocolate Pudding with Cherry Compote, on ordering it they said it takes 30 minutes to prepare, this is not mentioned on the menu, if they did this I could have ordered same time as my main so it then could have been ready to serve. Our Waiter was on his first day and this was obvious by a number of mistakes which is down to the lack of proper training. However saying all that the staff were nice and friendly. Onl leaving the Restaraunt we asked for our coats, as no one got them we found them ourselves, not hanging up but thrown on a seat in an unused part of the Restaraunt. They need to improve in some areas