Cliffhanger Cafe - Christchurch

If you like slow service or overpriced, poor quality food then by all means visit this restaurant as it ticks all those boxes. We arrived at 7pm to be told they had run out of mussels (this restaurant could not be closer to the sea, so how is this possible). There were a number of large groups and it was very clear that they were understaffed. We had to chase our puddings, 3 balls of ice cream and a frangipan tart, as it took more than 30 minutes to arrive. The crab was absolutely tasteless and over priced. This establishment left us feeling ripped off. The best aspect of this restaurant is the view. Never again!

Arrived at 11.50am and wanted takeaway vegan sausage rolls and drinks. Told we could have the drinks but needed to join the queue again at 12pm for the sausage rolls. Sat and waited for them only to presented with the greasiest, toughest examples known to man...and woman...and dog! Two coffees, a hot chocolate, a green tea and 4 sausage rolls to take away for nearly £30! Never again.

Really bad experience today....the whole experience and waiter service was a shambles.....took over an hour to get even the starter...ran out of time and had to cancel rest of order. Real shame as menu looked good. The management needs sorting...could tell it was an absolute chaos with waiters going to the wrong table etc

Really bad service had to wait over an hour and a half having asked a few times what had happened to our food...we then had to cancel as we had run out of time. They weren't even that busy

The view and location are second to none. Food was fair, though the scrambled eggs seemed a bit odd but otherwise no complaints. The service however wasn’t great. We went on Father’s Day and there were long waits for food which is to be expected. We were given a dirty highchair which we cleaned ourselves, no problem, these things happen. When we asked to swap something on the breakfast because one of the table was keto were immediately told they don’t make changes. We hadn’t even finished asking and found the flat and quick refusal unusual for a restaurant. We arranged to swap certain items ourselves so everyone would have enough to eat. We asked for colouring when we saw it at another table, but it wasn’t offered off the bat. My little one who had been patiently playing while waiting for his food asked a server if he could have a biscoff biscuit that he’d seen come out on lots of saucers only to be told they came with large drinks. I asked our waitress when she came past who said we couldn’t have 1 as they were only served with coffee. We had ordered 2 large teas and an apple juice by that point, and I get that there shouldn’t be an expectation but food was on a one hour wait at that time, and it would’ve cost them maybe 10p for an unwrapped generic biscuit to please a 6 year old who had been waiting so patiently. And given the effort the restaurant goes to for its doggy visitor who don’t order off the menu, it made us feel a bit unwelcome and seemed very stingy. When the bill came they hadn’t deducted our deposit which was probably a genuine mistake and was fixed immediately but it all left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths and certainly wasn’t what we expected. It’s a pity because really it was the lack of flexibility in service that ruined things and the location is lovely so it’s very disappointing all round as we won’t be going back, and I had hoped we’d found somewhere a bit special.