Restaurant Review - De Clay Oven - West Coast Barbados
- Karen
- Jul 31, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 5, 2024
Location - Paynes Bay, Highway 1
Overall Rating - ⭐️
Food - ⭐️
Drinks - ⭐️⭐️
Service - ⭐️
Atmosphere - ⭐️⭐️
I have gone back and forth about writing this restaurant review. My aim is to share the amazing places you can go to while visiting the island, but if I didn't write about my bad experiences then you might have them too so here goes.
The short version: Avoid this restaurant.
Here's why...
We had walked past the restaurant earlier in the week and looked at the menu as we do like a pizza every now and then. A lovely member of staff came to greet us and explained we had just missed the evening music, but that they would have more on Saturday. We explained we had already eaten, but that we are in the area for quite a while so would be sure to visit soon. A few days passed and we decided that we would give them a try.
Food
There are a variety of thin-based pizzas on offer, which seems to be the most common style on the island. Here there were even some veggie and vegan options, which had been one of the main draws for us. When a restaurant specialises in one food type it is usually good. Usually! This place specialises in pizza. The first thing I noticed from the menu was the pizza sauce. In the UK we usually have tomato as the base sauce, the same way the Italians have it, and they invented pizza, so they should know. As a variation, we sometimes can find BBQ if you are feeling adventurous, but here in Barbados there are few with the 'normal' tomato sauce and there are a lot with pesto, BBQ or alfredo sauce. I asked a friend about this, who was doubly qualified as she was both Italian and a Chef. She said Alfredo or "blonde" pizza was starting to become popular, but tomato is the way traditional pizza should be made. Strange as it would be so very easy to offer a choice of any of the 4 base sauces and let the individual decide.
We placed our order for a pizza each. I had the Roots & Culture Pizza (pesto base sauce) and OH had The Spicy Vegetarian Pizza (alfredo base sauce) and enjoyed the music that was being played while we waited. A while later the first pizza was delivered, no cutlery or napkins just the pizza and a 'your other will just be a minute' That's fine I thought and I told OH to start eating as I didn't want it getting cold. It was a little overcooked and crisp for my liking, but it was edible. OH found it to be overcooked and on the edge of burnt, the base was more like a crisp than a pizza base. The Alfredo sauce was not to OH taste.
We waited some more and then one of the staff members went to the table next to ours and on the way past just asked if everything was ok. I said we were still waiting for our second pizza and she went to see where it was. Other tables were served and still I was waiting. The staff member came back and said the chef had cooked my pizza but wasn't happy with it, so he was making it again so it would be another few minutes. By this time OH had finished his pizza and I was pretty much past wanting anything, as by this time I was really hungry, but waited some more. Just over an hour after the first pizza had been delivered to the table my pizza finally arrived with the cutlery and napkins. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you read that correctly...over an hour between OH getting his pizza and me getting my pizza that was ordered at the same time! Wow! Again it was very crisp, as it was overcooked, and all I could taste was the feta cheese. It completely overpowered the other flavours. I know feta has a strong flavour, but as a chef you should be able to pair it well with other flavours to compliment it, or at least use it sparingly.
There is a desert of the day on offer on the menu (rare in the restaurants I have visited so far) but by this time I was ready to just leave so we didn't even ask what it was. Shame.
(The below menu displayed at the entrance does seem different to the one we had at the table as it doesn't show the base used whereas the one we read definitely did.)
Drinks
There are the standard drinks on offer wine, beer, cocktails and soft drinks. We opted for two fruit punches. We were then offered blended or not, I stuck to the standard and OH had the blended. It was pretty nice but I couldn't see much of a difference between the two. We could once we saw the bill though the blended was nearly twice the price!
Service
The service was pretty bad. From when we first walked in there wasn't any care or attention from the staff. We should have just turned around and left then, but the first encounter from the few days before made me think it would improve. I walked into the bar area to help myself to menus and make sure they had seen us enter and sit at the table, it was then quite a wait before we were approached to place our order of food and drinks. At most, there were customers at 3-4 tables, that was all. Any competent front-of-house staff should easily manage that on their own. Even without the above-mentioned issues with my pizza, I would still feel the service was lacking. It wasn't busy a few other tables which came and went (and seemed happy with their meal) while I still waited. But the lack of communication about the problem really didn't help the situation. The lack of a "sorry" really sealed the deal for me.
Atmosphere
The restaurant has its own charm. Just set back from the main road it does have its challenges but they have tried. The best part of our visit was the musicians. Sorry, I can't remember their names but there was a DJ who asked us for random words and he made up a song/rap on the huff, and it was even good, and a beautiful singer. They sang a variety of styles and really made the wait slightly more tolerable. They also have a country singer that plays here quite frequently that I would love to watch, but while he is at this restaurant I will be missing out, I'll go somewhere else.
Overall thoughts
Any restaurant can have a bad night, I have worked in many restaurants, so I understand this. But if you do have a bad night, own it. Be proactive and own up to the customer, do not wait for the customer to come to you. A sincere apology and a small gesture goes a long way in goodwill. Personally, I would suggest the restaurant should not have charged for a pizza that took an hour longer than the first pizza. Yes, I did eat it, but at that point after waiting so long, I was really really really hungry, but the enjoyment was gone, especially with the pizza I received that I described above. Having had a busy day at work, I was so hungry by then, I would have eaten almost anything.
Alternate proposal. We had non-alcoholic fruit punch drinks, a couple of dollars each, the least the restaurant could have done was to have waived the cost of them from the bill. But, no. The bill was presented with everything charged at full price. We paid, in full, because I really do not like to have to make a fuss.
Based on our experience, we cannot recommend going here for pizza. Do not just take my word for it, read the other 1-star reviews they have, of which there are many over a long time period. Mine is not the only one saying these things. Make your own decision. There are lots of places serving pizza in Barbados, choose one that is competent and consistently good. It's pizza. It takes a couple of minutes to make at most and a couple of minutes to cook. An hour's wait is inexcusable in a pizza restaurant. Lots of the management replies on their Google map reviews say they will do better, but they are not. Maybe they are just hoping you are on the island for a few days you will brush it off as a bad night and then leave. But we are not. We are living in Barbados for at least 12 months. We have pizza maybe once a week as a treat, so if they had been good they would have had a regular customer. We can make a better pizza at home, so that is what we do. Way better pizza!
My advice is don't go to this restaurant. You will pay over BBD$100 for awful food, with awful service. Go anywhere else, literally anywhere else. I don't say this lightly. I have worked for lots of years in the catering industry.t I want to encourage people to eat at places doing excellent food. This establishment needs to have a serious look at itself. More staff training is needed, and a change of approach and offerings. A chef who takes an hour to send out the orders at the same table, when the order is 2 pizzas, in a place that specialises in pizza???...well frankly if it was me, I would not have that person in my kitchen. Somewhere doing good pizza in Barbados can be an absolute gold mine.
Have you found somewhere doing really great pizza in Barbados? Let me know in the comments.
Find more reviews for the West Coast of Barbados below
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