Torridge
Old Market Inn

Old Market Inn

Chapel Street, EX22 6BP, Torridge, United Kingdom

Pub • Lunch • Drinks • British


"Had dinner here just stopping through on our way home from our holiday on Friday 23rd August. We rang in advance to make sure that there were tables, but were told that they weren’t busy and we could just turn up. We came in through the back from the car park which goes straight into the restaurant area, where it was completely empty. Husband immediately said “shall we go somewhere else?” Pointing out the utterly filthy carpet in the restaurant but as it was late and we had 3 tired and hungry children with us we decided to just stay put and hope for the best. Asked at the bar if we could order food, to be met with a flapping barmaid explaining that the lone waiter was already busy taking another tables order and we would have to wait about half an hour. Seemed a bit of a strange thing to say seeing as the restaurant was completely empty, and we were a bit bewildered that it would take that long just because another table of 4’s order was being taken? I then asked if we just needed to go and sit at a table but she said we needed to sit in the front area, order our food there and then we would be taken through to the restaurant area when the food was ready. Quite a strange set up and not very practical when you have 3 children, one of whom is an energetic 2 year old who kept trying to run directly out of the front door which led straight onto a busy main road. Asked the waiter if we could just sit in the restaurant but he sheepishly said we needed to wait until the food was ready. After a lengthy wait we finally got ushered through to the very dated restaurant, it seriously needs revamping. The floor is awful and the frilly table cloths look about a hundred years old. Two of the kids had lasagna, both of which we had to remove the top layer of because it had obviously been microwaved to within an inch of its life and had gone rock hard. Other child had fish bites and chips which were fine. I had the steak, which was tasteless and tough. I ordered with sautéed potatoes but it got brought out with chips. It had taken so long that I couldn’t be bothered to complain in the end and just had the chips. One thing I did refuse to pay for though was the “red wine steak sauce” which cost an extra £3 or so. It was literally brown salty water. They did refund this with no questions. Husband had the lasagna which was again burnt and then microwaved to a crisp and unseasoned. All in all it was pretty disappointing and definitely not worth the money we paid for it. Would not recommend, I’m sure there are far better places to go and eat around there than here!"