West Devon
Lewtrenchard Manor

Lewtrenchard Manor

Lewdown EX20 4PN, West Devon, United Kingdom

Vegan • Hotels • British • European


"We visited the restaurant to celebrate our anniversary when on a trip to the area recently. The person who took our booking was really warm and friendly, noted that it was our anniversary and led us to expect that we were going to have a...really special experience. This was not to be. On arriving at the restaurant we were offered the choice of a drink in the bar first. Wanting a full evening's experience we accepted, only to be ushered into a small quiet room with a drinks cabinet in the corner and asked what we wanted with no sight of a drinks menu. The person serving us was cold and disinterested. She stared at us blankly when we tried to make conversation. She had little to say when we asked about a local gin on the menu and she made no effort to make us aware of anything special on offer. It was a missed opportunity, as we were out for an occasion and willing to spend money to celebrate. No sense of occasion was provided, no questions asked about us or why we were visiting. We were really disappointed to find out that the tasting menu we had specifically visited for stopped serving at 7:30pm. Nothing was written on the website about this, nor was it mentioned when our reservation was made. It seems a very early time to cut off your signature offering. Our food orders were taken in the bar and we were left sitting awkwardly in the bar for quite a while, with no explanation of whether we would be eating in there or shown to a table. We were later shown into the dining room which was completely lacking in atmosphere. It was so quiet that we found ourselves whispering to each other. It was not a warm or welcoming space at all. We got the sense that we were the only diners that weren't guests of the hotel. It was so lacking in atmosphere that we could hear everyone else's conversations around us including the couple next to us who were complaining about their meal. The service felt very rushed with no space between courses. We were the last to dine (we booked for 8:15). We got the feeling that the staff wanted to get us through our meal and out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. We found our waiter a bit patronising. The starter was nice but we found our main course very small and a bit bland. The food wasn't very warm. It's the sort of menu that sounds great on paper but doesn't live up to expectations. We could have had another drink in the bar but by the end of the meal we just wanted to get out of the place because we felt so uncomfortable. It's a shame, as with the right atmosphere and service we'd have happily ordered more drinks and stayed on. As it was, our food was served to us so quickly that neither of us had finished our first glass of wine before we'd had our dessert. We weren't enjoying being there and we were glad to leave."

Taw River Inn And Holiday Cottage

Taw River Inn And Holiday Cottage

Sticklepath, EX20 2NW, West Devon, United Kingdom

Pub • Fish • Steak • British


"Our 'local ' for a week 's stay apart from one young 'lady ' behind the bar on a particular afternoon who needs to brush up on her customer service attitude the staff were friendly enough efficient. We ate at the pub on a couple of occasions during our stay it would have been more but we didn 't book ahead other than for the Sunday lunch (didn 't do roasts at the time which was .....different). Was almost totally booked out for food otherwise during the week that is despite there being a separate dining room to the bar eating area. It meant that if you hadn 't snagged a table you had to stand to have a drink in the middle of the busy bar room the popularity with local people meant that it was unlikely to be 'at the bar ' as invariably the bar seats which ringed the length of the bar, apart from the service hatch, were already taken. A dedicated serving only area would have been useful as you had to push in over seated drinkers at times to get your glasses on the bar. I doubt the fact that the Devonshire Inn nearby never seemed to be open affected the volume of customers. The couple of meals we had were good to very good for the price as said we would have eaten at the Taw River on more occasions had space allowed there certainly was an extensive menu to ensure you wouldn 't need to have the same thing twice on a week 's holiday. There wasn 't any marked delay from ordering to receiving the food that 's despite being so busy so a definite thumbs up. Good range of beers available again reasonably priced for the area. It is a very dog friendly pub so as long as you don 't mind eating near a pooch then that would be OK. The pub building was characterful without being ancient with some nice features. The fire in the main bar would be very attractive in the winter, I 'm sure. Sports fans are well catered for with 2 TVs in the main bar but in my experience, they were only on at non intrusive times, e.g. not during Sunday lunch! I understand there is a large beer garden but due to the foul weather we had all week we didn 't bother to seek it out."