Review:

Looking for somewhere different to celebrate the parents wedding anniversary this year just after xmas. We booked for 12 adults for Dec 29th Fri Evening. We decided to visit with a couple of friends recently just to try it out never having been before. We booked a table for 4 people for 20.30hrs. We arrived at about 19.40hrs and were shown to the drinks area to await the food order being taken. Not until approx 21.00 (30mins late) did they take our food orders. At 21.30 (1 hr late) we were shown to our table which was cold and near a drafty pair of doors, just after sitting down the waitress arrived to ask one of the party how she wanted her steak cooked (this was cleary stated with the original food order).I asked the waitress to find out why we were 1 hour behind our booked time but got no response at all. We were moved across the room, when the food eventually arived at 21.50hrs( 1 hr 20 mins after our original booking time) it was no more than just ok with limited potatoes and vegetables for 4 people.
After the meal we went to the bar to pay and immediately cancel the anniversary booking for 12, to which the waitress showed no concern at all as to why we had cancelled I hope they can afford to turn away a booking for 12 adults.
Neil & Patricia Caunter

Review:
I was delighted to discover this fantastic restaurant over looking Torquay Bay and straight out to Brixham. For my starter i had Garlic Mushrooms, that were cooked to perfection and really did 'melt in the mouth' My partner had BBQ ribs, and they were great too! A little spicy for my taste, but my patner assured me that they were just right! As for the main course, OH MY GOD! 1lb steak, for only £12.50! And the chef even came out to ask me how rare i wanted my steak! The sauce was perfect, not too overpowering, it came with a choice of potatoes and mixed vegetables!Wow! I really am fussy when it comes to steaks and this supassed all but my favourite restaurant, and they have been serving me for ages! Follow that with a great chocolate torte and cheap drinks! Even better.

Review:
Our daughter has just moved to Ottery St Mary with her family, so expect a surge of West Country reviews from me. Ottery is a nice little town, birthplace of S T Coleridge, and far less precious and touristy than you might expect. They do have two tea shops, Seasons and Poppys. We went to Poppy's once and it was fine, but E and her children have fallen in love with Seasons, so we went there three times in a week.

Review:

Its a surprisingly long road, Babbacombe Rd, and when I finally got there, the name was different (no, I can't remember what it was). To me, this is what I would call a local restaurant, although not being in Islington, it wouldn't be one to Time Out it seems*. The menu mentions using local produce where possible and the mushrooms I had to start certainly had more flavour than I'm used to in the plastic-packed variety. The venison was served with a very nice sauce but the meat would have benefitted from a bit more hanging. The rhubarb cheesecake was very, well, rhubarb-y and worked very well. If they too can get over the vegetable side-plate disease**, this would be a wonderful little restaurant. Approved. The 3rd Man

Review:
This really is ‘old school’ Hotel food that is grossly over priced. This is a family run restaurant and it would seem that no-one in control of the menu has ever been to a good restaurant. To focus on the good points the service was excellent, and the food plentiful, but that is fine if you are paying half the menu price or less. I don’t live in Torquay, but I have shopped in the local Sainsbury’s and if I can buy Rocket, Watercress, Baby Leaf Spinach, endive pre washed in bags, then what is Iceberg Lettuce doing underneath my overcooked squid? The Scallops starter special would have been average if it was scooped out of foil from the microwave, but at £5.95 I expect a little more.

Review:

A happy coincidence between a pre-season friendly and a voluntary redundancy meant a long weekend in Torquay. I chose the Grand Hotel in the hope of stepping back to the days of Empire. In many ways I wasn't to be disappointed. The hotel is large and rambling, something the new-looking reception does little to offset. After the train journey, dinner in the hotel's Gainsborough Restaurant was first on my list of Torquay experiences. The first problem might have been the dress code - I was down for the football, packing decent clothes had not been high on my to do list. My sheepish demeanour may have helped as my black t-shirt and black jeans appeared to just about pass muster. This is definitely an hotel restaurant but it hasn't escaped broader influences.

Review:
I needed post-match food. I failed to find the only Austrian restaurant in the westcountry so I settled for the easy life of an American eatery, you know, Mexican/Cajun/Burgers etc. I think the big warehouse that furnishes curry houses all over the country is branching out. The decor is standardised - I could have been anywhere really, except possibly Mexico but we'll gloss over that. I started with quesadillas which came on a huge plate on a mountain of lettuce - an enormous amount for a starter.

Review:

At last - the perfect Country Pub. Seven of us on Good Friday meant we were enough to sample a fair cross section of the menu, and not a dud amongst them - everybody was happy. We asked about the "Welsh Dragon Pie" it was a vegan dish involving lentils, vegetables and chilli and the two people who had it said it was far, far better than it sounded. S had steak and chips, which arrived exactly as ordered and disappeared very quickly. The only problem with H's Battered Cod was "too much batter " but there was plenty of cod too. H is far more adventurous with food than most 12 year olds, and had decided to have spuds dauphinoise instead of chips with her cod, and she loved them. I had them with my Steak and Kidney Pudding, which I ordered because you so rarely find it on menus. Just for once, my mental picture accorded exactly with what came on the plate: a round pud, evidently home made, the size of a grapefruit, with a light but rich suet crust, and inside, oozing with rich, brown gravy, a tender mixture of slow cooked steak and melting kidney. Dauphinoise and steamed veg. The price for this plate of deep joy was an extortionate £6.95! Poor A, who is only 10 had a nasty cough and didn't really want anything, so we ordered a plate of chips for her. And then we ate them for her! By this time we were on to the second bottle of house red the dessert menu was circulating. I can't remember what the others had - sorry - but mine was a home made mixture of vanilla ice cream, meringue and caramel which was far, far better than it sounds. S had coffee, which came with enough mint chocs for us all to have one each.

Review:

We went once to the previous restaurant on this site, before it closed last year. It wasn't bad, but they only opened three evenings a week. "There isn't enough trade to justify any more" the proprietor complained. I can see their point, but if you turn up on spec to eat at some new place and find it closed, how likely are you to get out a pen and paper and make a note of which three evenings it is open ? Even if you do, how likely are you to retain that bit of paper ? Even if you do, how likely are you to...well, you catch my drift.