The Merchant - East Devon

Served by Tod who was great took time to talk to us. That food was well cooked this was our third visit we will be back next time we visit Devon

My family has visited this restaurant a few times while on vacation in the area, and it has always been just okay, nothing special. However, during our last visit for lunch on a Tuesday, we were a bit disappointed. We were informed that there would be a 30-minute wait for our food, which was fine. The staff was friendly. We placed our order through the app and 30 minutes later our food arrived. I ordered scampi with fries. The scampi was decent, but the fries were terrible. It seemed like it was time for them to change the oil. They looked dark and stale, as if they had been cooked in dirty oil or reheated. On a positive note, my mom had the tikka and she loved it, saying that the naan bread was the best she's ever had.

We booked a table for 4 adults at 7pm on a Saturday night. The pub was fairly busy but there were empty tables. When we went to order the food, a lot of items were unavailable. We were told there was a hour wait for food but ended up waiting a hour and 40 minutes. The manager was trying his best, it was clear they were just short staffed. The food was definitely not worth the wait, would not return.

There was a group of about 10 of us all ordering food, baring in mind we were one of the only people in there (few people just having drinks) we ordered at 12pm at the beginning of lunch service our food took about 40 mins- over an hour coming in dribs and drabs, 2 meals would come then 15 mins later another 2, no apology or anything, when the last of the meals came we requested our children’s desserts which then took another 30 mins to come out (just a scoop of ice cream), the manager seemed very rude and just not bothered about pleasing customers, I went up to the bar about 3 times asking where food was, and was just told it’s on its way (which it obviously wasn’t). Staff just walking around in their own clothes no uniform so you didn’t even know who worked there or not. Not welcoming, slow service, average food won’t be coming here again

Don’t even go there! Food took best part of an hour, we were told 30 -40 minutes. When it arrived the lasagne was cold, had runny sauce and looked like it hadn’t ever been near a cow, it resembled a babies bottom dooo dooo! The chicken and chorizo pie, was warm, bland and the chips anaemic! My steak, arrived blue, looked as though it had hovered over the grill for seconds, I asked for medium rare, clearly the chefs need a little training! It’s not hard! Even the man behind the bar agreed. We were offered drinks, but he asked for a refund. Horrific! Needless to say we left and went to Weatherspoons, which was brilliant and half the price, with drinks! Take a leaf out of their book!