The Holt — Restaurant in East Devon

A lovely evening turned VERY disappointing. Having heard some really good things about The Holt, we were looking forward to some great food in a lovely atmosphere with excellent service and, for the most part, we were very happy. Most of the food was perfect. However, one of our party was coeliac, not gluten free for vanity or an attempt at a healthier lifestyle, but medically diagnosed coeliac. This was made abundantly clear during the pre order process and acknowledged by the excellent waitress on our arrival. Unfortunately, the veg curry she received was accompanied by some unordered pakoras which had been fried in the same oil as wheat products. This would our guest very ill. Luckily, she had the foresight to ask, the meal was made again, safely and illness was avoided, although she had to watch us eat while she waited. This, however, was not the issue. On receiving the bill, the offending pakoras were still there. I spoke to the waitress and she said she would speak to the manager who then sent the bill back to us with only the pakoras removed. I then asked to speak to the manager about the evening and was faced with an argumentative, arrogant and clearly very inexperienced young man who struggled with the idea that an apology, him taking responsibility or a cursory, compensatory removal of her meal from the bill was in any way the right thing to do. He relentlessly kept arguing that, "She didn't eat it," as a way of excusing himself. We will not be returning to The Holt because of this "manager's" words, inactions and complete lack of professionalism and understanding of hospitality. I must stress that the rest of the food was lovely and the other staff were brilliant. It's a real shame that one person was given the authority to ruin...

We found the Holt's catering side extremely substandard. The staff were ignorant of our early arrival although I'd informed the barmaid so, when I ordered drinks. After 30 minutes and another libation, we were shown to a upstairs table adjacent to a very happy & noisy group of young ladies. We ordered our meal and tried to have a conversation. After about ten minutes the lady (i'd informed of our arrival) manifested and enquired if we were the party that had booked for 8 pm, after affirming this, we asked if we could be moved as we could, 't hear ourselves speak. After another five minutes another waiter arrived moved us and took our order. I ordered a rib-eye steak and the usual garnishing, it arrived and at once I had doubts this was a Rib-eye steak. Any endeavour to enjoy this steak was futile the gristle binding it together was obviously some form of Titanium. I informed the waiter of this on one of his fleeting visits, he apologised profusely and retrieved another rib-eye from the kitchen, which proved to have better armour plating than the first. These steaks were definitely not rib-eye!! We decided to pay the bill and leave. The waiter condescendingly offered to omit the cost of one round of two drinks. I shall never frequent this establishment again and advise others to give it a wide berth until it regains the blue ribbon reputation it...

I came to The Holt with my family for a birthday meal. The prices per meal are quite expensive. I had a salmon starter, it was well presented and the poached egg was perfect but the salmon was surprisingly tasteless. My aunt had muscles and said they were nice but too salty. The bread on the table was nice. The venison starter was really good. I had the pork belly as a main, the crackling (my fave part) was the pale bubbly kind which is more like a crisp than crackling which was disappointing and I wasn’t sure what the little batter things were around the pork. The pork was beautifully cooked but you have to pay extra for a ‘side’ i.e. chips or potatoes, veg etc. which is disappointing considering the cost for just the main. The sea bass dish had chorizo and a broth that was too strong and overpowering and meant the subtle bass taste was lost in the dish. The venison main wasn’t particularly well presented but was cooked beautifully. The staff were well presented, polite and attentive. The restaurant is well presented and clean and the ladies toilets were finished to a good standard and clean.

Overall we were all a little disappointed that the food wasn’t as good as expected or as previously experienced. Especially considering the price. I probably wouldn’t eat there again unless the prices came down...