The Marine — Restaurant in East Devon

Where to start….. Saturday night ruined.

Awful food, terrible service and an accident waiting to happen.

At first we were greeted in by a hand gesture from afar and pointed to sit at a table. As two people who have worked in hospitality for over 6 years we can safely say this didn’t sit right nor feel welcoming.

A girl ventured over to take our order within 2 minutes of sitting down. We asked for tap water, 2 drinks, olives, a seafood platter and a pizza. The tap water never arrived. Drinks (1 beer 1 wine) took 10-15 minutes to arrive which was very shortly followed by the food due to the long wait.

The olives were awful and served in a drinking glass, the seafood platter turned out to be an overpriced salad… no platter in sight. The pizza was worse than a co-op bought oven pizza, completely dry and the garlic was burnt to a crisp. We were not offered any sauces or asked how our meal was. When we questioned the hideousness of the ‘platter’ we were provided with a menu from a silent waitress to prove that we had ordered the correct item.

My other half returned from the bathroom to fall off his chair as we were seated on a raised platform that was so close to the edge. The waitresses who were stood behind him did not even bother to ask if he was okay and proceeded to stand together.

When we had finally had enough a waitress came over to ask if we had finished, we said we had and asked for the bill, to be told to go to the bar and pay on our way out. Our plates were not even taken from us at that point.

The barman kindly asked how our evening was and when we said not great, he asked why. We kindly joked that he didn’t have time to hear about it and he didn’t seem surprised and was very apologetic.

As a couple from the industry we are always more than patient and polite when it comes to being served as we can appreciate the hard work. However, after numerous lockdowns and not being able to enjoy the social aspects of venturing out for quite some time, we can safely say this didn’t feel acceptable and haven’t been so disappointed in a long time.

Basically, don’t waste your...

We were impressed by the menu on this restaurant's website, and had high hopes. Reality was a bit more of a curate's egg.

The menu on the night didn't have quite a few items shown online, and was limited to 4 starters, pizzas and 3 "mains". The dishes I fancied online were unavailable, and the specials board was blank.

The service was good. A couple of mistakes, but quickly and politely corrected. The waiting staff were working very hard, and I have no complaints at all.

The olives were of only one variety, (not the three shown on the menu), but we're of good quality.

The pizzas were fairly authentic Italian, and ok.

Our table was VERY sticky. I suspect this was because of strictly enforced hygiene requirements between customers, (I have noticed a lot of sticky tables since the pandemic started), but it made touching the table quite unpleasant. Some paper placemats would help.

The wine we ordered was unavailable, and the replacement, (we had a NZ Pinot Noir), tasted about the same quality as a £7 bottle from a supermarket, but cost £27.

I don't want to be totally negative about the restaurant, (I can forgive a lot for the good service), but this place is overpriced and under-delivering. This could be sorted with some...

After last nights abysmal meal, we chose to try the Marine for our last night here. We'd drink there every other day and always received excellent service. So...we booked in for a meal. As is the way in Sidmouth, at 7.15 the bar was full, and the staff working efficiently. We ordered the prawn and crayfish cocktail for starters, I had the lemon sole for main, hubby had the trip of Brixham fish...gunard, John dory and sole....with new and sautéed potatoes, lemon hollandaise sauce and caper sauce. The retro prawn cocktail was excellent, fresh prawns and crayfish tails, crisps salad, great sauce and lovely warm granary bread. The mains. ..my lemon sole and seasonal veg was delicious, hubby's trio was delicious, with only the gunard slightly overcooked. For dessert we had the treacle tart and biscoffe cheesecake. Both too good...and too calorific. If you visit Sidmouth..come here ..sit outside during the day and enjoy the wonderful view, in the evening dine here. It's well worth it. Finally, I must mention Brody the manager. He and his colleague handle the whole bar and front of house between them with skill, professionalism, humour and a ready smile. Worth the...