Bath Arms, Shearwater — Restaurant in England

Service was poor! Food was great, albeit on the pricey side, but the quality and portion sizes were fantastic. Unfortunately the kitchen is severely let down by the front of house staff. This may be because we were seated in a separate room to the rear since other people mention the staff being very attentive. Upon arriving we were sat and given menus, when asked what drinks we would like, i asked what ales were on tap, the response was 'Lots' followed by a blank stare, so i went to the bar to see for myself. There were 3 ales, surely not too many to remember! We also asked for 2 glasses of merlot, a couple of minutes later i was advised they don't sell merlot by the glass, but they have Malbec instead, that's fine. Another 5 minutes pass before they then tell me they don't have any Malbec, I was starting to get bored by this point so just asked a bottle of the merlot, and was instead given a bottle of Malbec! After returning to the table with our drinks, our food orders were then taken, and no issues here at all, food was brilliant, nice rare beef, succulent porchetta with crispy crackling, praise all round from our table. Unfortunately no one came to check how the food was so we didn't have an opportunity to ask for some table water, so another trip to the bar to ask. Politely mentioned to the manger that it would have been good to not have to come and ask, to which he was very grateful to be told this, as apparently so may people just leave bad reviews instead, but then he still didn't bring us any water!! 20 minutes after finishing the meal there was no sign of any staff again, so i went to the bar to ask for the bill, this was bought out fairly promptly. but after another 10-15 minutes it was clear there was card machine coming, so yet another trip the bar to pay. The staff are all very young and green, which is no problem if they a good manager to lead and train them, unfortunately this is sorely missing, instead he just flaps around. I expect a newly opened venue to have some teething issues, but they have been open for 4 months, so the service really should be up to...

Disappointing Service Despite Great Food

We visited The Bath Arms on Sunday, 2nd March, arriving at 2:30 pm for a pre-booked table. Unfortunately, the experience was let down by extremely slow service.

We ordered two Diet Cokes, which took 20 minutes to arrive and only came after we prompted the staff. For food, we ordered bread, Welsh rarebit, a meat roast, and a vegetarian mushroom Wellington—the latter being the main reason we booked. After waiting over an hour, we were then informed that the vegetarian mushroom Wellington was out of stock, despite the pub only being open for 2.5 hours. I was offered cabbage as a replacement, which felt like an afterthought rather than a proper alternative.

When the bread finally arrived, it was lovely, and the rarebit, which came quite a while later, was also good. I opted for just the roast sides instead of a full vegetarian meal, and they were excellent. My partner enjoyed the meat roast. We shared a dessert, which was also great.

While the food itself was fantastic, the overall experience was frustrating due to long waits and the lack of available vegetarian options. Given the prices, we expected better service, though we appreciated that one of the roasts and the rarebit were comped as an apology.

Sadly, despite the quality of the food, the poor service means we’re...

We went to the pub on pizza night and it was quite busy as it was a lovely sunny evening. The service staff were really helpful and friendly finding us a table near the pizza shack outside. After this things broke down. It took ages to get someone to come to take food orders. I ended up having to go to the bar for drinks. The manager was behind the bar and didn’t seem to do an awful lot - no mucking in to clear the bar orders. Food was ordered at the table but took ages to arrive. We must have seen two rounds of table covers go through before it did came out. Even thought we asked some of the staff - and tried ordering more drinks (ended up going to the bar again). We asked the manager and she’s seemed to say things were on their way a few times. In the end we got the food, which was lovely. We spoke to the manager again at the end when she asked for any desserts. All that time waiting and asking, she never said sorry for the slow service. We’ve had this a few times and it’s really noticeable - the manager will never apologise for any issues the pub has. I’ve no idea why. Any other restaurant will bend over backwards to make sure customers are happy. Particularly as it’s not cheap either. This place feels like there’s no sincerity in...