Cobb Arms — Restaurant in England

I didn't want to leave a bad review as I believed that my fiancée and I along with the manager on duty had come to an understanding by the end of the incident however it has soured our evening to such an extent that I felt that I should at least write here. We went in and were looking forward to a nice meal. We ordered, the starters arrived and all was well. However, the portion size was generous and we ended up feeling full after just the starter. This usually doesn't happen with me. I am usually very eager for food but we were both so stuffed that we decided to cancel the mains.

Usually in restaurants this is no big deal however the manager on duty took this as a slight and at first demanded that we pay for the whole meal. I refused, citing the fact that we as customers can refuse anything that hasn't yet arrived at our table and we don't have to accept anything that we don't want. He grudgingly accepted this but ended up getting argumentative with us.

First things first, never argue with your customers. Not only does it ruin their evening but also leaves a bad impression for customers nearby. Secondly, if a customer cancels an order, don't then passive aggressively kick them out.

We both said our apologies to one another, I most certainly don't like to be that guy but I also am not one to be pushed around and if staff get unpleasant with me I will dig my heels in. Will we be back? Probably not.

This being said, I do want to make a positive case for some parts of our experience.

The food is good and of a generous portion. We had a portion of ravioli nachos and the mixed seafood. The ravioli nachos were well flavoured, the sauce that came with them was spicy but without being overpowering. They were a unique starter and went down a treat.

The seafood, so my fiancée assures me was also of good quality.

The ladies who were on duty were pleasant and attentive. The ratio of waiting staff to our table was such that there were always 2-3 staff in close proximity to the table. They were exceptionally apologetic on their manager's behalf.

Overall, I'd give our experience a 4/10. I appreciate that Alfie is apparently the owner's son but that doesn't excuse that behaviour and he should to use a colloquial term 'wind his neck in'. I used to work in customer service and whilst I appreciate that wasted food can be annoying, it happens and you shouldn't get flustered over it. Your customers don't deliberately set out...

Staff were friendly but stressed. Serving locals before visitors waiting before them and ignoring people at one counter which became irritating. Getting and keeping their attention took a bit of engagement.

The beer selection was quite limited, below average to taste and too warm. I have had the same beer taste much better so.not much care taken on that aspect.

Their food choices looked varied but proved fairly poor to eat. I ordered a diet coke for one of us and a non diet one was provided, staff were too busy to think. The food was served fairly quickly but that turned out not to be as good as it seemed.

Their card processing machine will not work when someone there is on the main pub/hotel phone (which is constantly), so we had to pay by cash. Make sure you have cash for what you need, which is not always easy as only one cash machine in town (at Tesco Express).

Food was quite poor which was a shame. It was not just average pub food but below standard and cost £38 for two which was one main course, side & a drink each. I do not mind that price at all for decent fare but the food was at a level of a more basic pub.

The Strogonoff was a bland beef stew with no pepper or garlic (the base also for curry and pie most likely). It had raw, undressed onion and peppers with it which nobody wants. On arrival the garlic bread was extremely burnt on both pieces making it inedible but served anyway. My hake was cooked freshly and was therefore okay. The seasonal vegetables I ordered to accompany my hake had been cooking so long they were mushy. Clearly they have people cooking who do not know better, but many people eating will. We did not finish the food.

The staff were nice but that's the only positive really. I wish we could say we had a better experience. We did not stay for any more drinks which was a shame as we anticipated doing so at first.

I wish them better for the future. The staff work hard and were trying their best but looked underhanded. Some may enjoy the place, but there are better locally and for the price it was not good enough.

Overall it feels more like a day time cafe than a night time restaurant inside. Okay when you have a young family to eat fast, but now our kids are grown up and doing their own thing, this is not really somewhere to relax and enjoy when it is busy.

Their commitment to gluten free and non allergy triggering food is notable, thanks for that...

On holiday in Charmouth and the Cobb Arms was recommended to us. We are a family of 4, our kids are 18 and 14. On arrival at around 3 pm it wasn't very busy so getting a table was no trouble. Got a round of London priced drinks in, I mean £4.40 for a pint of cider.... The bar staff were working there socks off and the young lady who served me was professional and cheerful even though she looked wiped out; apparently the lunchtime rush had been manic. The specials board was a treasure trove of dishes but we had fish stew. The waiting time wasn't excessive but it felt it as a large family group had taken over the bar area and their kids toddler to preteen were running around all the tables unsupervised. Neither parents or staff did anything about them, not what you expect in a licenced public house. My daughters ploughman's lunch looked nice but the cheese was mainly processed and straight out of a sweaty packet the rest was a good portion and a good selection. My lads fisherman's lunch was a generous portion of crabmeat both light and dark, a portion of prawns in a standard marie rose sauce with a small green leaf salad and 2 great big chunks of bread. So not much of a selection. The fish stew was stewed unfortunately, it came in a nice cream sauce and contained chunky bits of haddock, salmon, an unknown white fish, mussels and prawns..... Well I had mussels and my wife got the prawns, so no portion control. It came with a couple of pieces of really chunky rustic bread which were delicious with the sauce. However the haddock had been around the buoy a few too many times and wasn't edible so a great deal of time was spent fishing it out both from the bowl and mouth. When asked how it was I mentioned the haddock and apparently they would tell the chef. So overall: decor and location are nice, bar staff are excellent, drinks are in clean glasses and good but should be at their prices. Food expensive and all but ruined by lack of attention to detail and trying to make ingredients go in the pot...