Ollie's — Restaurant in England

First visit last night. Got to say the experience was very, very good on all counts. You can count top restaurants in Torbay on one hand and this is one of them. To many it may perhaps seem a little expensive. It isn’t because you get what you pay for. Five of us dined, one a child and everything from start to finish was Michelin plate/ Bib Gourmand (whatever it’s called now) standard- service, drinks/ wine menu and most of all, the food. We had a mixture of starters including the ‘classic’ prawn cocktail, which was agreed as being very good in terms of the balance of the sauce in particular. Scallops were served in shells, again ‘classic’ style and were plentiful, very tender and the garlic butter base was perfect. Monkfish bites, pitted olives and sourdough all to the same standard. Main course chosen by both couples in the party was the Chateaubriand special, to share. This included two small glasses of house wine (good quality) and worked out at £30 each, including ‘chips’, which was very good value. Why? Well we had the meat medium rare, being nicely crusted and slightly blackened on the outside, the meat so tender inside and tasty. Great butcher, great cut, cooked to perfection. The chips were simply the best I’ve ever had. Fact. The only markdown was atmosphere- not the restaurants fault. Just the fact that there were only eleven diners in there- but it was a rainy Wednesday night in Torquay! Background music was good, Service was really good- the waitress was happy to engage out banter with a smiling face- that’s how the job is done. Top...

Incredibly disappointed. I feel like the foh staff judge you by your appearance. Wasnt busy yet we seemed to be the only table forgotten about! Left waiting for our drinks order, when the waitress finally came over she asked if we were ready to order food when we hadn't even ordered drinks. To start we had olives and the bread with "whipped" butter. The butter may have been whipped once but this had just came out of the fridge. It was solid, when you go to purnells, la Gaveroche, Simpsons any fine dining restaurant tbf. Whipped butter should be light as air! The waitress heard our complaints.. no check back, went to the 2 tables next to us multiple times even though at this point the plates were stacked and un eaten. This is usually a good indicator to do a check back. We got so frustrated we had to get up to find a waitress, payed for what we had and cancelled our mains. I feel ollies is trying desperately to be something its not.. if you're going to try and be fine dining you really need to have the service training to back it up. If you're looking for better service fine dining i recommend the orange tree and hands down best restaurant in Torquay is its a small world Tapas. Worth every penny and tip!!! And one last word of advice.. every customer should be treated equally and fairly. NEVER judge a book...

Overrated - not a good experience and won't be back. Waitress disinterested ......asked for white wine were told there was little choice left. Prices were high and quite frankly it's not worth it. Terrible under cooked pork chop verry fatty. Poor customer service, attention to detail bad - dirty mirror above the bar, basic toilet facilities. If you are charging these prices in a competitive bay - these things need to be addressed. Coffee ordered - Irish - couldn't taste whiskey sent it back. The guy who made it scowled at us. Won't go back - sorry but there are some amazing places in Torbay much more reasonable. We did not feel valued as customers. Was also very noisy so if you're after quiet relaxed ambience forget it. We have former experience in hospitality cannot recommend this place. Unfortunately had booked it for a special occasion but did not feel special. They had even run out of bread, though offered focaccia. Some tables were cramped. Location has no views - not their fault but again prices too high. Definitely spoilt husband's birthday celebration.

Since writing this review the owner has been in touch, to explain difficulty with supplier's re bread and wine. Also to apologise which we appreciate. Hopefully some things will be addressed, and we wish them well...