River Exe Cafe — Restaurant in England

What an anti-climax and disappointment. Go if someone else is paying and you’re plain hungry, don’t go if you’re expecting a culinary experience. We were treating friends to a thank you meal and this was our first time visit to the establishment having heard it was worth a trip, but it ended up being mildly embarrassing and didn’t live up to the treat we’d wanted for our friends at all. At an all-in cost of £75/head (incl water taxi and tip), honestly, we’d expected to be wowed, or at least come away thinking “we’d really like to go back again”. We can only think it was the chef’s night off and that they’d found a stand in by asking the first person they met on the quay… Maybe it being the end of the season, then someone's lost interest and focus? Anyway, where to start? The venue and location of course is excellent, a beautiful autumnal sunset and calm estuary water meant it was a lovely arrival. The service was fine throughout the evening, no complaints. But the huge let down was the average meal, honestly, we’re no foodies, but we could have done as well if not better ourselves if we’d stayed in and treated our friends at home. The crispy squid wasn’t crispy. The scallops at £5 ea. had their delicate flavour drowned out. And the catch of the day was plaice, barely the legal catch limit of 270mm, in fact it may even have been under. There was about 2oz of meat on each fish, when you lifted the backbone off expecting meat to remain on the plate, there was none, the cover on the fish was so thin, you resorted to scraping what little there was off the bone in desperation. And the compensation, way more samphire on the plate than you needed. The prep and presentation felt distinctly amateurish and average. And the petit fours were frankly cobbled together or bought in. There just wasn’t any finesse. We’d have been better off at Rockfish or Neils in Sidmouth which would have been far less cost and better fish quality. So sorry River Exe restaurant, we didn’t have a good time. We’re not the kind of people to make a fuss, but had we been there by ourselves and not taking friends out for a meal, we’d have sent our main course back. We can only hope this was a one off blip and that we were just plain unlucky. But we won’t be rushing back unless someone...

We went here for the 1st time in 2012 & hadn't been back until yesterday. Mostly due to the lovistics of getting there & table availability. This is a seasonal restaurant (open April - September,) housed on a man-made raft / barge in the middle of the River Exe. When you manage to book a table, they automatically reserve a return water taxi to get you there. You queue for your booked Puffin Water Taxi at Exmouth Marina. The skippers have a list of the confirmed bookings. You pay them £8 return fare per adult. The boats are easy to board & I saw passengers with walking sticks have no issues getting into / off them. The journey to the restaurant takes 20-25 minutes. Your return water taxi will be booked for 2 hours after you get to the restaurant. That allows plenty of time to relax & dine. We were offered either an inside or outside table; we chose the latter as the weather was hot / dry. If you choose an outside table but then feel cold, the staff can provide blankets etc for you to borrow. Due to its unique location, this is predominantly a seafood restaurant but they also have a good selection of meat / vegetarian & vegan menu choices. Highlights for us were our crispy calamari & goats curd with beetroot, peaches & nuts starters. They offer sharing platters for 2, with or without a whole lobster (costs an extra £49.) Be aware that starters are approx £12 & mains range from £20 each (sides of fries / veggies are extra unless stated.) Good selection of soft & alcoholic drinks plus teas & coffees. We chose locally made Granny Gothards ice creams for pudding, which are served in single, sealed tubs (not scoops.) If you still have some of your drink left & you have to board your taxi, you can take them with you onto the boat. The skipper will then return the glasses on their next trip. If you are visiting Exmouth, I'd definately recommend that...

It's just a tourist trap. Nothing special whatsoever about this place. All so average for the expensive menu and you have to pay £5 for water taxi back to the Marina. Three hours of my life I will never get back. I could go on for 3 hours about all the failers of a place that charges too much and can't deliver. It's was a joint wedding anniversary and booked and surely noted by the taxi attended who said happy anniversary. After that it went downhill. We arrived and were sat down and we felt like sitting in a nightclub as loud dance music was playing. This is obviously more for the young staff and not for the customers who like the more easy listening background music while they chat and spend lots of money. Forever where we telling the waitress to turn the music down. Looked at the menu and shocking price for Oysters, Harrods are better value and experience. The crab was OK but the new potatoes were like soft mush in water. Haddock was good but batter over cooked. Chips were like cheap budget chips, Hard and tasteless. Sharing platter £65 for just a fish, few mussels and prawns and only two small pieces of bread. Then the icing on the cake! The place advertises its fine dining lol, it's totally the opposite (while leaving the toilet making you feel more dirty than when you went in). Ordered a cheese board for £13.50. Yes only enough cheese for one with a very small appetite but the crackers for cheese were just from a Jacobs cream cracker selection. Not even a nice digestive or artisan biscuits for that price! At this point I wanted to jump overboard. The young untrained members of staff who don't know their menu or customers didn't say or do anything to acknowledge our special anniversary. We all couldn't...