The Hourglass Devizes — Restaurant in England

1 star! Booked a table for food, ordered a drink at the bar and the lady said she just needs to change the barrel, whilst our food was on the table getting cold we stood and waited for about 4-5 minutes and still no return, another lady came and asked if we’d like to sit down and they will bring the drinks over to us. A good 15-20 minutes later the lady comes to the table and asks us what the drinks were that we tried to order to start with to which I replied “most of my food has been eaten now bit late to be asking that” no apology or if there was one it was very soft and inaudible, I continued to say what drinks we asked for as it wasn’t just me I was just making a point of having nearly enough time to finish a whole meal (which I’ll get onto in a moment) before - not bringing the drinks - but re asking what drinks we originally ordered… On the table I felt really cramped my elbows kept banging others elbows next to me, seats weren’t overly comfy and was surrounded by a wasp for my whole meal, I would normally put that down to being unlucky but I have noticed a couple of reviews mentioning wasps so it seems like you have an underlying issue there.

Fish and chips, mostly batter, however the fish was fresh but why should I give you another star because the fish is fresh? That’s what you expect especially paying one of, if not the highest price for fish and chips in Devizes! Inside the battered fish was lots of uncooked batter making it very hard to stomach and even leaving a lot of fish skin on the fish itself (not overly fussed about that but when you’re portion size is an issue to start with then this is a fair comment in my opinion - some may like the skin… who knows) The chips were okay, nothing special however felt like a few more should’ve been on the plate! That is yet again referring back to portion size for price of course…

On top of all of that when we were on our way out we were told about the unpaid drinks (yeah that’s right! the ones that turned up 20 minutes later than they should’ve!) after originally complaining at the table saying about nearly eating all of my food by the time the drinks arrived, I’d of expected anywhere else would’ve given the drinks on the house stressing the annoyance however that’s NOT why I have chosen to write another paragraph about the drink situation, the reason is because they couldn’t even remember what drinks we had when we were leaving/coming to pay for the lately delivered drinks! They actually asked us what it was we had so we could pay them

To summarise the hourglass -Organisation seems to be a real issue Communication doesn’t come far behind that Over all service could be improved lots… -Food portion for price absolutely terrible -Atmosphere was awful in an attempt to look cute, inviting and quite frankly poncey, the experience was far from that once being sat at the table with a wasp and banging elbows and feeling cramped!

The feel almost felt as if it was a cheap kiddies birthday party especially the way the table was laid. For the prices you charge and service you provide you’d expect a little more than to feel like you’ve been to a kids birthday party come on…. Absolute rip off even with the price of things on the rise! your money will be spent better literally anywhere else (pub wise) in Devizes I think the only thing that saves you is the location and scenery. It’s...

The Hour Glass appears to have really gone down hill lately, we visited for a Sunday breakfast yesterday morning, and what a massive disappointment!

Breakfast turned up looking pretty unappetising! The bacon was rock hard, we had no mushrooms, the sausages were dry (and unusual), the tomato looked like it had been cooked and left hanging around for a while & the toast was rather strange, cold and spongey!

Our waitress however was friendly and helpful, she organised fresh bacon and mushrooms, and dealt with the situation well.

This was my second disappointing visit within weeks, maybe I shouldn't have returned, however we thought we would give the Hour Glass another go, however it appears that something needs to seriously change or they'll be losing many customers!

To top it off, the hand dryer in the toilet still didn't work, as per my last visit.

All in all, it's sad to see a pub that used to serve excellent food and deliver great service appear to deteriorate so much, a very disappointing visit!

Following on from my review above, I thought I would share an update following my discussion with Chamila, who is the Hour Glass owner/manager.

I’m disappointed, as despite an in-depth discussion about so many aspects of our breakfast being so poor (not only the rock hard bacon that was replaced), whereby Chamila informed me he was in the kitchen that morning, he remembered our experience, he acknowledged how poor it was and offered to refund the cost of our breakfasts.

However after chasing him for 2 weeks as no refund was received, he is now saying that as the issue with the food was corrected at that time, (referring to one issue of many, the bacon) and I had written a bad review to the public, the Hour Glass management do not accept that they need to issue a refund!

This response bears no resemblance to our discussion.

I did receive another message offering a 25% refund, however as I replied, this is no longer about getting a refund, it's about providing honest feedback, having an honest discussion, and the situation being dealt with in a professional manner. In my opinion this situation has been really disappointing and has been dealt with poorly!

Goodness knows what the future holds for the Hour Glass if this continues, so sad as this pub used to offer great food with great service, I won’t...

The setting by the canal is so lovely, but everything else was so disappointing. We came for breakfast at about 9.30 on a Sunday morning and we were one of four tables. Service was quite slow and could be better organised. There was only one member of staff, and when she took our drinks order, we said we were ready to order food. She wanted to do the drinks first, so then went away and spent a little while getting the drinks together, when the kitchen could have been working on our food order if she’d let us order at the same time. The drinks order was then incorrect but no biggie. We asked if we could order beans on toast off menu for the one year old, were very grateful that this was fine, and asked if it could be brought out first for her. It took 45 minutes for her food to come out, which was a very long wait considering how quiet it was, and we did have to chase. Then half our meals came, and one of the full englishes was missing the sausages, so we had to go and ask for that. It took another ten minutes for the remaining meals to be delivered, and we weren’t offered sauces etc. The food itself was really not great - I had the eggs florentine and the eggs were undercooked, and the yolk of one had congealed in the plate. The muffin taste stale. The rest was not as bad, but still pretty mediocre. The waitress was by herself and although struggling was very pleasant, and the food isn’t expensive, but we would not consider returning. To be honest, it was the kind of experience where we felt embarrassed to have taken our guests.

Oh and the wasps! You really need to put some wasp traps in the...