Bill's Exeter Restaurant — Restaurant in Exeter

Lovely food (for the most part), but the evening was totally spoiled by disinterested and blatantly rude staff...

We recieved a warm and friendly welcome at the front desk from the manager, and was taken to a cosy table in the corner upstairs. The place looked busy, the staff we had met so far were friendly... off to a good start. Our waitress for the evening brought us some drinks while we waited for the rest of our party. All good so far.

Unfortunately, the beer I ordered was warm, no biggie, I asked if they could swap it for a refrigerated bottle (the least I'd expect having paid an extortionate 7.25 for a bottle of peroni)... and that was it. From that moment on, our waitress for the evening treated myself, and the rest of the party with utter contempt. All smiles at other tables, checking in on them, then a rushed huff when seeing to us. Heaven forbid we wanted more drinks, we had to chase and stop her to ask, and even then it was met by an eye roll, and drinks returned with a slam on the table and a sigh.

We were nothing but polite all evening, but from the second I requested a cold beer, she had made her mind up that we were a problem table.

We decide to skip starters and get mains. For the most part, the food was delicious. The chicken twice was fantastic, the burgers looked great, and the guys at the table with meatballs swore they were some of the best they had ever had! Unfortunately the macoroni cheese came out cold, we would have let the waitress know, but she never came to ask us if the food was OK (and she was angry enough as it is).

I reluctantly asked for another beer, which was slammed on the table, and was again warm. I didn't dispute it, I didn't have chance. The waitress stormed off in her now familiar fashion before I could touch the bottle.

She eventually offered us desert menus, but 20 minutes later, we still didn't have menus in hand, so I cheekily collected them myself. The deserts were fantastic. I had mentally scored the visit 2 stars due to the waitress. But at this moment in time, the dessert earned back the 3rd.

Then came the bill. We noticed the sneaky 12.5% service charge (come on bills, nobody likes that), which we collectively agreed was not deserved. Of our group, atleast half had worked in hospitality, and all are usually generous tippers (probably 20%+ on average) But the audacity to assume a 12.5% tip, given the horrendous service, rubbed us all up the wrong way. I politely asked for the warm beer and cold sides to be removed from the bill, and the manager came over to talk to me.

Now the manager, to his credit, was extremely polite and understanding. He apologised for the food, and asked about the service. I was honest and said we weren't happy and explained why. Again he apologised, and admitted what we experienced wasn't good enough. He was a little perplexed as to the waitresses hurriedness, admitting she only had 3 tables to look after. But he assured he would have a word with her. I was keen to sing praise for the rest of the food which was accepted graciously.

That should have been that. We paid our bill separately using the app, got up to leave, when (I assume another manager, short, bearded, abrupt) rushed over to tell us we hadn't paid everything. We asked what was left unpaid, he could not tell us. We worked our way though the entire bill, and could account for everything. But this mystery charge remained. We reluctantly gave the benefit of the doubt and paid.

Cherry on the cake, as we were leaving, this bearded guy stood by the door and sarcastically said "See you all again soon!" Before muttering "or not", which was heard by the 3 girls at the tail end of our group.

For 3 of us. This was our first experience of bills. For the other 4, this was an excited 2nd visit. Having raved about the great food and staff from their last visit a few months ago. Needless to say we all left extremely let down.

Maybe the sneaky service charge has removed the incentive to actually earn a tip?...

Todays adventure taken us to bills restaurant for “brunch” and I had high expectations, my last bills visit was a fair few years ago now. But fair to say it wasn’t anything like I remembered.

I ordered a “bills big brunch” so let’s talk about the food. Firstly it came on a large serving bowl type dish! What’s happened to a decent plate these days? The plate was so busy personally dint look stylish as a plate of food goes. I’m not going to just slate everything because there was some good bits to this dish, but starting with the sausage yes just 1 undersized Lancashire sausage, small pot of beans, 3 rashers of streaky bacon, some grilled mushrooms, plenty of fried potatoes, a nice slide of black pudding and a raw Cricket ball sized tomato?, certainly not grilled vine tomatoes as stated, not to miss 3 slices of toast and 2 fried eggs!

Flavours overall lacked any real seasoning, some individual elements stood out, black pudding was sweet yet smokey and cooked perfectly, mushrooms were sautéed shining with butter, yet the small size the sausage surprisingly had a nice flavour with hints of herbs running through it. There was plenty of fried cube potatoes but absolutely no seasoning other than a pinch of pickled red onions on-top weird edition but I did like it! Bacon was standard bacon cooked well but nothing to shout about. And 3 slices of toast was a bit much but luckily I like toast with butter!

This dish really could have upped the levels with some simple processes of flavours imo! All that great produce and no seasoning just makes me sad, those potatoes could of been toasted in some smoke paprika and garlic with salt bring them to life add some flavour depth other wise it’s just a fried potato. They sprinkle some chives over 2 fried eggs but a crack of black pepper would help that creamy yolk hit even better. Also a garnish of a whole tomato sliced in half and not even grilled, pretty raw just dint help the dish at all.

Certainly wasn’t the worst breakfast but £13.50 ain’t cheap and it just lacked that touch of class imo, just serve it on a bigger plate. Don’t pile the items on-top of each other and make it more appealing to the eye.

The service was meh, waiter was ok no body was rude at all but it felt very corporate and not very individual, feels like it’s all about trade and not about the customer.

The place was nice tho, menu is very big and caters for most people, maybe too big? Scale it back and bring that food to life!!!

Yet again it is a chain and it shows - £35 for two of us to eat with one soft drink each! Won’t be returning in a hurry, would get a lot more for your money with an independent.

Today’s overall...

One of the worst and most stress inducing restaurant experiences I have had in a while. Firstly, after having booked for 9pm (after changing my booking a few times due to logistics with our visit), I am called by what appears to be the manager to let me know that we are welcome to arrive earlier and so I request 8:15pm, to which she replies that it is confirmed - only for me to get a text that it has moved to 8:45pm. I then change it to 8:15pm myself and after leaving at least an hour’s notice to prepare the table, we arrive and there is nowhere to sit. This is especially inconvenient given that I have noted we were celebrating a birthday and my graduation in the booking notes.

After awkwardly being made to wait, the manager tries their best to accommodate us in a cramped corner at a table for 2 (for the 3 of us). She also offers a small concession of knocking a tenner off the bill for drinks. We order and despite being more than willing to pay for dishes not on special offer, the waitress recommends we pick those cheaper starters. Not sure if she was being helpful or implying something else. The table is also only set for 2 and I had to ask for an extra glass and set of cutlery after about 15 minutes, so already not great.

The starters arrive with no issues there and the mains were pretty average. Although the drinks were not made properly, I could let that slide, until the same waitress rudely turns to me after I request the bill to ask me where myself and my party are from??? This struck us as racist and incredibly rude, since it is none of her business and how dare she ask customers such unsolicited questions. As if I was not fed up already by this circus, her ignorant comment prompted more questions about us, coupled with the implication that we were somehow foreign - despite the fact she herself is an immigrant and I was born and bred in the UK. As if that was not bad enough, she notes that we must not be local, as if we were mere peasants (which is half true, because London is home, where I enjoy spending ££££ at some of the city’s most expensive dining experiences).

After this experience, even though Bill’s was my favourite place to come as a student, it has clearly regressed. I would advise people to take their business down the road to the Ivy where they know how to give decent customer service, good food and non-discriminatory treatment to the people that pay...