Dee Dee's Family Cafe — Restaurant in Exeter

The first time I visited Dee Dee’s Café inside The Range in Exeter, I was fully prepared for mediocrity. Instead, I ended up having one of the most unexpectedly enjoyable fish finger sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. It wasn’t haute cuisine. It wasn’t even particularly good. But there was something deeply satisfying about the soft white bread, the hot, crumbly fish fingers, and the no-frills mug of tea. It was comfort food in its most literal form; unpretentious, nostalgic, and just the right side of greasy. A quiet little triumph in the most unlikely of places.

So, I went back.

This time I brought my dog, reassured by the fact that The Range is proudly dog friendly. There’s signage at the front door, even a logo with a cheerful cartoon dog suggesting well behaved dogs are welcome. Even in front of the entrance to the cafe. But here’s the catch: the café, nestled deep within this supposed pet-friendly haven, is not dog friendly. Of course, no signs tell you this. You only find out when you sit down and the boy behind the counter, looking vaguely horrified, tells you flatly that dogs aren’t allowed. Not even a polite apology, just a brisk “no dogs.”

So I spoke to a manager.

He didn’t care. Not in the casual, awkward way of someone caught off guard and out of their depth, but in the active, couldn’t-be-bothered-to-even-pretend way. He made no attempt to explain, no offer to pass feedback along, no suggestion that the lack of signage might be addressed. His expression hovered somewhere between boredom and open contempt. It was the customer service equivalent of shrugging and walking away mid-sentence.

Dee Dee’s is a café of contradictions. One day it serves up a sandwich that genuinely lifts your spirits. The next, it treats you like a nuisance for daring to follow the rules the store itself promotes. If they put half as much effort into their signage and management attitude as they accidentally put into that fish finger sandwich, they might have something worth returning to. But for now, I’ll stick to places that welcome both comfort food and the dog who patiently waited for a table...

A really bad service today. Got the order wrong and when asked if there was menu was informed short staffed and not cooking anything today, the server had a really bad attitude. Asked for a cream tea but no strawberry jam as had ran out. Didn't serve the toastie in a nice way at all. Even had to get my own saucer for the coffee. Then the workers were very vocal and shut the shop, saying they were not doing any more. It was only 13:10. Swearing in the kitchen could be heard and not a great atmosphere at all. Very...

Very poor customer serves especially for the staff called nathan he told me to go faster when I was trying to get my food and I heard him whisper when I paid hes so dull needs he said might as well spit in his food I got a refund and just left I hope his managers have a look at this message and have a talk with him and when I asked for a manager he said ok and went to the back for 30 minutes +and in the end I got a very nice staff member come up to me and gave me a refund...