Rockfish — Restaurant in Exeter

Visited a few weeks ago now. The restaurant has a really nice atmosphere. The decor is pleasant and current which creates a very relaxed environment. The facilities are very clean, including the tables, cutlery, plates etc. Staff were very welcoming and efficient. Our waitress who had wonderful colourful hair was a delight. Such a lovely personality and helpful attitude.

However, the food was not the standard that I was expecting. Having ate in numerous restaurants, ranging in price and standard, I was expecting this to be right up there. Especially given that they pride themselves on fresh seafood.

For starter we had the scallops, and prawns. The food was well presented so I was expecting the taste to be good to. However, I was disappointed to discover the prawns were frozen (this I was informed by a member of staff when asking why all of the heads on the prawns were black, as I have never encountered this before). You could also tell by the taste and the texture of the prawns. The texture was like rubber and the taste was not the level of freshness that I was expecting. To be honest, prawns from M&S tasted fresher and more pleasant. The heads of the prawns were also black, they had not been washed so many of them had lots of eggs on them still which was unpleasant.

The scallops were ok, Only 3 served and very small. Not outstanding in taste.

The main we had crab and I had the place. Again the presentation was good. But in relation to this fish. the preparation was poor. The guts were still inside of the fish, which was not appetising to see. I again have never encountered this before, all fish that I have had when eating out have been gutted and well prepared.

The crab apparently was ok.

There were only white fish available on the child's menu. It would have been nice to see a piece of salmon on there.

The fast food (e/g fish and chips, burgers etc) seemed to look nicer. I am uncertain about the taste, however I suspect this may be better given the quality of ingredients do not If you're after good service this certainly has that. However, if you are after nice quality sea food, that is both well prepared and taste good (especially in respect of the prawns) this may not be to your liking. But everyone's taste is different.

I have provided 3 stars on the basis of the service and the girl who served us. However, in relation to the food alone I would provide this...

A great restaurant. The fried haddock and chips are absolutely amazing, the batter they use is delicious. The chips are 'unlimited', I was initially a little frustrated as they serve it with a small amount of chips, so I thought that I would have to catch a waiter and have a wait time just to get a decent portion of chips. However, to the restaurant's credit, the waitress came and asked if we wanted more chips, and then there was very little wait, so it was very pleasant.

I was a little disappointed by the tartar sauce, it was ok but there was nothing special about it, I was a little frustrated because I ordered the jalapeno tartar sauce and it wasn't very spicy at all, when eaten with the meal you could hardly tell it was any different to the normal tartar sauce, which is sad when it's priced as an extra.

I was also disappointed to see peas as a chargeable side dish to the fish and chips. Peas are a very common and integral part of the dish, and they are very cheap to sell so should not be charged as an extra. I would have liked some mushy peas.

Mussels and scallops were on offer as a main course only. I would have enjoyed these as a starter, which is how it is commonly served, but this unfortunately wasn't an option.

There was a minor mistake with our order, and the waitress was very polite and apologetic, and handled it very well in the moment. A minor discount to that item from the bill would have been welcome but unfortunately there was none.

My biggest gripe with the whole experience was unfortunately the seating. The benches are sloped downwards at the back, and the back rests are also sloped far back. It isn't designed to be a comfortable seat at all. My fiancée (who is ~5ft) couldn't touch the floor, so she was very uncomfortable, and it caused back pain for me. It put a damper on the whole experience.

My last note is that the website advertises that the restaurant sells tinned fish, and I would have liked to buy some, but I couldn't see any for sale and no one mentioned it. I forgot to ask at the time, so I wish it was mentioned somewhere if they are available.

Overall I am looking forward to returning and trying some more of the dishes on offer at...

Now I know this was a while ago back on August 1st but its been bugging me ever since we visited. Exeter Rockfish had not long reopened and our waitress was on her first night back so the one star is for her. The rest of the staff although friendly didn't know what they were doing. It was a wedding anniversary celebration for us and I had booked online and made a special request in the online option box,this was to have a table next to a window over looking the river. This request was totally ignored and we were seated on the other side near to the side entrance door. I did point this out and got a blank look and told no you can't sit over there as there all reserved.. The fish of the day choice was Monk, hake and plaice (disappointed for time of year) I didn't fancy any of those so as I had done a lot of research and Lobster was in season decided on Lobster. Sorry sir no Lobster! I thought about this after and I reckon Exeter Rockfish gets whats left after the other more seafront rockfish restaurants get the cream of the crop. To top it off a couple who came in after on a table next to us complained about the draught from the door and got moved to the window overlooking the river where we were told we couldn't sit. I had to leave a £10 tip as my wife didn't want me to upset staff by complaining. £85 for fish and chips and a bad experience.

Just one more issue. We like sparkling wine but not champagne but weirdly there was nothing between a bottle of white wine and a bottle of champagne. Presecco, carver no. You can imagine what I tell people when they ask me about Rockfish and I know a lot of people and do a lot of sea and river...