Samuel Jones, Exeter — Restaurant in Exeter

Visited with my mum a few weeks ago. The venue itself is lovely and in a great setting but we were so disappointed with the service. Admittedly, we visited late afternoon on a Saturday so I assume they’d had a busy lunch but when we visited it was quiet.

Firstly, we waited but nobody greeted us at the door and thus we made the decision to head to the bar and ask whether we could have a table. We then waited at the bar whilst several members of staff moved around (putting glasses away and chatting amongst themselves) for several minutes before anybody acknowledged us. Eventually, I ordered drinks and was then told the card machines weren’t working (not their fault and luckily we had some cash on us). We were advised to sit down and the coffee would be brought over to us and where we then waited for another ten to fifteen minutes for my mum’s coffee, before I decided to approach the bar as we wanted to order some food anyway. I then found the coffee we had been waiting for sitting on the bar unattended and asked if I could take it over - confusion ensued as nobody knew where the coffee was supposed to go and they couldn’t find the ticket or the person who had asked for the coffee to be made.

Eventually I ordered food and managed to claim the coffee. We then received half of our order (which was lovely - thanks to the kitchen!) and thought the remainder must be on its way and decided to wait patiently. Nobody came to collect our plates or check on our food and as time passed I figured that there must have been another confusion. I approached the bar to request a refund as we were short of time to then be told that as half of our food was “nibbles” and half was “sides” it hadn’t been communicated that we wanted the food to arrive together, as opposed to in starters and mains. They did give me a refund without qualm and apologised for the mix up.

I have been a General Manager in hospitality venues for nearly ten years myself and empathise but the staff here need both training and management. Seemingly few know how to make coffee, they don’t seem to know the products that they’re selling, they don’t greet their customers and whilst all of this was going on we witnessed several members of staff milling about on their phones or chatting amongst themselves. There were plenty of staff members working at the time (I would argue too many) but nobody really seemed to know what was going on or what they were supposed to be doing.

A real shame as, like I said, the venue itself...

I visited Samuel Jones last Sunday with a friend, we had travelled down to Exeter to enjoy the surprisingly warm weather

The booking reservation form was easy to complete and we were even able to request a seat with a view of the river Exe.

Just as we were setting off we received a call from Samuel Jones advising us that due to a supply issue there would be no roast dinners available, we thought this was a really nice touch that someone had taken the effort to let us know in case we had been planning on having a roast dinner – as it was because it was such a warm day it didn’t matter to us.

We arrived at the restaurant to receive a really friendly welcome before being shown to our table – as requested at a window with a lovely view of the river, as the waiter was explaining the menu to us we asked if it was possible to sit on one of the available tables outside as it was so warm and sunny.

This was no problem and we were kindly moved to an outside table – the only difference was we now had to place our order at the bar, which is nothing unusual anyway.

We decided to have two small starters to share, we had a bowl of mixed olives and duck gyoza. They were both really nice tasting and decent portions for “nibbles”, even though the waiter had advised that there could be a small delay in our order the food was delivered very promptly

We both then had a main course of West Country Mussels which were in a really nice cider, leek and cream sauce, the portion sizes again were spot on and we both really enjoyed the main dish. There was an accompanying side of fries and a small baguette which was the icing on the cake

Even though the restaurant was really busy due to having sport on TV inside and the influx of walk up customers because of the nice weather we hardly had to wait and to the credit of the staff we saw they kept communicating with their customers advising them of any delays etc

Washed down with a lovely cool bottle of rose wine all in all we have a lovely couple of hours in a very peaceful but...

This restaurant epitomises everything that's wrong with the current waning BBQ resurgence that's taken our nation by storm. Let me start by saying I love good BBQ food, and have tried some of the best on offer across the states and on home turf, it's with this hope that I was excited to see what this place had to offer while visiting family.

The badly written menu promises meat on meat, packed with flavour and piled high, instead i was greeted by total blandness and a complete lack of passion on a plate. Dry, over cooked beef burger, containing what could only have been the wrong cuts to use, if they even grind their own meat, I doubt they do. BUT THEY SHOULD. Nestled on top was a measly serving of brisket, over cooked and flaked to bits. The arid conditions that my mouth now endured were only made worse by the aging bread that housed my meat and the undercooked chips that lay, pale and unloved on the side of my plate, together with the 5 or so stands of cabbage that I assume was coleslaw. The single onion ring was nice.

Two bites and I sent it back.

"I won't charge you"

Well, thanks. My starter 'Deep fried pickles' contain TWO SLICES OF PICKLE and four heads of cauliflower. I don't even know where to start. As for the other guests in my party, the overwhelming disappointment ran deep. Old focaccia you could crack in half, under seasoned meat board (on a plate), pulled pork that looked like it was straight from a catering supplier and service that included filthy glasses, drinks ordered and forgotten and a fork full of out-of-a-bottle thousand island dropped on a coat.

BBQ meat is easy to do well, cheap cuts, cooked with care for a long time and served simply. I don't understand how it could have been made so badly and delivered so poorly. They say 'Do what you love', maybe the owners are in...