The View Restaurant and Rooftop Bar — Restaurant in Exeter

When we arrived at the bar, it was empty apart from two bar staff, who preferred to carry on their conversation rather than asking us what we would like to drink. There was a terrible smell of rotten eggs and when I asked about it, was told that it was the drains, although we were on the 8th floor! We sat down but found the smell too much and asked to go to the dining room next door. We had no help with our drinks and coats, and even though this was 8 o’clock on a Friday evening, the restaurant was nearly empty. Despite this we were told that they had only one Crab Tortellini starter left! When ordering the mains it was unclear what vegetables, if any, came with the dishes and on asking, we were told that you had to order the veg separately. We were therefore surprised that my wife’s Halibut came on mashed potatoes when we had already ordered Fries to go with it! The food was rather basic pub food albeit with much higher prices! The wine was good but at £40 for a bottle not cheap. We couldn’t find a dessert that we actually wanted, so just ordered coffees. Even this they managed to mess up… Coffees were brought without any sugar but when I managed to get the waiter’s attention (not easy even in a nearly empty restaurant) he said he would get some. He then disappeared and we never saw him again. While we were “enjoying” our by now cold coffees, a female waitress arrived with a card payment machine and asked if we would like to pay… when I pointed out that we hadn’t even received a bill yet, she exclaimed “lovely” and then also disappeared! Not their fault but we couldn’t even enjoy the view as it was...

While the views are stunning, I have been to this restaurant twice and been disappointed both times. The service is so, so slow! It is not the servers fault - they have too many tables and not enough staff. Both times we watched our server being run ragged by trying to serve too many tables. Both times there was a manager working but they seem pointless. They walk around a little bit then seemingly disappear for ages. Our second visit the manager was meeting people and bringing them in. While we sat and ate our dinner I watched a man wait, no exaggeration, ten minutes before the manager met him and brought him into the restaurant. Both times I have been we have ordered steak and both times the steaks ordered have been a range of quality from good (but not good enough for the £40 price tag - same quality steak you could get at a beefeater) to awful and had to be sent back. When we sent the steak back the server acknowledge the chef isn't very good at Fillet steak and they often get sent back. So the next time we went I had a sirloin and it was really tough (despite being ordered Medium-rare) and disappointing. The triple cooked chips also taste suspiciously like a certain frozen chips brand and definitely were not crispy like triple cooked chips often are. An expensive price tag for food you can get at cheaper restaurants and a nice view (that you can't see at all once...

Unfortunately the dining experience didn’t start great when we asked for a table for two and was seated right at the entrance even though there were preferable tables vacant and remained vacant the entire time we were there. Not the best seat in the house if you have to spend the evening listening to the young reception lady yawn as loud as she did. Regarding the menu it has a relatively limited selection of what turns out to be quite expensive when the meal finally arrives. It took 35 minutes for our meal to arrive. Because there was nothing on the menu that looked really all that appealing we went for the Devon Burgers to see how they compare in this part of the country. Our thoughts, bun was dry but held together by some melted cheese, burger itself was dry with no seasoning and just crumbled when you tried to cut into it and enough lettuce on the side to feed half of Devon’s rabbit population. I say rabbits because again so dressing just straight forward greens so they would have probably loved it. Basically I rate the evening 2 stars, the waiter was very pleasant and the dining area is modern and clean. 0 stars...