The Smugglers Inn — Restaurant in Great Britain

If I were to sum it up I'd have to say "disappointed" so I'd better explain... On previous visits it was lovely... food... service... value etc etc.... today's visit was the first time in some years, what with moving and then covid we haven't really had the opportunity even though we live reasonably close and I was actually looking forward to an evening with my partner at one of my favourites! Service was absolutely fine btw especially the young lady serving us and also the place itself is such a lovely place, both in terms of location and the building itself ... however ... the menu appears to have shrunk to my recollection, maybe that's just the time of year or my memory ... so we opted for one of the specials on the board ... Good old Cumberland sausage and mash! Well we waited over an hour for our food to arrive and watched as people who arrived after us were served their food before us ... we didn't complain as we thought it was going to be something special.... uhm no ... presented before us was a small bed of mashed potato with 3 normal type sausages on top with a single onion ring and doused in an onion gravy .... that's it! No veg at all, or garnish of any description... to me it actually looked sparse! For some reason coming from the "specials" board I expected a big Cumberland swirl on a generous serving of mash with some sort of vegetation along the side ... now the sausages were top notch I take nothing away from their quality, though the mash did resemble the stuff you get from a packet, not exactly creamy and was a little watery for my liking... the flavour of the gravy was lovely too and not too salty as some places make it, in fact it had a slight hint of Mediterranean flavour to me. So not so much the food itself, but the quantity! Anyway, to cut what is turning into a long story short, even having had a lovely pudding and coffee it's the first time in a long time that I'd left a pub or restaurant still feeling hungry 😕. Value for money? ... not the best IMO but also not the worst ... we spent around £30 a...

The scenery around The Smugglers Inn is absolutely stunning and the pub itself is really well presented. It looks charming and full of character in a beautiful coastal spot. You walk in expecting a fantastic experience. Unfortunately the food completely ruins it.

The food was awful. It arrived at the table in about five minutes which immediately raised alarm bells. Nothing fresh and properly prepared comes out that quickly. Once we tasted it it became obvious why. It felt like something frozen or microwaved and thrown together without any care. Cheap ingredients with no flavour and very poor presentation. It reminded me of a bad meal at Wetherspoons but at almost triple the price.

We paid around twenty one pounds per main which is completely unjustified for the quality we were given. Overcooked meat rubbery texture bland sauces. It was honestly worse than school dinner food and left us regretting we didn’t just turn around and leave.

To make matters worse the pub is card-only which is not acceptable. In a rural location like this many people still carry or prefer to use cash especially when stopping in on a walk. No warning signs outside either. It just adds to the sense that customer experience isn’t a priority here.

Unfortunately since we ate the food I didn’t feel like I could ask for a refund though in hindsight I really should have. Staff were polite enough but no one asked how the food was which says a lot. It felt like they are relying entirely on the view and the pub’s look to draw in customers rather than caring about what they’re serving.

Massive disappointment. The setting deserves so much better. I will not be returning and I would not recommend eating here unless the kitchen standards are completely...

I came in on a saturday afternoon with friends after a few hours at the beach, the garden was very clean and tidy and well kept and it's in a great location only a few minutes from the beach we were at. i was greeted by friendly staff at the bar after not a very long wait and took the food menu back to my table. Ordering is super easy just give them your table number and order and the food is brought out to you. However, we came to find that the food was the only thing that you didn't have to get yourself. Two double beef burgers, two pints of cider and one mac and cheese starter came to just shy of £60 before tip. This is already on the higher end of pub grub prices so i anticipated top top service and food. The beef burger patties were black, dry, overcooked and absolutely minuscule. not any larger than the circumference of a coke can, which for £18.99 was extremely disappointing. The fries were okay but really need some condiments to get them and the dry burger down. The server however put our food down said enjoy your meals and swiftly walked away leaving us with no cutlery to eat with and no condiments to revive the burger and no idea how we obtain these. it took me getting up walking around and finding someone to ask how i get them leaving my food to go cold. it turned out they were on the other side of the garden and we were expected to know that already and to go and retrieve these ourselves. When you're paying up near £60 for your meal you'd expect better service than a wetherspoons where you can get better food and service for 1/5 of the price. This is my second experience at a hall and woodhouse where for the price you pay it's just absolutely not worth it. I'd come here again for a pint in the garden but...