The Canal Tea Rooms & Garden — Restaurant in Mid Devon

Edit: the owner has been harassing me due to me leaving a negative review

Summary: -over 30 people in a small room due to double booking -owner rude and unapologetic -owner did not rectify any complaints -hair in food (both human and dog) -no order taking at the table, everyone has to go individually to the window to order and pay the window to order at is not wheelchair accessible -toilets are only accessible by steps

The owner is the most horrible person I have ever had the displeasure meeting. The tea room was booked for an event (baby shower) for a party of 10-12 people with a fair amount advance notice. The venue was later updated that there would be actually 14 guests, which they were okey with. At no point prior to the day was the party organiser informed that the venue had booked another party of 20 in the same small room. We were simply told that if the weather is bad other customers may also be seated in the area. Permission was asked prior to the day to decorate the tea room for the shower and venue said that we are welcome to do whatever as long as we don't use confetti.

On the day of the event, after arrival we were told that there was another party of 20 booked in the same space, that we were not allowed to decorate or move the tables or put tablecloths or do anything really. The owner refused to discuss with us directly constantly sending the poor staff back and from.

Once the second booking arrived, the small room was certainly packed beyond what I would consider safe with regards to fire regulations. Beyond the legalities, have you ever had the bad luck of being in a room the size of a let's say an open space kitchen/lounge with 33 other people, 3 dogs, and a baby? Chaos just does not describe the situation. (and I have no issue with dogs being present if they are well behaved but there was a week old baby in a car seat present, so obviously we were concerned about babies safety, and the dog was barking the entire time)

We asked to speak to the owner, and she was horrible. She kept interrupting us while we were trying to explain to her the situation. I politely asked her to please stop interrupting cause we didn't interrupt her and she was being rude. She then started making up accusations of our party swearing at the staff (which didn't happen) and that she didn't have to inform us on booking about other bookings in the same room or about the presence of dogs.

The staff was incredibly stressed by how overcrowded the room was and they struggled to serve everyone in a timely manner. My party on departure told the staff that we don't blame them at all for what was the owners fault and we are sorry if we were at any point abrupt towards them, everyone was obviously stressed by it all. The staff was incredibly understanding and they said that they don't blame us at all and they don't know who took the bookings but the room was obviously overbooked.

To add to everything else, not one, not two, but three different people in our party found hair in the food,both human and dog You can also not order at the table so large groups need to all go individually to order and pay. The are to order as well as the toilets are not...

My wife and I popped into the garden room with our baby girl after a nice walk. The menu seemed to have a good variety of light lunches, cakes, and beverages to choose from. It was, however, amusing to see the cliché of espresso being written as 'expresso'.

We ordered a oat based latte, an elderflower bubbly, and a single pot of strawberry coconut ice-cream. My wife was given a receipt with our order number on and she was told that it would be brought to our table. Which seemed odd when we hadn't ordered off of the food menu.

Whilst sat at our table, we observed what seemed to be a slightly chaotic and nonsensical system in expediting orders to tables. There were two members of floor staff that would simply shout the order number across the garden, which went some way to disturb what otherwise would have been a relaxed and calm atmosphere. Even at the volume that orders were being called, we noticed the couple on the table next to us remained oblivious as their order was called four times...

We waited almost 40 minutes for our two drinks and small pot of ice cream to arrive. We observed larger orders that were made after ours arrive at other tables and wondered what could lead to a table of food orders being delivered before our small order of drinks and ice cream. When our order did arrive, my elderflower bubbly was not cold, served with a glass, but no ice. My wife's latte tasted of scorched milk and had no texture. The ice cream was actually pretty decent, but by the time it arrived our child was fed up and we had to down our drinks and leave. We weren't the only customers having to take this approach. A table next to us with young children were also quite vocal about the wait time and how it wasn't at all worth the wait.

It shouldn't take that amount of time for orders like ours, which seem like they could've been served at the counter, or at least within 10-15 mins. We didn't enjoy our experience and will think again before...

If it was possible to give no stars, then that's what I would have given for this establishment.

After visiting here last summer when on holiday in the area & having a nice takeaway sandwich which we enjoyed with our dogs in a quiet area of the car park as our dogs are quite nervous around lots of people in cafes & restaurants, we thought we would revisit again this year.

I asked the young man at the till if I could order sandwiches to go & he said yes that was fine. However, a voice from the rear of the cafe then said "no we can't do that.".

I then explained about my nervous dogs to be told "we are not a take away" .

Tried to explain, very politely, that I had purchased food to go previously from them but still this 'gentleman' who i am assuming was the manager/owner insisted in barely polite tone, "we are not a take away. That's not what we do", making it sound like I was comparing the tea room to McDonald's or KFC with what I thought was a simple request

Have visited many, many cafes in this area & have never had anyone refuse to serve food to go.

I was fully prepared to pay the full price they are charging for being served at a table, just wanted to take the food to an area where we could enjoy it & my dogs would have felt more comfortable but it wasn't to be.

Am sure these guys were more than happy to serve food to go when that was the only option to remain open & really don't see how wrapping a sandwich to go is that much of a hardship.

I can only assume that this cafe is making enough money to turn paying...