The Lost Kitchen Devon — Restaurant in Mid Devon

For us; Always book ahead. Probably avoid sitting in with young kids.

Checked website which I took a ‘not always necessary to book’ view from but can’t see that now so hopefully it’s been updated. Also said kids welcome but didn’t feel that way with a play area hidden behind another building below the car park near the overflow.

Visited mid week in October for lunch so chanced it on the day, assuming it would be quiet enough at this time.

Turned up and it didn’t look too busy, waited for toddler to wake up in car before going in, again, observing - not too busy, plenty people coming out probably ok - but it wasn’t.

Having read other poor reviews now we unfortunately experienced similar to others.

The entrance wasn’t 100% clear to start, had seen others go in at the end of the barn but the sign pointed to the middle door of the barn which we went in as was signed. Gravel path up fine with buggy but would have struggled with it inside…if we had got in.

‘Fully booked’ sign outside to prime for our disappointment. Fine - but it looked half empty so went in to see and it’s human to say hello and interact but as soon as I walked in I felt I’d made a mistake by their expression to my presence.

The staff member behind the towering reception desk didn’t come out to welcome us. They were unsure about whether they were fully booked when I asked so they went to check with someone else who came to ratify. Why!? Is that not your role?

We could take a ‘no’ but it was the way this was delivered. Got the feeling they were unorganised and possibly sick of saying ‘we’re fully booked’ and they didn’t know how to handle the conversation…which they didn’t.

Appreciate it’s a tough industry but - training is needed for FOH, a welcoming forward smile would make a huge difference to start with and ideally acknowledge children.

The high reception desk and staff behind makes the customer bark ‘are you full?’ and is a slightly embarrassing position for all, including other diners.

We received a forced smile through gritted teeth from the second member of staff…maybe a manager, but some genuine empathy would have been better. No mention of ‘sorry’ and asked about all the spare seating outside (maybe half full inside at this point too). After asking, we were offered drink and cake outside. I got an explanation about not enough space in the oven which confused me as we weren’t actually aware that it was purely a wood fired oven that they cook on so seemed slightly absurd at the time…and still now. Get a regular oven for a light bite menu!?

Also had to ask for alternative recommendations which should have come from TLK as part of an apology.

With a good rep (good reviews on here and I had it saved as a destination probably from IG) and high expectations - people just expect more.

As an idea - a discount or free drink voucher to hand out to soften the blow would have turned our experience into a positive and would have definitely revisited in the two weeks we’re around. There’s so much more that can be done to accommodate customers but there was ZERO effort here.

As already noted in TLK responses on here and as they tried to explain to us - the table to kitchen ratio is off balance and on our occasion was probably the aspect that threw our experience off because this is surely the last thing you want to do as a food business and the last thing customers expect you to say. Maybe if one oven of two was broken it something but not as a standard response, or offer a cold menu.

Great TLK reply very well to reviews on here and turn a negative into a positive (kill it with kindness) but that wasn’t our experience in person.

Might go back from all the positive reviews but won’t go out of our way. Probably go without kids too to give the staff a break.

On a final positive note, the venue was lovely, felt approachable upon arrival, opposite a farm so sort of farm to fork feeling and was very much looking forward to eating here from photos of other reviews. Interesting...

The short version... Cracking location and venue, average food, but extremely poor service and unwelcoming staff.

The long version...

The location is fantastic, and the venue itself is lovely. The atmosphere inside was nice because there was music, but it was fairly quiet which meant the whole group could talk to each other.

The food was pretty good, with the prices and portion sizes broadly equivalent to large chains (e.g. the pizza prices are comparable with Pizza Express), except for the deserts which I feel are not only very expensive, but also small. I should note however that one of my pizza toppings was missing and nothing was ever said about it.

But while the location and venue are clear 5-star points, the service was a real let down. We were left waiting for about 5 minutes before being greeted, and while the first of our group to arrive were given menus, the rest were not, and then we were asked to order within 30 seconds of the second set of guests sitting down.

One of the waitresses in particular was very unwelcoming, but none of the staff smiled, made small talk, and were generally pretty rude. When we asked for the bill we were merely given a receipt and it took well over 30 minutes to actually get someone to us so that we could pay. It should also be noted that the venue took the liberty of adding a service charge to the bill.

Perhaps we caught the venue on a bad night and others have had a better experience, but since I can only review based on that experience I can safely say I won't...

Lost Kitchen - lost pizza

Popped in for a pizza today, only me on my own. I've been before & it's been good. Upon arrival they've got a sign out saying reservations only, but it was probably only half full - I asked anyway & got a vast table to myself. Why the sign?

All I wanted was a pizza, it got to 45 mins before a batch of sliced bread & olive oil appeared & a lady saying the kitchen had lost my ticket, as if it wasn't their fault! I said I needed to get on, anyway another 10 mins & it finally arrived. I asked for a box as I had 4 hours of driving ahead, but they couldn't find a big enough one so I had to cram it in a small box. Then they appear with a big box - too late!

I went up to the till to pay expecting a slight discount for their mistake - that's £16.50 waving a card machine at me.... I could have thrown the bl** pizza at her, but I was hungry! 'You expect me to pay full price'?? She replies "well you didn't say you were in a rush & we only took 10 minutes.... '.' 10 minutes, I wasn't in a rush when I arrived an hour ago...'. 'I got a sort of garbled whisper - ' have the pizza then'....

Mistakes happy, but I didn't hear the word sorry, apologies or anything. It's as if the kitchen is a different business & they can't be held responsible for their actions.

I was glad they didn't charge when I tried to eat it driving up the M5, the topping was dumped in the middle making the inner part hugely soggy & doughy, the outer bit was really burnt & the topping was really...