Cedars Inn — Restaurant in North Devon

Let me start by saying that I have stayed here on at least 6 occasions (maybe more) and at all times of the year.

Check-in This can be problematic. You check in to the rear of the building by the carpark and this is hit and miss dependant on how busy the bar/restaurant is. As you walk in to reception you ring a doorbell on the desk and wait. Thankfully there are seats and some things to read, settle in... The longest I have waited, despite numerous rings on the bell is about 20 minutes. At this point I gave up and went to the bar to check in. The quickest I have been checked in was a couple of minutes.

The rooms The rooms are all outside in a courtyard by the car park and are ground floor and first floor rooms stacked on top of each other. Some have disabled access and other do not. Check this if it's needed when checking in.

Good points. The rooms are large enough to feel roomy and well appointed with a desk & chair, comfy lounge chair or small sofa, large king sized bed, ironing board, and a nice bathroom with a good shower. My room has always been clean and tidy. The TV is modern Samsung TV (think 2017+ model). The plugs have USB ports for charging your phone and are next to the bed (something most premier inns still haven't figured out)

The bad points The room is always boiling hot. This is lovely in the winter and very welcoming. However, it's summer now, albeit a rainy day, but summer none the less and it's warm. My room is uncomfortably hot. There is no aircon or a fan. I can open a window but that's not really helping. The curious thing is that none of the rooms I have stayed in (at least 5 of them as I have ended up with the same room A few times) has a thermostat. This makes the temperature completely uncontrollable and the stay uncomfortable.

The bar/restaurant The bar is fine and has a good selection of drinks. The restaurant/bar is frequently busy so being served can take a minute or two but it's generally quick and friendly service.

The food. I wouldn't suggest coming here for just the food unless your happy with pub grub, but if that's what your expecting then you won't be disappointed. The selection is fine, usual pub classics like burgers, cod and chips, salads, fish, then have been a little more exotic with halloumi fries (just sliced up halloumi but sliced like a slab, not like fries which isn't what I was expecting and not really nice to eat as it's a bit much) asian spiced burger, sea bass and scallop risotto etc... And it looks pretty appetising (check the menu online if you like). However, it can be poorly executed, by which I mean over-cooked/dry, oily/greasy, bits missing (had a burger which states that in comes with a "lightly dressed salad"... But it arrived without a salad and overcooked and unfortunately inedible chips). Like I said, it's pub grub, not gastro pub, just your normal pub. Perhaps shrinking the menu and cooking from scratch instead of from the freezer would help, but it's probably controlled by Greene King so you can't entirely blame The Cedars Inn.

Overall The stay is nice but elements need tweaking and the food needs a professional touch as it could be good, but at the moment it's not always. Most of all, the rooms desperately need some way of controlling the temperature as this is a basic and has a big impact on the comfort...

Came for a pre-booked family Christmas meal. Food itself was very nice. Wait time was quite poor, had to wait nearly an hour before the main meals had been served (we had starters too in this time but the wait times before and after starters were very long and there were only two starters so the rest of us were very hungry) even though we had pre-booked so they knew we'd be coming. My grandads starter soup was too spicy and his child portion main meal was cold, we sent it back to be heated up. They were also very tight on the gravy for all of our main roast dinners, just a small dribble. We had to ask for two more lots of gravy to cover the five of us. We also asked for a jug of water for the table which never arrived. The Christmas crackers were also the cheapest ones they could possibly find. There was a couple of people behind us who had enough of waiting and left as well, which says something for the wait times. Also the restaurant section of the place was mostly empty other than us and a few couples so there was no excuse to be so slow. We thought we had been forgotten about quite a few times! My grandad told us it's quite common for the wait times to be long so we knew it was a usual thing. Not good. When the food finally arrived it was tasty which was something. Also the waiting service people weren't very attentive and only checked on us once and that was after we'd mentioned the gravy and cold dinner but otherwise they were nowhere to be found. We did enjoy the Christmas decor in the place which was cosy and nice. The waiting staff were polite and nice but not as attentive as they should be. Probably will go elsewhere for next year's...

We visited to mark a special occasion for 2 as we had really enjoyed previous visits.

Service was inattentive and uninterested at best. Starters whilst quick were mediocre and one over cooked ans chewy.

Main course arrived contaminated with hair on one plate, although accidents happen it certainly hadn't been checked prior to serving.

The subsequent dealing of this became a complete embarrassing debacle including a merry dance of bringing plates back and forth, when we did finally recieve our mains together they were okay but one hadn't been cooked to the requested taste. At this point even if the waitress had visited to ask if all was okay, we would have complied to avoid any further issues.

Eventually after such an embarrassing situation including others in dining room taking notice and an unfortunate manager visit to our table, we cut out visit short.

Whilst the management was kind to offer to not charge for the soft drink we had to persistently request prior to starting our main course which only arrived after eating, it was disappointing to hear from neighbouring guests that the offered gesture of small discounted amount off the meal was something that comes standard with those staying at the hotel.

We left feeling more stressed than satisfied, which was disappointing considering the venues atmosphere and that it was a quiet service.

Basic level training in all areas from management down would prevent such poor service.

Sadly we won't be eager to return and will not be recommending to our numerous visiting...