The Ancient Mariner — Restaurant in North Devon

Unfortunately this pub seems completely unsafe for people with food allergies or intolerances, as it made me extremely unwell as a coeliac. Despite on three separate occasions speaking with different members of staff, communicating that I was coeliac and feeling very reassured by the member of staff who discussed with me the cross contamination measures taken in the kitchen etc., I was given the completely wrong gluten containing bread instead of gluten free bread, and realised this after already eating some and thinking the texture was too different to be gluten free bread. The lady who dealt with the issue afterwards (I assume the manager) said "the wrong button had been pressed" on the till when the order was taken, however when the waiter (a different person who took the order) brought the food to the table and I checked with him that it was gluten free, and he told me yes it was. I find it absolutely incredible that a pub can make such a huge mistake, and that this was not picked up on by multiple members of staff before being too late.

Although I am sure she did not intend on coming across this way, I felt extremely dismissed by the manager who I feel did not let me speak, and I did not feel truly appreciated the severity of the situation. The people I was with felt the same way also and did not feel the situation was dealt with well at all. As I said to her, they are lucky that I was not someome who would have an anaphylactic reaction, as if this was someone with a nut allergy for example, they could be dealing with a customer dying rather than taking months to recover.

I was offered a fresh gluten free version of the meal I had originally ordered to be made, which I of course declined as I no longer had any trust in the place and did not want to eat when I knew I was going to spend the rest of the day being very sick, and was instead given a full £16 refund which does not even begin to cover the months it will take to fully recover from this. The other four members of my group also had to leave without finishing their food as I needed to leave so I could be somewhere else before my reaction started, and were not offered any refund.

I hope they will learn from this incident and put measures in place before making the same mistake for someone who could die from their allergy.

I feel bad complaining and I do not like to write such negative feedback, however when such a severe mistake has been made and when the situation was handled so badly, I feel like it is needed to warn other potential coeliacs or customers with allergies and...

I hate writing bad reviews but this was honestly the worst experience at a bar/restaurant that I’ve ever had.

Firstly, we went as a group of 7 on holiday and EVERYBODY had issues with their food. Expensive food and tiny portions, though this is contrary to other reviews so it may mean that they rotate their catering services. Food also comes out at very different times for each person and some were finished with their meal before others were served. There is also no portion difference between the kids meals and the adult meals. All of the steaks were burnt and very overcooked regardless of everyone requesting rare/medium rare.

Secondly — and much more importantly —, there was a medical emergency where a man needed urgent medical attention. None of the staff were first aid trained, there was NOTHING in the first aid box that they provided us after we DEMANDED the INCOMPETENT STAFF & manager find ANYTHING to help the bleeding.

Luckily, my girlfriend is first aid trained and was able to provide the best level of aid she could with the limited resources that we had to demand from the bar staff. There was no sterile gauze available or anything other than blue roll that we had to get ourselves from the unsanitary bathrooms.

Considering this bar/restaurant is a 30 minute drive from the nearest hospital, you’d think they wouldn’t have an EMPTY first aid box and ZERO first-aid trained staff. Worse yet, the manager didn’t call an ambulance after saying that she would and we ended up calling an ambulance ourselves.

4 stars for atmosphere because initially the woman we talked to when we first arrived was very polite and the overall atmosphere of the establishment was very relaxed. The tables we were sat on were quite uneven which looks nice but many areas especially on the corners you can’t put a drink on or it will fall and spill.

Don’t go with a large group, the staff cannot handle it and will mess orders up, they aren’t used to it. Some of the staff are either incredibly socially anxious or don’t speak English well. This isn’t a dig at them but it did affect our experience as a large group as we had all sorts of issues with ordering drinks and food where we paid for 3 bottles of wine and got 3 glasses delivered after about half an hour of waiting. They didn’t apologise, just acted like they didn’t understand and eventually gave us 3 bottles of the...

We came here with high expectations and were excited to try the vegan "lobster" dish, which sounded really interesting. While the presentation was nice and the ingredients seemed fresh, we were a bit underwhelmed by the overall experience.

The portion size was quite small – mostly potatoes with only two pieces of broccoli. Even though I’m usually not a big eater, I didn’t feel full afterwards. When we asked, the waiter confirmed that this was the regular portion. At the other places we‘ve been so far I often nearly wasn’t able to finish my plate when I ordered a main and payed 17 bucks that’s why we assumed it would be more and hence the disappointment. If you know that ahead it might work out, I’d just recommend ordering a starter and dessert to make it a complete meal.

In terms of taste, one could describe the dish as rather mild. The potatoes had some pepper, but the pumpkin purée lacked seasoning and didn’t add much flavor. And since all of the veggies seemed to be just cooked in water, they tasted watery more than intense. The only standout component were the hearts of palm, which had a nice tangy note from the pickling from the jar or can.

We truly wanted to love this place and made a special trip because the menu sounded so promising. While the concept sounds great, we felt the execution could use some improvement in both flavor...