The Boathouse — Restaurant in North Devon

Not sure if the boathouse is under new management but the service was chaotic, dismissive and rude today.

We had driven all the way from Croyde Bay especially to re-visit the boathouse one of our favourite restaurants which I have previously reviewed with 5 stars… The mussels and the service were amazing last time.

Confusion started as soon as we were through the front door… No greeter, we stood there for a while being ignored while other guests pushed past. There was no ‘please wait to be seated’ sign so we wandered upstairs where we found four or five empty uncleared tables on the balcony.

At this point we were quire rudely ordered to go back down and wait by the front door. My partner has a leg injury so she stayed upstairs while I went back to the front door and waited, and waited.

Eventually a member of staff came up and told me that there were no tables available upstairs. I mentioned I had been sent down from the balcony and that there were four empty tables!

I was then told that there would be at least a half hour wait for food, which was surprising as the downstairs restaurant was almost empty.

When I said we were happy to wait the staff member disappeared to talk to the manager and then begrudgingly took me upstairs but tried to cram us into a corner where there was a dog encroaching from another table.

When we asked if we could have one of the empty tables away from the dog the manager came over and quite rudely told us that any empty table we could see would be reserved and we would have to sit where they wanted us to sit.

At that point we left and had a really nice meal next door at the Instow Arms who were very attentive and friendly.

As we left 40 minutes later the tables we had seen on the Boathouse balcony were still empty and the family that took our table were still waiting for food.

The day was not spoiled as we had discovered the Instow arms and they get a five star review today.

I rarely give bad reviews, thought long and hard about reviewing today but we feel that the owner of the Boathouse needs to know how staff are treating their customers.

The restaurant was not particularly busy but even if there was a staffing crisis in the kitchen your customers should never be treated with such distain.

I see from other reviews here that we are not the first to find the staff rude and dismissive.

Shame as the food is probably still wonderful but I cant see us going back.

(Thank you for your prompt and considered reply. I should have mentioned this all happened at around 1:45 on Friday. The issue was the rudeness of all three staff members that we met, it seems quite engrained judging by other reviews this year.

As mentioned we have dined with you several times in the past and tipped the good...

Decided to try this place as reviews looked good. Wow how wrong I was. Firstly we waited a good 7 minutes to be greeted and seated. Then another 10 minutes before our waiter first attended to us when we ordered drinks. It was a further 10 to 15 minutes before anyone returned to take our food order. I chose from the specials board which offered a choice of 3 different types of fish and at the bottom of the board it stated that your choice would come with a side. So I chose one of the 4 sides that were advertised on the main menu, only to be told that you could only have a side of potatoes with carrots or fries! I asked if I could have one of the sides from the menu as I assumed that was what your options would be as nowhere did it specify any different. I was told that I could not have the side from the main menu even though it was cheaper than what I was told my options were, so potatoes and carrots it was. My partner chose a starter of white bait with a side of new potatoes as having a small appetite did not want anything from the mains. My meal, when it eventually arrived came with the side of carrots and new potatoes and dear me, I was not expecting a whole carrot cut length ways which was aldenté to the point of almost raw. My partner took one look at her white bait which in fact looked as though it was from Iceland (and I don't mean the country) and it was deep fried to the point of cremation. Her new potatoes where large and whole and not cooked through properly. Needless to say she did not eat her meal! We finally managed to catch the waiters attention (he was quite dismissive) so we could pay our bill. My partner informed him that we would not be paying for her food as she had not eaten it because she was very unhappy with the quality of it. He just took her plate of food away and disappeared with it, with no apology or explanation as to where he was going. We sat a further 5 minutes then her returned with the card machine to take payment. Again no apology, no eye contact, no niceties, no explanation, just plain rude. The only communication we did get from him was "do you want a receipt?" Oh and the water we asked for during our visit never arrived. This establishment is in a prime location with beautiful views of the estuary and dear me they price their very mediocre menu upon this. The service from walking in was disgusting and really we should have turned around and walked out but you tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. To sum up, do not bother or if you are accepting of bad very bad customer service with less than mediocre food then this is the...

Update: was asked to email, emailed and no response…..

Not great experience, left extremely frustrated and annoyed. Started with the manager showing us the specials board but taking it away before we had even finished reading it. Sounds silly but this was the start of the frustrations to what should have been a nice evening, the LED lights above the table were so bright and were constantly flickering causing our eyes to go funny. Then after 15 minutes of waiting to order anything our waiter turned up and took our order of drinks but when i tried to order our starters and mains was told no others had to order their food first, 20 mins later we get to order our food. (There was only 4 other couples sat in the restaurant so they were not busy) it took 40 mins from sitting down to get our drinks. The drinks had clearly sat on the bar for a while because the pint i had ordered had lost its head and had sunk back. We finally got a half arsed apology that our starters were delayed after i had enough of clock watching and waiting. No one asked if our starters were ok, We finished our starters and our mains had come, with the waiters not removing the starter plates or even replacing our cutlery. Yet we carried on, i had the fish and chips and for £20 you done expect overcooked fish in a fish restaurant. Not one person asked if we wanted more drinks or if we wanted desserts. I had finally had enough and was short with a waitress who had finally turned up to clear our table and just asked for the bill. Absolutely terrible and a waste of £90. Sort out a baby sitter to have a nice anniversary dinner with my wife in a expensive restaurant to pay top money for s””t service. Don’t bother go to the pub next door and save your money. Spoke to manager but was so frustrated and annoyed i just told him “terrible service” and walked off he spoke to my partner but he just said “its not busy so that shouldn’t have happened” ……. No it shouldn’t have and you wont get the chance to do this again. Recommend to other locals i think not! What it comes down to is if you pay top end prices you expect atleast mid level service not terrible service. I have had better service from a...