The Oak Room — Restaurant in North Devon

09/09 Visit 8pm. We booked for 8pm, turned up at 8pm and had to stand at the door whilst our table was cleaned with other diners looking on. We were seated and given menus, 25 minutes later we were approached by the waitress to take our order (no drinks offered before this point). We pointed out that we had been seated for 25 mins before being offered any kind of service which was not acceptable in our opinion, to which she shrugged her shoulders and said she was working alone.

Since we had been seated she had visited other tables who already had food to take additional drinks orders.

We ordered food and drinks. Approx 5 mins later she arrived with three of the six ordered tapas, as she placed them on the table (when I say placed I mean slammed) she said "how is that for slow service". Clearly she was not happy with me raising concerns about the slow service. At this point I should note we witnessed her taking food to others as she placed the food she advised what the dish was.

I went to reply and she just walked off. We eat the three tapas and then waited another half a hour. At this point we were exasperated with the service so decided to leave. We walked to the door and waited for her to notice us as that was the only way of getting attention/service.

I explained that we were leaving firstly due to the poor service given, mainly due to her attitude, secondly due to time waiting. She said that it's tapas and it's a relaxing experience. We have had tapas numerous times, you do not wait half a hour between dishes.

She then again repeated she was working alone, I explained that's understandable although her comment "how is that for slow service" was totally unjustified, quite frankly unprofessional and extremely rude, this comment she made totally ruined our experience.

On the point of food the three dishes were had were bland, uninspiring and generally forgettable.

As you can see by other reviews this place is clearly doing something right, I recognise that, I am simply sharing my experience.

To note, upon leaving i did offer to pay for what we had eaten ( x 3 tapas) and drank (x 2 half pints) but we were told not to pay, we insisted three times but yes the bill for what we had eaten was waived..

We genuinely wanted to have a nice meal, based on the reviews we saved this restaurant for the last night of our holiday and were left feeling totally disappointed and let down. We ended up in the supermarket next door with a cheese sandwich. What a total disappointment. Would not recommend. Worst service...

Really disappointed with this place. We had a reservation for 6 people at 6pm. We had been in the village since the morning and only stayed around to wait for our reservation here. At 6pm, we go in and they say they don’t accept dogs. We said that we saw on the website that they did. They said, “only at lunch time we accept dogs, is there anywhere you can leave him?” How does this make sense? Why would they accept dogs at lunch and not 6pm? And who would suggest we leave him somewhere when we drove all the way from Bristol? Very disappointing!

UPDATE AFTER RESPONSE BELOW Google reviews exist so people can share their experience and that is what we did and it does not mean we are “trying to ruin your hard work”. Asking to book at a different time is not a crime. We booked for 6pm and arrived at 6pm and if you accept dogs at different times of the day maybe you should add that to the website for clarity. The way you responded to this message...

I would have loved to loved this place. The staff are lovely and attentive despite being busy: it’s just a food that has room to improve. The meat eaters may have better luck - am pescatarian so limited to prawns and vegetarian husband… well, I can see he would have enjoyed a more substantial portions and options after a day of walking. And packaged salad leaves or bread rolls… I know we are in the country side… but please..little details like this are :(… I suppose it’s “traditional Spanish tapas”.. but lack of vegetarian options (even manchego cheese for protein.. anything) in the (with considerable vegetarian population) UK is a shame…am sure a little creativity in this aspect would make this place superb. I suppose in Lynton the idea is that there’s enough travellers to fill the tables anyway… but it...