The Bottling Plant Ltd — Restaurant in Plymouth

We visited Plymouth with our family for a university open day for our daughter. We arrived early on Friday and enjoyed a lovely tapas meal near the Hoe. After spending the day at the university and exploring, we walked past a restaurant that caught our eye and decided to book a table for dinner. We made our reservation a few hours in advance and arrived two minutes before our booking.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a rather unfriendly hostess who showed us to our table. We assumed she was busy and joked that she probably wished we weren’t there. A different waitress soon came over, greeted us politely, offered water for the table, and handed us the menus. So far, so good.

However, when the original hostess returned to take our order, her demeanor was cold and unfriendly. Both of our children even commented on her negative attitude after she left. Our meals arrived promptly: we ordered two venison burgers, a steak, and a duck breast. The burgers were decent, but my daughter found her duck and chips overly salty, and my wife had the same issue with her steak. When I asked if they were edible, my daughter said she’d try to manage but had to scrape salt off each chip. My wife, on the other hand, couldn’t eat her meal—it was just too salty.

When the waitress returned to check on us, my wife explained that her meal was inedible, leaving most of it untouched. The waitress went to get the manager, who turned out to be the same unfriendly lady who greeted us. The manager spoke briefly with my wife and offered her a glass of Prosecco but made it clear there would be no replacement meal. I questioned whether it was fair to pay for a meal that couldn’t be eaten, to which she replied that it was beyond her pay grade and called for the actual manager.

I followed her to continue the conversation away from the dining area. At that point, another woman came out of the kitchen without introducing herself. When I asked if she was the manager, she stated she was the owner and that we had indeed been dealing with the manager. I pointed out the earlier claim that the manager wasn’t at the appropriate level to resolve the issue. We returned to the table to discuss further, where it became clear they were unwilling to accept any fault. They tried to make us feel guilty by mentioning their status as a small business and boasted about their awards for consistent quality, though I couldn’t find any evidence of these claims online.

They refused to acknowledge the steak was over-seasoned, stating that the chef had checked it by cutting into various parts. When I pointed out the excessive salt on the other dishes, they claimed it was from the serving cups used during plating—a point we contested since the salt had been scraped off the food itself. They then said the steak had a miso jus, which is naturally salty, even though the menu clearly mentioned tarragon sauce, not miso.

In the end, we paid for all meals except the one that was barely touched and left. My wife ended up buying a ham and cheese sandwich from Tesco on our way back to our accommodation. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. Despite dining out frequently and eating at restaurants worldwide, this was the first time we felt compelled to reject a meal. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend...

We went to The Bottling Plant as a family and shared 3 platters; 2 ploughman's and 1 charcuterie. These consisted of lots of meat, some pâté, cheddar, brie, blue cheese, pork pie, bread, chutney, chilli jam and crackers, plus a few other bits I've forgotten. These 3 platters were a good amount for 6 of us

The food was good and everyone enjoyed it. The reason I rated the food 4 stars is my personal reflection of the main menu. Looking at the options I wasn't sure what I would pick if I went in there for a main meal, to the point where I personally probably wouldn't choose to eat there based on that menu. I just felt there weren't any options that I would like. When you look at the dessert menu, 3 of the desserts are chocolate based and 2 of those options contain orange gel. I just feel that, although I agree with using certain elements more than once across a menu, it did leave me thinking that the dessert options were limited.

I will say that we did end up ordering all 3 of the chocolate dessert options and we all enjoyed what we had.

In terms of service I will say that the staff were all friendly and polite. However, at one point a waitress asked us for orders, but didn't bring a pad, so had to leave the table for that and ask us again. We also ordered teas with our desserts which I had to follow up on to receive.

In conclusion I will say have a look at the main menu before you decide to go. I'm not saying the options are bad, I'm just saying I personally didn't see many exciting options for me. The sharing platters are enjoyable and worth it, and overall the service was good.

I would go again and would most likely go for nibbles...

While we typically enjoy our visits to The Bottling Plant, our outing last night was ruined over a very simple understanding about a drinks order. My partner had ordered an alcoholic cocktail for herself (which she ended up getting two of as part of the Saturday deal, which she did not ask for as she doesn't drink much) and a non-alcoholic one for me as I was driving. After finishing our drinks, we reviewed the prices and realised we had been overcharged as I had actually received the alcoholic version of the drink and hadn't realised as it was quite sweet. When my partner clarified with the staff member who served her that this wasn't what she originally ordered, she tried to rebuke her and adamantly state that it was. This staff member then refunded "the most expensive drink" (which was redundant as the drinks we had been served were the same price) and then ended up taking away the second drink my partner had yet to touch. This was not what was agreed but again, they were adamant it was and even claimed to have CCTV to show us that proved them right. I feel this was just said to get us to leave without further challenging them for their mistakes. The tone that this staff member used also made my partner very upset, as she was cordial and polite throughout this entire ordeal whereas they were very rude and dismissive. It is a shame as this venue does have a good atmosphere with a nice selection of drinks, but we cannot recommend it in good conscience due to the actions of one rude...