Church House Inn — Restaurant in South Hams

Firstly, I will hold my hand up and say we were 15 mins late. My husband rang 3 times En route to advise them of this, but no one picked up. They are advertising for a LOT of staff and it quickly became clear that more staff are very necessary.

When we got there a table was gruffly pointed out to us by who I presume was the gentleman in charge and we were told to order quickly as he was closing the kitchen. Very impolite. Small menu, but not unheard of in covid times. Ordered quickly, staff forgot the water which we asked for again when food arrived. My mussels' sauce was spilt on the table and waiter knocked my bread to the floor and had to get more. Waiting staff very young and only two of them. Perfectly polite but clearly need more training. Seated very close to a couple, when there were plenty of empty tables around, with a young very noisy barking dog which the staff encouraged. We love dogs and have 3 but I wouldn't dream of letting them behave like that at a dinner service.

Toilets very run down according to my husband. We were going to have dessert but decided not to give them any more custom on account of feeling so rushed - we honestly felt like our custom wasn't wanted. On a bank holiday weekend the fact they were closing and locking doors at 8.30 is pretty depressing. We were there all of 40 minutes. Extremely disappointing. Food was lovely, chef is obviously doing a good job.

*Edited to add reply to owner.

Physically impossible that we were seated at 8.25 as our booking was 7.45 and as you say you give tables away after that the sign on our table said 7.45, we got to you at 8! We left at 8.40! What nonsense! So also completely untruthful, AVOID this pub, who can't accept...

Finding a great gastro pub in a predominantly rural area is something of a challenge most of the time. Especially this far south where prices start to creep up, often quite steeply.

This was thankfully a good find and has remained consistent across the two years we've visited. The carvery (by far the most popular choice) is fantastic value. Three kinds of meat and as many vegetables and sides as you'd like? It's the old saying "you couldn't make it for that price".

Not only that but there's a full menu to choose from as well in case a full roast dinner isn't your thing. The waitresses are friendly and the bar staff very helpful allowing you to order on to one tab for ease.

My only nitpick is the strange way in which they handle alcoholic drinks being brought to the table. In fact it's more accurate to say they don't. If you need a top up or fresh alcoholic drink the waitresses "can't take orders" for this at your table. You have to head to the bar and add it to the table. Quite strange!

Others may not like the slightly cramped table arrangement, but I can live with it for the food that's on offer.

Well...

We were recommended to come here by friends and they booked us a table. When we arrived it was busy but our table was indeed reserved and vacant. Now, I didn't actually have any dealings with the staff so I only have my friends explanation of what happened next. They went to ask about specials and came back to say "they have told us they're not sure if we can order food" they then went back to speak to the manager, who supposedly said we could order but when asked how long would the wait be replied "how long is a piece of string" needless to say we didn't want to gamble with our dinner plans so we decided to look elsewhere.

I'm sure the food is lovely and it was a nice cozy looking place but on this occasion it didn't quite go to plan. I don't like to slag places off as I have worked in the restaurant industry in the past and know how hectic, stressful and difficult it can be, but I'd like to think that even in my hardest hours I could give more info than "how long is a piece of string". Also I stress I didn't actually here this being said so I have to trust my friends...