Dartbridge Inn Buckfastleigh — Restaurant in South Hams

Had the unfortunate pleasure of dining here whilst on holiday. Although the food [once we received it] was reasonable, the service, particularly the floor Managers attitude, was abysmal.

Due to an error with the printing machine, our order was not printed in the kitchen resulting in us still waiting for our food over 45-mins after ordering it without the staff noticing they were serving others food that had come in well after us. When approached we were initially told there was a 30-minute wait on food (bigger problems obviously exist if this is the case for a 1830 seating) but they would check on our order.

We also were subject to 10-15min waits for each drink order. Initially the wine order was also incorrect - another 15-minute wait for the right bottle to be brought to us.

Once the error was realised, they did prioritise our order and we eventually received our food 65-minutes after ordering it.

We did receive an apology and an offer on behalf of the Manager to receive free deserts. As we don’t generally eat deserts directly after a meal, and as we had a 6yo with us, we certainly didn’t want to stay any longer having already waited over an hour for food so we asked for a discount instead. Again, on behalf of the Manager, the waitress eventually told us she had agreed to a 20% discount on food.

When the bill was eventually provided 100-mins after our seating time, it only showed a 10% discount. When queried, the poor waitress couldn’t answer besides to say the Manager is the one that approves discounts. I wanted to get out so told my partner to just pay it anyway, it’s not worth arguing over £4, at which point she disappeared again.

I left to get our child in the car, at which stage the Manager had finally decided to come to the table to speak to us, only to say the waitress was young and she felt intimidated by us. Not only that, she stated that our wait was “not excessive and therefore didn’t warrant a 20% discount” even though she initially offered (we did not ask) to provide deserts for free which would have cost 3x what she had eventually decided on.

The waitress was obviously just fresh so it should have been the floor Managers responsibility to keep a better eye on what was going on, and with a difficult situation, she should have come and spoken directly to tell us she had backtracked on her offer to us rather than put the fresh waitress in that position. Very poor management skills on the whole.

We will not be returning here after this experience, and am actually reluctant to ever go to another pub run by this chain...

Stayed for 4 nights in March 2024. Room 11, 1st floor room facing the road which is busy but didn't disturb sleep. Very comfortable, 2 single beds, shower over bath, large TV, tea/coffee tray and good amentities. Velux style window. Heated towel rail in bathroom toasty enough to heat room too.||Large free car park with additional at the rear.||Accessible front entrance with ramp along with seperate stairs. Accessible toilet near bar. ||Dinner and breakfast service both excellent. ||I'm an early riser so the 7am breakfast was a welcome treat. I always tend to have continental so there was a great selection of juices, cereals, breads and pastries with individual jams, honey, chocolate spread and sunflower spread. Soya milk was also on offer by request. Fab coffee too. Nicole was my early morning server for the 4 days who made me feel very welcome. ||I ate in the bar/restaraunt every night with colleagues. Was lovely to notice many locals along with travellers and also well behaved dogs having dinner or just drinks.||The food was excellent. Over the 4 nights, I sampled scampi, chicken in a basket, vegan burger, vegan bakewell tart and vegan icecream, steak and chips. My workmates who are gluten intolerant were well looked after with the selection on offer. Great selection of both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks.||It's a quirky old creaky building with heaps of character thats well lived and loved. Nice welcoming decor. I noticed the team starting to make spring updates from clearing overgrowth in the car park area, painting railings and tackling the normal spring updates that all busy tradtional inns face. It has the feel of a tradional heart of the community inn, slightly faded in areas but being lovingly restored.||A huge thanks to the hard working team from general manager to the back of house staff. I spoke to many of them during my visit. They are passionate about this lively wee traditional inn. They welcome constructive feedback so they can improve/fix issues that may arise. The team had me laughing every night - they all great for a chat but also respectful of the visitors who want to drink or dine in peace. ||Looking forward to...

As the grandmother of 'the brat' mentioned in the previous review I feel it necessary to leave a review to defend the staff and business. If you haven't already read it, please do!

Yes, my grandson jumped out of the car and ran into the pub, yes his mother is a member of staff, no he was not running around the bar and at no point was he left unattended. As you so rudely shouted he is about 12, so therefore not a small child running around causing chaos. He was excited to see his mum on her break. He was excited to see the other members of staff that he knows and sees regularly. He was also excited to see a regular customer's new dog, who he sat calmly stroking. This is also the same customer who couldn't walk out of the front door because your own dogs were so reactive.

The Assistant Manager who tried to serve you, informed you they had no steak. Your immediate reaction was to shout and swear at her! She stayed calm and professional. She is a credit to the business for how she tried to defuse the situation. She apologised repeatedly only to receive another tirade of profanities as you walked away. When she approached your table to ask you to stop swearing at the top of your voice because there was a child seated in the same area from you, you shouted across that you didn't care because he looked 'about 12'. When I then said that I cared about him hearing the language being used, you got up and came towards us in a threatening manner. His mother, who as I said previously is a member of staff, stood up between you and us and said 'Please don't.' Only at this point you were politely asked to leave, which you did but you were still swearing like a trooper. The shouting at us and hand gestures through the window really topped it off. A woman of your age should know better. You should be ashamed of your behaviour.

The staff in the building did their absolute best to appease you and you were rude and very confrontational. They go above and beyond with their customer service and I will continue to rave about how fantastic they are. Well done team! Keep up...