The Bear & Blacksmith — Restaurant in South Hams

Dined here during a recent holiday, ordered fillet steak with chips, mushrooms, tom's, etc but was served fillet, braised leeks and a parmesan pearl barley risotto. I asked the waitress to check the menu and it turns out I'd been given a copy of the menu that hadn't been changed from the day before. Chef immediately appeared, apologised and offered to refire the meal, I declined as I hate waste and 'er indoors was already well into her sea bass and "the best mussels and broth ever". Chef asked me for my opinion as I was the first to sample this dish. The steak was perfect and the leeks wonderful but the risotto despite it's wonderful flavour was just too large a portion and I thought needed something salty against it on the plate. We were offered a complimentary bottle of wine by way of an apology for the mix up. We declined as the food was excellent. We returned later in the week to be served Day Boat caught Pollock with chips, pea puree and home made tartare sauce. WOW!! and I mean WOW!! Stunning huge piece of fish in see through crispy batter, honestly I could count the fish flakes through it! Twice cooked chips maybe? Delicious pea puree and cracking tartare sauce. Other than the initial glowing comments after sampling I don't think we spoke until we had devoured every morsel of our food! Staff friendly and helpful, good ales and wine and a very pleasant ambiance at great prices!

Fish and chips can't possibly be called fine dining can it? Yes, it can,...

This was our first visit but will not be our last Booked a table the day before glad we did as it was pretty much full in the bar area. Social distancing is strictly adhered too so felt safe Antibacterial dispensers on all exits an antibacterial spray on each table The lady who served us was very pleasant an extremely helpful as I have several dietary requirements I'm gluten free dairy free an allergic to garlic and onion she was able to adapt the menu choices to accommodate me. A very good choice of lunch time starters mains desserts I had seared scallops with crispy bacon an pumpkin puree Main course was delicious lamb chops with roasted root vegetables an new potatoes kale .. it was very well presented an cooked to perfection. My husband had scallops to start followed by steak which he said was very good , cooked perfectly served with fresh grilled tomatoes home cooked chips an field mushroom an sweet glazed scallot onions We didn't have dessert but they looked very nice. We did have a bit of difficulty finding the car park at the rear of the pub but it's a reasonable size All in all a real find...

Honestly I am surprised at the reviews. Maybe we came in on an off day or it just wasn't the best experience this time, but me and my boyfriend went in the summer. We immediately felt uncomfortable, as we were the only people there aside from one other guy, and I half got the feeling it was because we were younger, but it felt like we were being stared at weirdly.

We sat in the freezing restaurant and were the only people there, ordered a couple of drinks and they took ages to arrive considering it was just us. The cod we ordered was weirdly powdery and the chips arrived slightly cold and soggy. We also had to wait a very long time for food.

The person who served us seemed less that charismatic for a waiter and I felt pretty judged but maybe that is just me feeling uncomfortable overall.

Seeing these reviews now, we might try to come in again. It seems as though we unfortunately had one bad experience, hopefully it's a one...