The Ferry Inn — Restaurant in South Hams

If I could leave zero stars I would.

Having been regularly visiting this venue for years the service and staffing has drastically gone down with each returning visit.

Last week I took my work teeam down to Salcombe for a bit of bonding and mentioned The Ferry Inn, which has arguably the best spot in town due to its location. A large queue was forming from 1150 on Monday 20th June outside the Garden door and street door but it was showing no signs of opening. A quick google search indicated it would be open from 1100. Their website indicates 1200. Giving the benefit of the doubt we waited, seeing multiple staff inside cleaning tables down etc. 1205 still nothing, no door signs to indicate not opening or opening later that day. Tried calling. No answer.

My friend peered over the back gate and saw the owner! Hurrah we thought its opening! He asked when the pub would be opening to which the owner rudely replied "is the door working?" My friend tried the door and replied "no". Which was met with a saracstic "theres your answer then".

Will not be back until new management takes over. This rude attitude has been going on for years but this was the straw that broke the camels back. Clearly in over their heads despite having a fantastic location. Extremely high prices also.

Plenty of other lovely pubs and venues in town with friendly and approachable staff.

Do not touch this place unless you are seriously desperate and cannot get in...

A real shame - the pub advertises food and has a lovely location for it but really only copes as a drinking pub. We arrived at 5pm after reading reviews that it was a good family pub. We were told no food served until 6 so we ordered some drinks and waited with our 5 year old. At 6pm we were fortunate enough to be first in the order queue with a very simple order of ham, egg and chips, a salad and a child’s plain burger. The lady at the bar said our order would be first out and no more than 30 minutes (which seemed long for such a basic first order). By 6.40pm we had watched 6 other orders come out - of which 3 were sent back for being undercooked or cold. We asked where our food was but the waitress was disinterested and offhand and said it would be with us in 5 minutes. By 7pm we asked again but the waitress just looked bored and went off to find out. We were told it was just coming. By 7.15 with a child nearly in tears we cancelled our order and left. The staff couldn’t have been less bothered and we weren’t even given an apology. Unless you want to eat cold food in a fugg of outdoor cigarette smoke we would suggest avoiding this pub until they manage to sort out their chef and staffing issues. Having been to Salcombe and this pub for many years it was a real shame to see them slide...

Been here a few times over the years and always hated the volume of the music played but never had too awful of an experience until the other day. The place was flooded with flying ants that landed everywhere from the food to the drinks to my hair and inside my clothes as well as there being wasps everywhere taking dips in each drink. 60% of my boyfriends meal and the entirety of mine was then stolen by a seagull while all of the staff and customers watched and laughed. I understand that they can’t do much about the bugs and the birds which is why I wasn’t surprised when they refused a refund due to the fact they don’t have control over those animals, however, they do have control over how before the seagull’s theft, the entirety of the male staff including the owner stripped to boxers and proceeded to climb over tables to jump into the water, repeatedly, soaking both my clothes and my food in the process. My upset was caused my the lack of empathy given to my boyfriend and I after we explained the events to staff while I was in tears, a partial of refund of even a tenner would’ve sufficed, why should I pay £50 for meals we didn’t...