The Pigs Nose Inn — Restaurant in South Hams

Let's put this simply.

Booked in 2 months in advanced for our party of six people.

Table booked for 1800hrs and we arrived at 1755hrs. We are a very polite and quiet family, two adults, kids 8 & 3 and grand parents. I have been here before so knew the surrounds and as people say "quirky" atmosphere.

So as the explanation of Quirky says it is characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits or aspects. What happened next was completely unexpected!

Had to ask serveral times for menu, was told none were available due to being busy the day before.

Drink and food order taken at 1830, 30min wait. Drinks arrived at 1900hrs, 1hr since sitting down! . Complete void for next 45min, food arrived apart from mine. My father in laws was a kids portion? . No cutlery given, we ate food with our fingers before it finally arrived.

Our waitress, who I presume was in a managerial role was very understanding, I take her points on staffing issues. She refunded our meal. Unfortunately the experience was ruined. What could have been a great informal meal in potential good surroundings wasn't a nice experience.

Covid isn't an excuse for bad service. Proper preparation promotes proper performance. I can speak from experience, I operate in high performing teams in highly stressful situations, all the way thru covid!

If you can't cater for bank holidays then don't try to bluff it, it doesn't work. To many punters, not enough staff. Being a key worker within the Emergency services it was also disappointing to see covid rules completely not being adhered to. Table service does not exist here, people were walking in from outside and taking out drinks, by themselves. No body taking track and trace details and no one enforcing it.

Ultimately this is pub that is great for a drink and adhoc meal. If your aiming for the holiday period and have kids in tow, it may be great, or it may be a complete failure. I've had a great time at this pub, but now I've had a bad time. Your choice, just giving you a heads up.

02/06/21. The owners response to my review "it's all a conspiracy" on trip advisor, I presume this is aimed towards the covid paragraph. What a sad remark, families have lost loved ones and our public service workers have blown their rivets to keep the country running. How dare you say such a comment! Stay away, terrible pub ran by people who live in cloud...

A real mixed bag for us... absolutely stunning location, the most delightful oldy worldy pub imaginable, and some staff bending over backwards to make your time there everything you'd hoped for... but... other staff not very helpful at all and some regulars? previous night's drinkers? still hanging out being loud on phones and just generally observing... we felt very watched despite being locals ourselves. We got water for the table while we looked at the menu but some of the glasses smelt of sweaty socks. When I went in to order I could see why. There were stacks of glasses on a very manky looking tea towel, hence the bottom glass had a manky rim but not those stacked on top. An easy fix though. Similarly with the food... the actually recipes are superb. We particularly recommend the Scotch egg starter (stunning flavours) and creme brulee dessert (just so creamy). However not enough care was taken with them as the creme brulee was burnt on top and actually had some raw onion in it randomly?! Again, Really easy fixes because the foundations are great, but really important to get those sorted and make the place a bit more warm and welcoming...

Delicious food (thanks chef) great service at the bar, warm and cosy, friendly atmosphere. Old pubs like these are traditionally carrying out a duty to serve the public (village workers, farmers, fishermen) and we shouldn’t forget it takes a kind heart to open what is effectively their home, to the general public to entertain and feed us. We have such a high expectation these days of what service should “look” like. I find this place as authentic and I can see the efforts the owners have made to make the pub feel comfortable in terms of decor but even the service, which is relaxed and easy (how pubs were at times when this one was built). So many comments about how this place “is like how pubs used to be”.

Please don’t let the character of this place dwindle over time. We don’t want to come into someone’s on-trend living room which looks like every other page in every issue of the house & gardens magazine… it’s the quirks which make this place truly...