The Royal Castle — Restaurant in South Hams

Ate here tonight and although the food was lovely we had a really horrible experience and had to leave without eating our pudding or drinking the wine my husband had just paid for. I get that most pubs are now dog friendly but I think it would be helpful to everyone, dog owners and non dog owners if pubs spell out what the ground rules are on this so people can make informed choices. We ate in the bar as that's the only place they had tables. As we were eating our meal a young couple came in with a dog and sat at the next table to us. The tables were very close and the dog kept begging at our table, which we ignored. My husband went to the bar and the woman patted the seat to get the dog to sit on the bench seat next to me. I said to her that i didn't want the dog on the seat next to me and she said. ' This is a dog hotel'. I said it was also a people hotel and I didn't want to share the seat with a dog. The man with her became angry and abusive and kept making comments. Something about it not being 1932 which I wasn't sure whether he was inferring I was a nazi or being rude about my age. He kept making rude comments saying he needed to go somewhere to calm down but not moving, and swearing. He made it do uncomfortable that I went to find my husband and we left despite him just paying for desert and wine. I think the hotel needs to make it clear that being dog friendly doesn't mean that dogs have the complete run of the place at the expense of other guests, or if they do, then make that clear too so we know to avoid it.

Just adding the response I received from the company - quite different tone from the one posted by manager. Which they are really committed to I'm not sure.

Good afternoon,

Thank you for contacting us following your experience at the Royal Castle.

I’m Emily, and I’m the Customer Experience Executive, part of the Customer Experience team for St Austell Brewery including our pubs, inns and hotels. Customer experience is our number one priority and we always strive to deliver excellent standards, so we are sorry to hear that some aspects of your experience fell short of expectations on this visit.

On receiving your feedback, I have shared this with the management team for the Royal Castle and we would like to apologise that your experience wasn’t a reflection of the standards that the team pride themselves on.

After communicating with the general manager, Matthew, I understand that there will be a change to policy when the pub re-opens its doors after the renovation planned at the end of this year. Matthew has explained that although we are dog friendly, there will be a paws to the floor policy in place and all team members will be trained in how to manage this appropriately. I am sorry for any disappointment on your recent visit however, would like to reassure you that your comments have been listened too.

Whilst we generally find our guest experience to be outstanding, occasionally feedback such as yours remind us there is room for improvement. I’m sorry for any disappointment your recent visit may have caused. Creating a great customer experience is one of our biggest priorities within our guest journey and ensuring that our guests are welcomed into our venues and leave happy is vital within our training standards.

Matthew has asked me to thank you for your feedback as comments such as yours help us ensure we are striving for the best standards for all of our guests. One of the best ways for us to improve is through feedback from our guests which is why your comments have been invaluable.

I would like to offer you a £20 gift card for some drinks on us to use once e have re-opened our doors to the Royal Castle next year. To help re-build your faith in us and so we can show you that our teams learn from feedback such as yours. If you would like to receive this, please do reply to this email and I can have this sent over via email for you.

We do hope that we will have the opportunity to welcome you back in the future for a more improved experience.

Best...

Visited Dartmouth for 2 days and stayed here for a night. Great location, beautiful setting and the building is amazing with loads of historic character. Was greeted by a very friendly staff member who checked us in and offered to show us to our room but we were happy to find it ourselves. We stayed in room 7 after being kindly upgraded. First impressions were good and the viewing was beautiful. Was very hot in the room and realised the radiator was on full so soon rectified by turning it down and opening the window for a bit. Room is a little tired in places but clean and the setting and location makes up for it and gives value. Tea and coffee facilities were very good. We had dinner out but came back in the evening and had dessert in the bar along with a few drinks. Puds were yum! Was a little disappointed that although being a St Austell brewery hotel they didn’t have much in the choice of beers. I like my beers and always try something new or local when I can. Said all empty apart from tribute which I like but would have been nice to try others as I get that from the supermarket at home. Next morning we were looking forward to the included breakfast. (I like me grub) When we went down to breakfast just past 9 there was one staff member that said grab a table and help ourselves to the buffet/continental breakfast. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to go for, few pastries left, some cereal (no milk) no bread left. Juices that was almost gone, not what I expect of a continental breakfast, just a buffet. Through out our breakfast I did see a few guests approach the buffet seeming just as lost as we were at the lack of food that was there and a few had to ask for things like bread for toast. Sat down to eat our pastries, couldn’t find any tea/coffee so asked the staff, she apologised as was meant ask us if we wanted some. Then took our hot food orders both opting for the full English. Well… the tea was horrible, could drink it. Was like stale when you forget and leave the tea bag in too long. The food arrived in good time and looked good, that’s were it stopped. Quite possibly the worst full English I’ve had. Sausage was dry with tough skin. Fried egg was cooked through. Bacon was so dry and chewy could even cut it with the knife and fork. And the hash brown I could smell wasn’t going to be nice as I picked it up on my fork my girlfriend told me not to, she had already taken a bite. And the smell matched the taste, oil! I get that it’s fried food but this thing was saturated with oil. Mushrooms were good and baked been were standard. In the end we couldn’t finish it. Was not enjoyable at all. Apparently breakfast is made per order, this wasn’t. This tastes like it had been sat there for ages or even reheated. So that was disappointing. We then checked out and set about our morning with our breakfast repeating. On check out we did mention the breakfast and the staff was very apologetic when we mentioned the breakfast. So to summarise Hotel lovely, setting and view amazing, staff friendly. Building beautiful yes no lift and has its creeks but if you like historic buildings (I do) then this bursts history and character. Breakfast -...

We found this place for lunch on Easter Monday. Initially the staff were extremely welcoming and friendly, offering us a choice of where to sit to eat, we chose the restaurant upstairs to enjoy the views of the harbour.

Unfortunatly, things changed once we were in the restaurant and what unfolded can only be described as bizarre. My son ordered some garlic ciabatta but was told they didn't have any. Myself and my daughter ordered the carrot soup, when it was brought to and placed infront of us, the waitress said, "it's not carrot it's leek and potato. Sorry about that, is that ok?'. Both of us can eat leek and potato soup but we all found it very strange that we were only informed of this change when the food was actually brought to us. Also, I am not sure I would have ordered this type had I known. Because we were hungry and to change our order would have taken time, we kept the soup but we both found it difficult to eat and were not able to finish it because it the chef had overloaded it with pepper. It was also supposed to come with a warm bagette which was anything but.

My husband ordered the steak and fries. The waitress asked how he would like it to be cooked "rare or well-done". My husband asked if it could be cooked somewhere in between to which he was told, "no, it's well-done or rare, we can't do it any differently". My husband requested for it to be cooked rare but when it arrived it was much closer to being well-done.

When we received the bill, we noticed that we had been overcharged for the soups. I pointed this out and the waitress took the bill away. When she returned she told us that the restaurant manager had typed the menu incorrectly and they were unable to change the bill because it had already been processed. My husband pointed out that it had not been processed because we hadn't paid anything but they insisted that the bill could not be changed, that we would have to pay the full amount and they would reimburse the difference in cash. An added point to consider is that two half pints of draft lemonade cost close to £4...

The whole expereince after arriving in the restaurant was decidely odd and not at all what we would expect from a hotel positioned where it was. The staff were friendly and the food (soup aside) was tasty but the processes and systems were not professional and...