Coombe Cellars Newton Abbot — Restaurant in Teignbridge

This is the second visit in recent weeks, had a bad experience last time but we thought we'd give it another chance as the setting is lovely and my mum likes to sit and watch the river. We arrived early so tried to order coffee but the machine was broken. I asked for tea (for my 95 year old mother) and the waitress said she couldn't make tea either because the boiler was broken too. Really? Nowhere to heat water in a professional kitchen at 1130am? In the middle of service I would understand, but there was one other table occupied in the whole place. We went through to have an early lunch, and I had to sign a multiple page disclaimer on a tablet for my allergy (to some artificial food colourings) before eating. Never been asked to do that before! I didn't bother to read it, as it would have taken ages so not sure what I actually signed.. The waitress said the only dish off the menu was the super green salad so I ordered lamb rump and a glass of Malbec, only to be told (some time later and after 2 return visits to the table) that the lamb was now off too, as the delivery hadn't arrived. So we both ordered the crab, prawn and chorizo linguine with chilli and paid for an extra of scallops, and I asked to change my untouched red wine for a glass of white to go better with the new dish. We asked for one dish with mild chilli cos Mum doesn't like spice, but I asked for mine spicy. They both came with the same amount of chilli, almost none. Both were only warm so had obviously been waiting around for a bit. My mum had about 15 prawns, and loads of chorizo and sauce on her plate, and I had precisely 3 prawns on mine and very little chorizo or sauce. There was absolutely no crab we could detect in either, but they did each have two of the smallest scallops I've ever seen, the size of a pound coin. The chef obviously had cooked it together, taken a scoop out for me and just tipped the rest with all the prawns etc into Mum's bowl. Such sloppy plating, showing no care! I asked the young boy waiter for more prawns as I had only 3, but he said the dishes were all portion controlled. Having a laugh? I then spoke to the senior waitress and she bought some more quite quickly. I would have complained about the non-existent crab too, and the temperature and spicing, but mum was paying and I didn't want to spoil her day out. I wanted to try the lemon tart but it wasn't made on the premises and the waitress couldn't tell me if it had food colouring in so I couldn't order it. When the bill came, both the glass of red wine (that I'd exchanged for the white) and the white wine were on the 77 quid bill (this for 2 apple juices served out of a cheap 1 litre carton, 2 medium glasses of wine, 2 pasta, 1 lemon tart). The waitress just asked if I wanted to leave a tip. Honestly, it was a completely depressing...

We visited the Coombe Cellars yesterday, Sunday. The venue was booked on-line and a window seating for four people was requested. We arrived half an hour early to enjoy a drink and registered at the desk. We were told that they had us a table as requested but was not quite ready. Not a problem at all as we were early and was fetched from the bar area when they were ready for us. All was going well and the seating was good with the lovely views. This was really the end of the good bits and things did not go well from then on. We had two roast chickens and two trio of roast being beef, pork & chicken. It arrived in about 20 minutes but what a let down, the presentation was not great. It was dried out with little gravy and we had to request more gravy. The beef was one small slice and dried out, the pork was a very small square of belly pork and the chicken a dried out small chicken leg. We were expecting succulent sliced meats. Roast potatoes; well what roast potatoes, three very small potatoes hidden underneath the other items. When found, one was undercooked, one was so over cooked it look as if it had been hanging around did not attempt to find the third. The yorkshire pudding was as dry as a crisp and attempting to cut into it set splinters going everywhere. As a whole very poor. The ladies roast chicken was a small piece of chicken breast but again dry and over cooked. None of the four of us could finish the meals with mine sent back hardly touched. The other three meal put together was at least another serving and a half. We a local business people who eat out 2 or 3 times a month and this has to be the worst we have experienced. I do not read or do feedbacks normally as they are not always accurate and let my own experience judge things. I have written this feedback as I feel strongly about our poor experience. It will be interesting to see the managers reply to this! Will it be the same as all the other poor reviews but nothing changes in the pub kitchen and the food quality. There are plenty of very good pubs and restaurants all within 3 to 4 miles which have fully trained, proper chiefs who pride themselves on local food produce, good quality meats and great presentational skills. A very good sunday roast at these places will be between £17 and £24 and much more enjoyable. Or the alternative maybe is the cheaper national Tim Martin owned outlets which may do as good a roast (don't know) and a drink for around £14. In a nutshell please avoid and have a look on-line at other outlets...

I was really excited to visit as the rest of my family really adored this place. On arrival on Thursday 20th June 2024 I wasn't disappointed - excellent table and Aaron was really lovely, he took our order but said we couldn't have added scallops with our ribeye as they weren't available even though it was on the menu and my husband was having scallops starter and added scallops to his linguine he also said to say when we wanted our next course when they cleared the plates from the previous course. Our Table starter duly arrived it was good not served by Aaron. Things went downhill from there we had to get the attention of the waitress to clear our plates and get our starters. It was even harder to get attention for our starters being cleared away and on asking what had happened to Aaron was told he had been sent home as there was too many staff on but now they were struggling as they were too many people needing serving it appeared to us that everyone else was getting excellent service and we were being ignored. My son's ribeye came minus the mushroom and shallots and had to be asked for and the broccoli and samphire was a big disappointment swimming in water and very overcooked. I had almost finished my fillet steak which was indeed very nice when my glass of wine arrived. We waited a long time for someone to come and clear our plates which the girl did -just took the plates and went never asking us if we wanted a dessert and went. Eventually we decided to give up waiting any longer and so we asked for the bill at this stage we could so easily have walked out without paying as my son had to find someone to take the payment. What started out to be a lovely evening turned out to be such a disapointment - they even had the cheek to put on the card that we were looked after by Aaron if only that had been true I am sure things would have been...