Ring of Bells Inn — Restaurant in Teignbridge

Avoid like plague! They will kick an entire family out and not honour bookings even though restaurant is empty! Awful awful service from the moody lady serving at the bar. I know that service around Devon is hit and miss but her attitude is some of the worst I’ve ever seen her in my life and I’ve seen a lot of bad service. So here’s my experience at this place today Tuesday 1st of March: I called at 15:54 and proceeded to leave a voicemail with my booking as there was no answer. I said we will arrive around 17:30/17:40, we are a family of 6 (2 adults, 2 children, 2 babies). I figured it’s a Tuesday and booking a dinner at 17:30 not exactly busy. 2 days prior I walked in the pub and asked hours of operation and the nice young guy there told me Tuesday supper should be easy and can call during the day, I don’t need to call days in advance. I then proceed to drive for 1 hour and 15 minutes to this place. I get there 17:30 start walking towards the pub, I see a young couple in the garden eating. I then walk in, apart from 1 other person the place was totally EMPTY…just like you would expect on a Tuesday at 17:30! I look around for someone but there was nobody there so I proceed to walk to the bar. Behind the bar the lady I was mentioning, she was serving a couple at the bar having some drinks. I then ask her politely “excuse me, who do I need to talk to about a reservation at the restaurant?”. She answers back snarky “me once im done here”. I’m like oh wow she’s really in a good mood. I wait for a few minutes she then walks behind the bar to her computer. She asks me if I have a reservation, i then tell her I called an hour and a half ago and left a voicemail. She replies saying oh I haven’t got any voicemails and just looks at the phone on wall without checking or anything like that. Obviously she was totally bs’ing me. She then asks how many people and when. I say now and we are 2 adults, 2 young children and 2 babies. She says “we are too busy we have a local dinner / local event tonight and only 1 chef we don’t have space.” I reply back “but I booked the place by leaving a voicemail, the restaurant is now empty (surely this event is not at 5:30pm???) and I drove over an hour with 4 hungry children to come here”. I even showed her the phone number I dialled in my phone and she confirmed it’s the right one. She then looks me straight in the eye and says “sorry…I can book you for dinner tomorrow” and proceeds to walk back to the bar. Great service right? Now I go back to the car and as my wife got all the kids out i tell her to put everyone back in. Obviously everyone screaming and hungry so have to find new place for dinner. I then drove for 10 minutes to nearby Bovey Castle (thank god this place is nearby) who had no trouble offering us dinner without a booking. If the owner sees the message I would appreciate if you could leave some contact details. This type of behaviour from staff is totally unacceptable and owner needs to be...

As a frazzled NHS person, this trip was important to me. I love this part of the world. Chagford, North Bovey and Moretonhampstead are a delightful triangle away from the world. North Bovey is utterly lovely, and its pub is too.

I like laid-back, non fussy... and this pub was. But v professional at the same time.

The building is gorgeously old, but modernised with comfort in mind. 5 stars to whoever oversaw the process.

My room 4 was in the annex, a colossal 15 second stroll to the bar and eating area! What a trek!

The room was perfect. Comfy bed, peaceful (you hear the warm rumble of pub chat underneath for a while if you go to bed early, but why not join them given your proximity) ? Pretty aspect through the thatch out to the willow. Birdsong and not much else. You may sleep like a baby here.

Then there is the food.

The food was hearty and the service excellent. But I would hope for my next visit there is some grilled fish and more vegetarian options. I would also suggest some smaller portion options, given the comments I heard at breakfast from an older party.

The things that were really special for me were the discreteness (no annoying signs), the sensible touches (a power shower with just a button to press), and the most heavenly location.

I would also commend the young woman who was so industrious and professional at breakfast and dinner.

Top marks for a top place.

Extra marks to the Ring O'Bells and all in the hospitality industry for coming...

I'm genuinely pleased to see this pub back open and do hope they listen to feedback from myself and other reviews. The organic ethos is all well and good but the basics of what makes a good pub are being over looked. Cleaning tables and clearing dirty glasses away should be higher up on staff priorities. More than once walked in to dirty tables and dirty glasses lined up . I even watched as the barman pushed the glasses along the bar so as to serve a customer and once this was done walked off still leaving the glasses. That is another issue - there never seems to be someone staioned behind the bar, so its hit and miss if you find someone serving. All the staff are knowledgeable on the products and very helpful, but it doesnt help to over look the basics. As you'd expect with any re-opening there are teething problems such as problamatic heating, hot water and limited menu. ( I understand due to delivery issues) but even getting a bag of crisps seems to be a challenge. Other reviews mention the lack of local (Devon) ales and I agree with this, on my visit Avocet (Exeter brewery) was on tap but unfortunately off that day. I'm sure these issues can all be ironed out and I look forward to visiting in the summer months and enjoying a meal in the garden., especially when the new grill is installed. As stated at the start I am pleased to see this pub re-open and wish it every success. It is after all a beautiful building in a...