The Rose Salterne - JD Wetherspoon — Restaurant in Torridge District

Firstly the reason for one star is based on our most recent visit only. We have been to this Wetherspoons pub many times before and loved it. We visited last week on one of the "Eat in to Help Out" days. It, of course, was extremely busy. My husband and I managed to sit at one of only 2 tables vacant. We presumed the table and chairs had been cleaned before we sat down due to Covid-19 risks. I wore a mask when I queued for food and drink, but I would say 95% of people weren't wearing masks at all (obviously people don't wear masks when actually eating and drinking but I would have thought customers should be wearing them otherwise). My husband and I noticed very quickly that they were probably short staffed. The backlog of plates, cutlery and glasses at the window to the kitchen was huge. There were piles and piles of dirty dishes. A female server brought our food, people were vacating their tables after eating and leaving. More people were coming in, unable to find a vacant clean table. To our horror, people began sitting down at tables, still cluttered with previous customers' plates and glasses. A guy half cleared one table and didn't come back. We next saw him serving food. He and the female server were run off their feet. We were appalled. It was heaving and chaotic. It was highly likely that the table and chairs we had been sitting at had not been cleaned or disinfected at all. We felt very unsafe. There surely will be another peak of Covid-19 if this is the way establishments are being run. We could not attract anyone's attention without queuing again and we wanted to get out of there a.s.a.p. When we got home, we looked for an email address of the Rose Salterne, Bideford, to share our concerns and to suggest that one person needs to be employed to oversee the clearing and cleaning/disinfecting tables and chairs - and to stop the public wandering in and sitting down at tables which are not clear and not cleaned. I could not find an email address. I emailed Head Office instead and have yet to receive a reply. The Manager of the Rose Salterne needs to get his act together - NOW!! We won't be back unless we get reassurance and see a change in how things are handled. We are telling as many local people as we can to beware. POOR SHOW WETHERSPOONS!!! Addition to above review today, Tuesday 18th August 2020: It is now 2 weeks since I wrote a complaint email to Wetherspoons Head Office. I have not had a reply. No acknowledgement at all. Disgraceful customer service. SHAME ON YOU...

I've visited this dark (literally) wetherspoons many times over the years because typically you can't beat the value for money. I've learnt to accept your meal won't be made with fresh ingredients and your steak will most likely be chewy: I was however pleasantly surprised recently when I ordered a Hawaiian pizza. That aside today wetherspoons crossed a line for me by serving me a smashed 🥑 avocado bagel ...with brown, dead avocado. I really wish I'd taken a picture, I can assure you I really am not exaggerating. Like I said I can take a few things like the chips being slightly undercooked, the avocado being hard, the fried eggs being over cooked but serving someone moldy avocado is not on... And then when you take the plate back, returning to the table 5-10 mins later to say, "no it's supposed to be served cold." That really wasn't the problem, the problem was that on top a lovely fluffy white muffin sat food that should have been put in the compost a day ago. After a long half an hour wait a fresh bagel was finally brought out by which time my partner had finished his meal and we were ready to leave.

I think this wetherspoons struggles with staffing as they did seem thin on the ground and dirty plates were stacking up but like I said before I've come to expect these sorts of things of 'spoons however today I feel no one knew what they were doing in the kitchen. So my advice is if you go there stick to burgers - can't go wrong - or the pizzas. Stay clear of anything that sounds fresh, modern or healthy and you'll have a great time with lovely quick table service a la the app.

This is a dark, sticky 'spoons' (the walls, the tables...) with a classic pub-like atmosphere. If you want better food and service you've got to expect to pay more elsewhere. So go with low expectations and you'll be...

Terrible experience. Had to pay for my daughters meal twice as she has aspergers and her meal came out covered in gravy even though I had been told the gravy would be separate.. Was abruptly told I would have to pay for another if she wanted to eat(by two members of staff, one which was very unkempt and unprofessional and later I was told this was the manager! Second daughters meal didn't turn up and when asked it was slung out with burnt sweetcorn and a nugget missing. My steak was burnt, cold and chewy. No apologies or gesture of good will. When the second sausage and mash came out there was a curly hair in it!! Complained and was told "what do you want? Another?". My daughter near to tears at this point replied politely "yes please".. 20 minutes later it still did not arrive! And was made to feel a nuisance when had to ask for it again.. After this incident eventually some young girl came out and asked if we would all like a complimentary drink and dessert.. Still no apology though. We accepted but then we're told 5 minutes later that she was very sorry but the manager had said we were not allowed this and we could only have 2 desserts not 7 (there were 7 of us) or 2 drinks.. Absolutely horrified by this and had to decide which of the 5 children had to go without(certainly was not going to order anymore after this), my youngest kept asking why the lady had told lies. Totally ruined our family evening out.. Made to feel like rubbish and the children felt awkward and embarrassed like they had done something wrong. Will NEVER eat here again. The management couldn't care less and had no people skills. I have even written to complain but had...