The Rydon Inn — Restaurant in Torridge District

On arriving here we thought - wow! the interior is wonderful and homely. We were showed to our table which was in the conservatory looking out onto the beautifully kept gardens (even though the weather was very wet this particular evening you could tell they are really looked after and a beautiful sight in better weather)..

Our food (the meals that were correct) were really nicely set out and delicious.

Unfortunately there was a mishap with one of our meals where an item was served that one of the party was allergic too but wasn't mentioned on the menu.... he didn't say anything at the time, just moved his plate away and went outside for fresh air (and a cig) to calm down as he knows how poorly he can get with the said item.

We continued our meal unaware of this. When he eventually said something I spoke to the staff who were very off, apparently we should have said something when they did their 'check' unfortunately the person was not able to confirm it was ok when they checked... I can understand their policy but would say that it would have been a totally different story if the person had actually touched the item (it was hidden underneath a large portion of fish, so not in eyes view), he would literally had 15-30 seconds before becoming extremely unwell . Unfortunately the middle aged lady from the waiting staff just waved her hands in the air and said "well theres nothing we can do then, he should have said something" and the man behind the bar who was as useful as a chocolate fireguard was 'oohing' and 'ahhing' and trying to look what should have been served to see if we had read it wrong!!!! (what happened to the customer is right, why would i say something was on the plate if it wasn't). All bonkers when someone has an allergy! We had asked the young waitress on ordering if the fish was filleted for the particular dish to which she replied 'yes' -it then came filleted!. `The young boy from the waiting staff was quite rude when asked something and almost stomped off - we only asked for another bottle of wine. I feel the staff let this place down, the chef needs to be clear what he is sending out as it definitely wasn't what was ordered and the man behind the bar find his backbone and listen to his customers instead of repeating what Miss Trunchball was rattling out.

They refused to take the uneaten meal off the bill as we didn't mention it beforehand, again understandable but people with allergies should probably avoid this place for their own safety.

Another thing - the wine mark up is really high...

We are on holiday and headed to this pub for a meal. Our 25th wedding anniversary. Why did we bother.

I wish we had read the google and Facebook reviews before we went. Our mistake.

Awful food, poor quality and most if not all is frozen. Not cheap so one would expect better quality.

We were surprised to see a meal we returned was still on the bill. At the till we were told by a VERY rude and LOUD woman (black short hair mid 60s) that there was nothing wrong with the meal we returned as she had tasted it, the chef had tasted it, staff had tasted it and another guest enjoyed it and we still had to pay for it. We refused and were horrified to witness her reaction - she began almost shouting for everyone to hear near the bar saying there was nothing wrong with the fish. (It was grey and watery). It was very embarrassing and people were pulling very shocked facial expressions nearby. The pub charges £18 for large fish (S&J Fisheries supply for about £3.50). You get what you pay for.

Many reviews have mentioned a rude member of staff, it is probably this woman. Very unprofessional. She refused to give us a VAT receipt and even laughed with people that we had complained about the food.

They appear to be recruiting at the moment for a chef. If you have experience of using fresh food of a good quality please apply. If you run a leadership program please send invite to this woman.

The pub is apparently losing business according to our holiday host due to the quality of the food and the attitude of the woman at the till. Avoid. Keep away. No one needs to be shouted at on holiday trying to celebrate a special event. The whole episode at the till really upset us.

If you want an argument head there if you want better food make yourself a picnic.

Google reviews and Facebook reviews mention “rude staff”. I suspect it is this same woman. Our local holiday host explained this morning that she has heard similar experiences to ours. Shocking for a pub to have...

A dining experience not worth taking a “Rydon”.

Excuse the pun, but the evening we had at the Rydon Inn was underwhelming for a variety of reasons. The restaurant is situated in a wonderful setting, and the interior is brilliant, however, unfortunately this is where the positives mostly come to an end. We were only provided with 3 menus between a party of 8 which is not a massive issue but made the initial experience a bit of a pain. Admittedly service was swift and our drinks were ordered and arrived in good time, however when our server come over to take our food order we were only then advised that the they had no gammon. Four of eight of our party had decided on the gammon, so we then had to take the extra time to revise our choices.

When ordering, one of our group had asked for a recommendation between two options, the server rolled their eyes and offered no helpful input on what to order, simply voicing that they had never tried either of them so did not know. I had ordered a medium sirloin steak for main, which was well done when served. We let the server know that the steak was overcooked, they offered to replace the steak but I didn’t fancy waiting 15 minutes for the chef to remediate his mistake, whilst I watched the rest of the group tuck into their meals. The server said that was fine, but did not offer to take the meal off the bill or offer any complimentary drinks or desserts as a form of compensation or apology. As a result, we ended up paying £26 for a sirloin steak, that was unfortunately bland and cooked well over what was requested. The other meals were okay, but nothing exceptional, the fish was noted to be bland and the chips offered nothing that a cheap chip shop couldn’t provide.

We were expecting an enjoyable evening, but left feeling pretty...