WORTH A TRY
I have had to take the rather tricky decision to make this a 3* review rather than a 4*. There were just a couple of negatives which has made it a 3*. Interestingly I have not read the reviews in the 'other place', which I am not allowed to name here, but they total up to 3.7/5. I always aim to be totally accurate in my TP Reviews in your best interests. So let's get stuck in.
FOOD STYLE/TYPE/QUALITY/PRICE
Really a Restaurant but giving itself the lavish title of a 'bistro'. Fair enough. There was a good range of main meals and light options.
The food we had was the small soup bowl, with bread at £7.95. We had a' Tomato and Basil' and a 'Winter Vegetable'. Tasty certainly, but a minor oversight did not give us any butter for the bread. Further price examples; Butchers steak of the day £19.95
Smoked mackerel £14.95. After our walk (see Extra Information below) we had tea for two and a delicious 'Dorset apple cake' for £9.50.
HYGIENE SCORE is currently 5*
The Bistro was generally clean but the tables were not always spray cleaned with the correct fluid.
TABLES
There were at least 20 tables inside but as it was lunch time most were occupied with different couples happily sharing and chatting.
Outside there were another 20 tables and these would be great in the summer, perhaps under a parasol.
PARKING
Difficult to find a space when busy at lunch time, but hunt around as there are lots of 'secret' areas.
DISABLED ACCESS AND PARKING
Blue Badge available with about 10 spaces, but again look around. One is covered with a cone to prevent you driving onto a cover but you can move, and replace the cone and use the bay.
OPENING TIMES
0900 - 1700 7 days
Breakfast 0900-1130
Hot 1145-1530
WELCOME
Find a table then order. Welcome OK, but warning of 20 minute delay for service on hot meals. We arrived at 1 p.m. so were not unhappy with that typical restaurant delay. It's not MacDonald's !
STAFF
We found an unfortunate, but significant, problem with a 'first day trainee' waitress who clearly had not been given good training by management in hygiene concerning controlling her hair. We felt sorry for her when she almost dangled trailing whisps in one of our soups. Not her fault but management should attend to this.
CHEERFUL OR NOT
The young trainee was like a 'rabbit startled by headlights', but she did smile a lot when she bent down to fondle a dog, then unfortunately did not wash her hands before serving more food. (See DOGS below). All the other staff were happy to be working in the Bistro and interacted well with the customers.
SERVICE
Well they were busy and there was a 20 minute wait for our small soup bowl. This came with good granary brown bread but a minor oversight meant we were not given butter. We invited another couple to join us on our table as the place was so busy, always a good sign of local popularity. They had soup as well but did have butter for their bread. Lucky them.
FOOD QUALITY
Both the 'Tomato and Basil Soup' and the' Winter Vegetable' were hot and tasty. Cutlery was spotless and good quality.
LOCATION
EX6 8JQ
Turning off the A379. approx.4 miles SE of Exeter Clearly signed entrance
DOGS
It was not a hot day and I can understand the business wanting to attract customers with dogs but the whole place became silent when a small, snappy dog repeatedly 'kicked off', which echoed around the building . I don't mind dogs but this one could have been safely left in a car with a window slit open. Or the dog people could have taken an outside table. Some owners!
EXTRA INFORMATION
Great walk nearby down a permissive path to the railway line and views of the lower Exe river. 50+ agile young deer in the meadow.
Distance; a couple of miles round trip. Walking boots recommended as it is a cinder path.
Beef fat dripping. 500g tub, available in the Farm Shop. This product is quite rare and seldom available in the High Street. More business perhaps if they offered this 'mail order'.
Do have a look into 'Chandi Chouk' adjacent. Big range of oriental carpets.
TOILETS
A bit tight with only two cubicles in both male and female.
Disabled available. Everything clean and tidy.
WILL YOU RETURN
Yes, but probably not on a Saturday lunch time!
RECOMMENDATION TO OTHERS
Give it a try.
This REVIEW is automatically sent to the business and they can comment here.
Thank you for reading this and my thanks to Trustpilot for this useful platform. If you found this review helpful and could spare a quick 'like' I would be grateful.