The Merchant - East Devon

Amazing service! Food lovely, generous portions and quick to come out. Katherine was so attentive and friendly. Bar staff friendly and quick to serve. Have to praise Katherine, watched her working around the restaurant. She is an asset to the company.

There was a group of about 10 of us all ordering food, baring in mind we were one of the only people in there (few people just having drinks) we ordered at 12pm at the beginning of lunch service our food took about 40 mins- over an hour coming in dribs and drabs, 2 meals would come then 15 mins later another 2, no apology or anything, when the last of the meals came we requested our children’s desserts which then took another 30 mins to come out (just a scoop of ice cream), the manager seemed very rude and just not bothered about pleasing customers, I went up to the bar about 3 times asking where food was, and was just told it’s on its way (which it obviously wasn’t). Staff just walking around in their own clothes no uniform so you didn’t even know who worked there or not. Not welcoming, slow service, average food won’t be coming here again

Served by Tod who was great took time to talk to us. That food was well cooked this was our third visit we will be back next time we visit Devon

The restaurant appeared to prioritize takeout orders over dine-in customers. Shouldn't the focus be on filling tables? It took 45 minutes to receive a simple lunch order from the menu.

My family has visited this restaurant a few times while on vacation in the area, and it has always been just okay, nothing special. However, during our last visit for lunch on a Tuesday, we were a bit disappointed. We were informed that there would be a 30-minute wait for our food, which was fine. The staff was friendly. We placed our order through the app and 30 minutes later our food arrived. I ordered scampi with fries. The scampi was decent, but the fries were terrible. It seemed like it was time for them to change the oil. They looked dark and stale, as if they had been cooked in dirty oil or reheated. On a positive note, my mom had the tikka and she loved it, saying that the naan bread was the best she's ever had.