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The Steam Packet Inn, Totnes, Devon

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Homepage: http://www.steampacketinn.co.uk/

Reviews (2)

1/5 (minimum 1) by tom on 28 Aug 2007

The Steam Packet is a lovely looking pub right next to the River Dart at St Peter's Quay in Totnes. They serve a few local ales (but through an overly tight sparkler I reckon), but it was the dining experience that really left an impression on me!

A large group of us were eating in the restaurant, having booked in advance, and it was one of the most shambolic (and disturbing) dining experiences I've ever had.

We were told when handed menus that half of the specials were unavailable ("right, let me tell you what we haven't got"), despite having booked our table in advance. Probably 20 minutes after ordering, one of our group was told that her choice of dish (from the standard menu) was no longer available, and asked to choose something else instead.

The general manner of our main waitress reminded me more of something from a school canteen than a restaurant charging up to £15 for a main course. Side plates were cleared with a clank and all the finesse of a bull in a china shop, empty or unused glasses weren't taken away, and plates were left on the table for a considerable time after we had eaten.

The quality of service just didn't add up with the prices being charged. One of our group asked for some other form of potatoes than new potatoes, only to be told that new potatoes were a speciality(!). When he asked if they did fried potatoes of some form he was told "oh no, we don't do fried potatoes" (although there were chips on the menu). He was then offered sauteed potatoes. Being from abroad he asked what these were, and was told that they were fried potatoes! His dish eventually arrived with boiled new potatoes, was sent back to the kitchen to reappear shortly afterwards with boiled potatoes sliced and briefly fried.

Several of our group ordered the duck special (£14) but weren't informed by staff that this dish didn't come with vegetables. When it arrived without veg (making it simply duck on mash with "jus", a bit minimal for £14) we asked whether it was supposed to include veg or not, only to be told by another waitress (who looked like a rabbit in the headlights) that she'd ask for us. She didn't return but instead some undercooked veg arrived grudgingly at our table some time later.

By the time all main courses arrived (thank god we didn't order starters) we had waited over 40 minutes. In the meantime I'd asked twice for extra bread, only to be told after a 20 minute wait that they'd run out, and that we could either have white sliced bread(!) or wait another ten minutes for more to be baked in the oven.

Everything to this point had been frustrating, but not disastrous. What really sent it over the edge was when the member of our group whose first choice of plaice had been unavailable found a LIVE WORM in her dinner. A good couple of inches long, when she spotted it it was crawling at quite a rate from the salad on which her salmon was placed towards the edge of her plate.

This really was the defining moment of a thoroughly stressful and unrelaxing meal. After we'd recovered from the shock and spoken to the management we (against our better judgement) decided to stay for dessert and try to salvage something from the situation.

The same waitress arrived with insufficient dessert menus (you'd think they'd have worked out how many of us there were by this point) and left us to make up our minds. When she came back to take our orders we were told that there was no "fudge cake". I asked which item on the menu was the fudge cake (there wasn't one), and she jabbed her finger aggressively at the "chocolate mousse cake" as if I was an idiot. Why did she have to wait until we'd all decided what we wanted (mostly the chocolate mousse cake!) before telling us it had run out?

In the end we all ordered ice cream, which arrived one dish at a time, and didn't always contain the flavours the waitress (a different one this time) told us it did. One person's ice cream didn't even arrive at all and had to be reordered. Some dishes had strawberries, redcurrants and blueberries as a garnish, whilst others had none. This was the final nail in the coffin and we were really glad to leave.

Whilst we were pleased to have each others company we couldn't really enjoy it as we were constantly firefighting the mess created by the staff. It's a shame because the food itself was actually quite tasty, but seriously let down by excessive prices, and terrible organisation front of house and in the kitchen, not to mention the worm. Yes, a REAL LIVE WORM. Needless to say I won't be eating at the Steam Packet again.

2/5 (minimum 1) by Paddy on 01 Sep 2007

Summary: Good location, nice surroundings, service and food likely to be hit or miss depending on your luck. Generally going downhill?

I’ve stayed and eaten here a few times now. It’s an interesting building which has recently been refurbished in a contemporary style and quite nicely done, think neutrals and decent furniture in the bedrooms. The location by the river is great and is just a few minutes walk from the town centre. There’s waterfront dining or you can eat inside in the bar area (which smells of stale beer) or in the conservatory. The menu is ambitious. Having eaten breakfast in the conservatory I’ve seen local quality suppliers deliver the food in the morning, so they’re going for quality and charging premium prices. Some of the food I’ve eaten there has been great but I get the impression the place started out well when it opened after the revamp and has been slipping since. This time I chose the beef burger in a ciabatta roll (at the end of the August Bank Holiday many of the choices (which were already limited) were unavailable. It was very much a disappointment. I don’t mind paying £10.50 for a decent burger, but this was surely a meatball in a dry, mass produced “ciabatta” roll. A genuine chunk of ciabatta dressed with salad/mayo/cheese would have cost negligibly more to serve. Perhaps the £10.50 may have been appropriate to Burger v1 but I suspect mine was a later, inferior version and the price hasn’t been changed accordingly.

I suspect that since it’s re-opened the owner no longer oversees the quality and that’s why things are going wrong. Or perhaps they no longer care. Some of the staff are friendly and attentive. Others (including two of the principal front of house staff) are rude, dealing with them makes the experience uncomfortable and I believe they’re seriously damaging the reputation of the Steam Packet Inn. They’re setting a dreadful example to the less experienced staff and I can sense the culture shift – in the wrong direction.

Judging by what the kitchen is turning out I think there are problems there too. We had a great meal a few months ago but it wasn’t just the burger that was a let down this time, the service was appalling. Apart from being dreadfully slow, the apparently senior waitress seemed incompetent and frankly rude. Some of the more junior staff were at least trying hard to please. It’s important to understand that I was at the same meal which is the subject of another review here – yes, the one where an earthworm was found in a salad. The recipient of the worm salad was offered £40 of vouchers for a return visit. Since we all suffered the dreadful service there was some negotiation so that every member of the group would be compensated. The outcome was that the recipient of the worm was not billed, all deserts were complimentary and a discount of £2 per person was applied. I thought this was a fair outcome.

I know of others who have had great meals there recently.

As I left, there was hip-hop music blaring from the open kitchen door and a group of youngsters in chef whites messing about. That answered a lot of questions in my mind.

I’d already booked in for B&B a day later. When we returned the room was good, breakfast excellent and service friendly. We ate elsewhere in the evening.

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