Chili Con Carne
Taw River Inn And Holiday Cottage

Taw River Inn And Holiday Cottage

Sticklepath, EX20 2NW, West Devon, United Kingdom

Pub • Fish • Steak • British


"Our 'local ' for a week 's stay apart from one young 'lady ' behind the bar on a particular afternoon who needs to brush up on her customer service attitude the staff were friendly enough efficient. We ate at the pub on a couple of occasions during our stay it would have been more but we didn 't book ahead other than for the Sunday lunch (didn 't do roasts at the time which was .....different). Was almost totally booked out for food otherwise during the week that is despite there being a separate dining room to the bar eating area. It meant that if you hadn 't snagged a table you had to stand to have a drink in the middle of the busy bar room the popularity with local people meant that it was unlikely to be 'at the bar ' as invariably the bar seats which ringed the length of the bar, apart from the service hatch, were already taken. A dedicated serving only area would have been useful as you had to push in over seated drinkers at times to get your glasses on the bar. I doubt the fact that the Devonshire Inn nearby never seemed to be open affected the volume of customers. The couple of meals we had were good to very good for the price as said we would have eaten at the Taw River on more occasions had space allowed there certainly was an extensive menu to ensure you wouldn 't need to have the same thing twice on a week 's holiday. There wasn 't any marked delay from ordering to receiving the food that 's despite being so busy so a definite thumbs up. Good range of beers available again reasonably priced for the area. It is a very dog friendly pub so as long as you don 't mind eating near a pooch then that would be OK. The pub building was characterful without being ancient with some nice features. The fire in the main bar would be very attractive in the winter, I 'm sure. Sports fans are well catered for with 2 TVs in the main bar but in my experience, they were only on at non intrusive times, e.g. not during Sunday lunch! I understand there is a large beer garden but due to the foul weather we had all week we didn 't bother to seek it out."

Stanley Arms

Stanley Arms

Calderbridge, Copeland, United Kingdom

Pub • British • Chicken • Breakfast


"really wanted to rate this hotel higher, but think it really fair to give an honest review. after the most incredible journey through the lake district, and both wrynose and hardknot pees, which are more adventurous in themselves, we reached our destination in the small village of the calder bridge. the hotel has a beautiful location over the bridge with its protected beer garden banking on the lively and picturesque river calder. they would never know that it was only 1 mile from sellafield, the nuclear reprocessing plant, but please don't let them put it out. during the week, the hotel offers first line to contract partners working on the above website. this steady trade in the week means that certain refinement that they might expect from a land hotel is lacking for this customer, so the well-respected pool table. good choice of home cooked food in the regular price, and the bar has a good choice of well-maintained speciality Ales. so good looking, the current faithful has guessed the good ale guide for the last 8 years. So here's the piece that allows me. concerning most restaurants post covid, planned renovation programs have stopped a bit. To be fair, the accusation we were given was a non-renovated room with the much less guess, but really saw this at least 15-20 years on what I expected. I have to emphasize that we have never seen the renovated rooms so that I can no longer comment. Apparently, short personal problems that they urgently attempted to correct also had an effect on the general budget side of the dinge, as the actual number of spaces that were made available to the public was reduced. the breakfast was plentiful and healthy, although I would suggest that this was again more focused on the weekday business trade than the weekday stay. I might have expected more traditional local products with a better selection of the cook selection. here is the most important thing that outweighs any critique. Current owners clive and mel are the best hotels. the most friendly and upcoming couple they could meet and make a point to keep on a first name, including introductions to more regular customers. that's what it's about. However, there is a slight envelope on how to turn after 10 years at the tax and around 70, clive recommended that he feel ready to go to rest and was looking for a buyer. the couple is curious to travel the next 10 years. we simply hope that the new owners have so much enthusiasm as clive and mel, and have also provided the additional money to bring this little jewel of a place back to the top of his game. many thanks to clive and mel for a pleasant stay and much luck forward."