Smith’s Brasserie at Bovey Castle

The food service and whole experience was fantastic, it was a late Valentines treat for my partner and we were both very impressed. The scotch egg was great as was the NZ Sauvignon which we had to accompany it, the only one tiny thing we could pick fault with was the size of the lamb wellington. The slice was very large but the dish itself was excellent, a tiny fault with an otherwise amazing meal and day.

Lovely food. Service was very friendly however a little slow.

Excellent server very obliging sadly the food was not good, expensive and very average... at best I would only eat a quick lunch here as we use the pool and grounds frequently but certainly not dinner.

The menu looked lovely, we arrived on a Friday at 2pm so the restaurant was not overly busy and were greeted and seated politely. Unfortunately from that point on the experience was very poor. One male server was very abrupt although both female staff were nice there was no one person looking after us and I think they all thought the other was so we were left some time before a drinks order was taken and later our food order. It then took over half an hour for our starters to arrive, the waitress did notice we hadn't had anything at that point and they arrived about 5 minutes later. It was disappointingly simple although tasty. Our mains then also took over half an hour to arrive and when they did both dishes were mostly cold, my husbands pastrami was thick, chewy beef and the toasted sandwich was cold, my cod was warm but the cauliflower aloo gobi was again cold. No table check so it was at least 20 minutes before anyone came back to our table. Instantly we were offered our meals free of charge and we were told we would only have to pay for our drinks and desserts that we had plenty of room left for as we hadn't eaten much else!
In all it took nearly 2 hours to have the 3 courses which would not have been an issue if they were busy but we felt we were just ignored and forgotten. We have been here before for afternoon and tea and it was amazing which is why we came back, sadly we won't be rushing to try them again. The staff on arrival were lovely and welcoming and at least we didn't have to ask for a refund of any sort it was offered quickly which was much appreciated as it's not nice to complain. I'm sure this is not the chefs normal service, January blues maybe but really not good enough in a hotel of this standard.

We had a lovely lunch and dinner for my partners birthday. Service by all staff was excellent, food was lovely.

Lovely food attentive staff,any mistakes rectified quickly.

In short: service was ok, food was bad.

The prawns and avocado salad had no taste, the dressing was a spoonful of mayonnaise!!
Their fish special with risotto came as one small piece of overcooked fish over some type of risotto, did not even have the artichoke hearts (which was the main reason we ordered it)...unless they were mashed into the risotto? It was underwhelming.
their deserts were whatever was left in the kitchen freezer! There was no toffee in my salted toffee banana split?! The creme brulée was blah
We were looking forward to a lovely evening with good food (we had been on the road most of the day), but instead got late service (even though there were less than 10 customers in the restaurant), and whatever they could scrape together for dinner.

Definitely would not recommend.

Amazing!!!

The restaurant is lovely, suits all occasions so can be as formal or as relaxed as you want to be. Love the open fire in the middle and the mix of areas and lighting.
The staff were lovely too, so accommodating, and the food was amazing - I still find myself thinking about it! Can't wait for an excuse to come again!

Good balance of attentivenes, efficiency and leave alone.