The Balfour in East Devon

The ticket events are scams and they don't send out the tickets and don't refund or communicate don't do it stay away....

I had booked a ticket for the winter ball on the 2nd of November. I never received my ticket - i messaged the lady, no response. I rang the pub twice and was promised a phone call. I messaged the lady and she promised to send the tickets via email straight away so I could have them. Did I get them?! Nope! Then a couple days before the event it was suddenly cancelled and I have been promised a ticket for the next event in Januray if it even goes ahead! Communication is non existent. Terrible!

Love the food here and the pub is gorgeous on inside. Staff are all great and go the extra mile!

Disgusting service. Purchased tickets for Princess event on 2nd Nov. Drove there from Plymouth to find out the event had been cancelled. No notification/email/message to say it wasnt going ahead. I was promised a refund for the tickets plus expenses. I've received nothing. Now not answering any messages. This is a bit of a joke now. Unfortunately I am going to have to say that if nothing is received by 22nd Nov I will seek legal advise for the return of the ticket money plus expenses.

On 2nd Nov 2024 there was a Princess Ball. I purchased 2 tickets for my great children. The children and their mother traveled from Plymouth to Sidmouth to attend the event which when they got there were told it had been cancelled. Just like that..no notification…no Facebook update…no email…nothing. As you can imagine all the children dressed up ready were in tears. We were asked to give details for a refund which we should have had within 5-7 days….nothing. Also free tickets for the next Princess’s event in January…that’s if it goes ahead. So not only was it a waste of a day it was disgusting in the way it was handled. Anyone who has an event booked at this place please be aware.

We stayed here in October and after an initial mix up, Simon and Daisy were fantastic, they went above and beyond in amending the mix up

Update on our experience. We've been regularly going to Balfour for Sunday meals. We've found the food to be back to its former quantity - excellent serving size for reasonable price. The cauliflower side is truly delicious - very creamy and the cauliflower is crunchy. We never leave without having our fill of the decadent chocolate cookie dough with custard cream. More importantly, Simon and Daisy take care of their clients. They're wonderful hosts. Kudos! Back after first visit in November. Food quality remains good and still very good desserts. Servings are less than the last time, so that they are not overwhelming and wasteful. Came away feeling good about the food. However, there's much to be desired with respect to service: rather slow.

So my new fiancé and family went on a week holibob to the belfour arms. I Cannot fault the service the people, staff and the rooms. The prices of food was decent and so was the menu and amazing cooking HAPPENED EVERY DAY 5* food the actual stay was amazing when I stayed we had a Halloween quiz which was awesome and free pool and other things as well and there was a fun Halloween party I will highly recommend anyone to try this pub and place the town centre isn’t to far from the pub it self which is another small bonus I found the town itself boring but I guess that’s just a small matter of opinion that wasn’t needed in an otherwise flawless holiday The rooms are interchangeable with the beds which was an added plus which the staff helped with. one min its two singles beds and then they can become one big massive bed it’s hard to explain but to you but it’s a big plus for family stays and couples alike My fiancés mum and grandma came and they needed wheel chairs and the staff helped at all times with manoeuvrability which just shows how good they are with customers

I work at Sidmouth International School and the Balfour Arms were happy to accommodate 3 large group bookings for us in September and October for our students. The feedback from the students was great and they really enjoyed themselves. Thanks so much to everyone at the Balfour Arms for your hospitality!

Absolutely shocking i am disgusted with this place! I placed an order for tickets to their grinch experience in July I was promised a confirmation email which I didn't recieve was told I'd recieve the tickets in August they didn't arrive so I was then told they would email them to me nothing came! Once they finally got back to me the lady told me that she didn't bother emailing me because she didn't know why the tickets never came and that I would be refunded in full it's been 2 weeks and still no tickets and no refund!! I wouldn't trust them at all if it isn't a scam then it's an absolute shambles of a place! Avoid at all costs!!

Harry Potter themed afternoon -horrible !! An exorbitant £25 per child for an absolutely shambolic afternoon. Queues up to one hour to get in n food and anything ! Few posters n Harry Potter themed decoration n most interaction you got was a 10 sec chat with ‘hagrid’ n ‘’Voldemort ‘ but no interactions apart from these 20 seconds at all - as my children remarked nothing much like Harry Potter at all ….terribly overpriced n overbooked event with total lacklustre ! Wish could request a refund !

We visited for the harry potter themed weekend, it was well organised, so much effort put in and was beyond our expectations. My 8 year old said it was as good as the harry potter studios.

The room at the Balfour was clean, comfortable and the towels and bed linen of very good quality. The bathroom had everything needed, tissues, cleansing bar, shower gel, shampoo etc. plus a really nice make up mirror which was very useful. The shower had two shower heads, water pressure was good with plenty of hot water. The Balfour provide good quality tea and coffee - they will also provide a jug of milk upon request which you can keep in a small fridge on the landing. I thought this was a nice touch and noticed some residents had put sandwiches and small snacks in there. The Wi-Fi was good and free signing into The Cloud. Simon the landlord is a really special guy and takes extra care to make sure you're having a good time. He always checks how your day has been and seems genuinely interested and can't do enough. The Balfour Arms does have a good evening entertainment programme including bands ( very talented) karaoke and the local community become involved. We were welcomed by the locals who were a very happy bunch and we had a lot of fun. The pub does stay open late and can be noisy - there was no trouble (not that kind of pub ) but we went to bed early one night and didn't hear much noise. If I had to be picky the outside beer garden which is lovely and lit up with fairy lights of an evening, during the day can look a little messy - I know the community have been making props for an up coming event but a bit of a tidy up would be my only suggestion if I'm allowed one. The staff are very lovely, a young bunch who are fun and kind. You can walk into Sidmouth in 15 mins easily. We walked via a very pretty river into town and you can get the bus number 9 back up and it stops right outside the hotel. We would definitely stay here again and wish Daisy and Simon all the best. Thank you for having us.

Extremely disappointed. I received a cancellation confirmation just a week before traveling, but never did cancel. I called several times, wrote 3 emails, asked urgently to get an answer, was promised three times by the lady in the pub that I would be called back. Never happened! I had booked just one night in order to hike the path. I am sure the management canceled in order to give the room to someone booking several days. I read this did not happen for the first time… this is very poor behavior towards customers.

Had a lovely family dinner out this week. Great quality, service and value. Will come back again soon

Lovely pub, great atmosphere, outstanding landlord and landlady, great food, couldn’t fault the place, dog friendly

Had the most amazing stay at the Balfour arms, daisy and Simon were the perfect hosts, lovely welcoming staff, will definitely be returning

We stopped by the Balfour Arms on a recent holiday in Sidmouth after seeing they had a weekly quiz and wanting an evening out of the very hot sun! We enjoyed our meal but most of all the owners and customers there were so welcoming and really made our evening. The owners were even so kind as to give us a bottle of champagne to pop when our baby arrives in a few weeks. A real gem of locals in a lovely area. We will definitely have to pop back with our little one when we visit again.

We booked accommodation from Australia in May for the 7th July.We were touring around England and two days before we were due to check in at the Balfour Arms they cancelled our stay with just an apology and no help to help us find somewhere else to stay. We rang them a few times and no one answered the phone. This is bad management and we were lucky we found somewhere to stay at the last minute. No I would not recommend the Balfour Arms they have no concerns for their guests. Evelyn and John Australia 🇦🇺

OK food a bit hit-and-miss dried up.

Cracking pub, lovely staff. Landlord and Landlady are lovely. Congratulations!

Great community pub, lots of space inside and out, huge screen for sport, nice garden for summer visits. Lovely staff and a wholesome atmosphere.

We went here several times for dinner. The food is very tasty, the prices are reasonable.

Went for a private party and pub seemed friendly and seemed quite a big part of the community.

Terrible service. We both went for the 2 course evening set menu £13.99 each plus a pint of Moretti @ £6.00 but was charged £35.98. When I queried this the lad who was off duty but still on the premises agreed with me and said he would speak to his boss. Unfortunately the boss was asleep and could bot be disturbed! Next we were told one of the main courses was not available and to choose something else. By then I could see the place resembled Faulty Towers and suggested the best outcome was to cancel the order and get a refund. I was then told ,"This was not possible as the order had started being prepared." So then I went back to the table. First course turned up about 30 mins later. Then we waited another hour for the two main courses which were terrible. Mine came missing crispy onion rings, grilled tomato, and garden peas. When I queried this I was told "We have run out of stock" Not a single mention of "can I get you something else instead?" I intended taking the matter up with my credit card company and seeking a reimbursement. The entire experience ruined the first night of our holiday. Thankfully everywhere else we visited was fine.

Lovely staff. Really tasty food. I didn't use the rooms myself as I had no hookers to bang. Recommended.

Perfect location, beautiful pub, great atmosphere and staff are just fantastic! Didn't stay and haven't see the rooms but what I have seen so far I would imagine the rooms are beautifully kept and great cleanliness standards.

Really nice people, good pub food. King size bed!!! Great location, bus stop opposite with good bus services. Nice walk by the river into Sidmouth. A great stay.

Following our visit to the balfour arms we were really excited to go and take my niece to a 'Princess ball' we understood a lot of time to get tickets delivered etc and was done by the organiser however after notifying what day and times would be best unfortunately the delivery was in a time my niece was out. I was then informed by my sister to contact the pub to get a special video sent for my niece again nothing ever got sorted. However the day it self came round quick and my niece enjoyed every moment despite various concerns I had. Upon arrival I enquired about a second ticket I had paid for as I was informed id need one for my 2 year old daughter after child care fell through that week and woth work I didn't have enough time to sort other arrangements. When I stated I had contacted the day before I was met with a rude and sarcy man who stated oh she won't be happy with that despite the landlady being the one who I had spoke to the day prior. As we then ventured in to the pub which was very well decorated and the face painter was lovely and chatty to all the children. It became time for the entry show which entailed all the kids going into one small hall but no parents meaning we couldn't keep an eye luckily my 2 year old was more interested in the slide but I still felt uneasy leaving my niece in there but she said it was amazing. Then the activities such as an Easter egg hunt were meant to take place but nothing ever took flight for that and the bouncy castle was post phoned due to the weather which we understood but there wasn't really anything else. After noticing quite a few families woth smaller kids who didn't have wrist bands from paying for ticket start playing around I got a bit frustrated as I paid 25 quid for my daughter to only par take in the outdoor slide. I then messaged the pub on Facebook to enquire about this and was sent a generic reply and told that the landlady had been away for a few days but I had enquired before the holiday to then get offered a refund for my daughters ticket and I've yet to recieve ant update regarding this and the promise of a refund was done back on the 16th April. There is another review by Melissa Matthews that my partner and I also agree with. Such a shame as it had such promise.

We booked a room here as it was in a great location and was close to what we had planned for the Saturday and Sunday. We arrived around 12pm after a 4 and a half hour drive and was greeted by Kate, who was very pleasant and advised us check in was at 12pm. We had a hot drink, which was nice, and waited for our friends to arrive. After a full days touring Sidmouth and the surrounding areas, we got back to the Balfour around 5:30pm, where I was shown to our room by Kate. It was at this point I noticed a sign saying live music. Kate said the band was on until 11:30pm and the pub didn't shut until 1am. I was a bit surprised by this as no where on the Hotels.com site was there any mention of loud music and such a late closing time. I was also advised that we would still be able to hear people talking from below in our room and to 'turn the TV up a little bit and you wont hear it'... It was too late to make any changes as we would have been stung with the £105 bill (No where near the cheapest around), for the room. The room itself was nice enough, the bed was comfy and had everything you would need. The vent in the bathroom could definitely have done with a bit of cleaning. We had a drink with our friends back downstairs until the band arrived. Whilst our friends got a round of drinks they asked for a tiny bit of ice in their cokes, the guy in a shirt behind the bar said 'well you wont get a full glass' and then proceeded to chuck loads of ice in there drinks anyway. In their words he had an attitude, which I was assuming was due to how busy it was as up to that point the interactions we had was all fine, although it was pretty much only Kate. Roughly 10pm we decided to get up to bed as we had an early start again followed by the lengthy drive back home. When we entered our rooms was when the fun really started. The noise was incredible and I could hear the music and singing as clearly as I did when we were downstairs. We tried the 'Turn the TV on' trick, which would have helped if there had been a remote control for the TV. After finding no way of getting the TV on and not wanting to ask for help downstairs after the attitude from previously, we hunkered down and tried to get some sleep. It was 12am when the band finally stopped... We figured that would be it apart from some quiet talking, but no. They then decided to stick music on the sound system which was just as loud, especially as one of the speakers is directly below our room. I think it eventually all went quiet around 1:20am, but I was that tired I probably couldn't have told you my name or where I was. We were both wide awake at 6am after a rubbish sleep. Breakfast was included and was from 9am until 11am. We didn't want to go down too early as our friends were meeting us at 11am. We went down around 10am and sat down. We was asked what we wanted after we found the cleaner. She advised us that some of the items were not available even though there is only 3 rooms in the place. When the breakfast arrived we was then advised there was also no bacon, so a full breakfast became 2 sausages, a hash brown, egg and some beans. The guy, who was nice, said that someone was nipping over to Lidl to buy some stuff and if we wanted the missing parts they could cook them for us. That was great but I dont understand how you run out of stuff when you only have 3 rooms, and if you knew you was out of stuff why not run over to Lidl first to grab the missing food? Breakfast was ok, it would have been great to have all of it and all together. The guy that served the food did ask about our nights sleep and we told him all about it, he did say he was sorry. He also said the listing on Hotels.com and Booking.com dont mention the live bands or the Karaoke night on a Friday. He also said the listings state they have 6 rooms when they only have 3. He then said if we had booked direct on there own website all of the information is there, including about the bands etc, which doesn't help us. When we left there was another guy at the bar, the same guy who ran over to Lidl I believe, and he too also said I am sorry about the noise last night with the band. He then followed that up with 'you should have been told'... This place as a pub is great, the place was buzzing and you could hear people were having a great night. As somewhere to sleep, especially on a Saturday night, not so much. There is zero soundproofing and it doesn't seem very well organised. The majority of the staff we had dealings with were pleasant enough but if there is somewhere else you can stay I would give the Balfour a miss.

We went for a 'Princess Ball' that was poorly planned, logistically, and poorly executed. The invites were not delivered via any of the 3 promised ways, the activities were basic, and again some not even present! and the face painting was only 1 person; given how many tickets were sold, most of the kids were spending the whole time in line, or not bothering (we were in the not bothering camp!). The food was disastrously planned: "Princess banquet" was basic pub grub (the margarita pizza was melted cheese on a baguette!) Served on paper plates. The tables looked pretty, but they had no space for parents to stay with their children, so the bar staff literally yelled at the parents to leave. Expecting parents to leave their young (many under 5) with complete strangers, with no knowledge of DBS checks or anything, and actually shouting at them to leave is diabolical! I even overheard the lady behind the bar bad mouthing one of the parents who refused to leave the room! Half the pub was still open to the public, so anyone really could have access to these parentless children. No one had any space in the area to move around from one area to the other, so were constantly queuing just to move to the next room! It only got better with space because most people left halfway through! The toilets were disgusting and mouldy with wobbly toilet seats. The only saving grace was the end disco; the children really enjoyed. The staff dressed as characters had had time to warm up, as most of them refused to even acknowledge the children in the opening show. The men dressed as Maui and the other guy (not sure who he was supposed to be) were really great and engaging with the children, and the DJ did a really good job. Other than that, it was quite the letdown, and given the price of the ticket, we didn't even get free ice cream or crepes included, those stalls charged on top. Won't be attending the pub at all again, let alone another ticket event. A friend had paid to attend the Harry Potter event... but has now decided against it!

We did not stay overnight we only used the restaurant, but my what a lovely little pub. The staff were exceptional, kind and bubbly. The food was absolutely beautiful even my fusspot children loved the food.

Great Pub Land lord Simon lovely guy ! Staff very nice Great night

Rude Owners, slow service & overall disappointing experience. Came here for a birthday when we told that it was the young man’s birthday (he’s only 9) the owner just laughed in our faces and said what’s that got to do with me. Look out for him his names Simone.

Have been here several times, have always been impressed with the quality of the food, always served quickly. The staff are always efficient and friendly Its always a pleasure to come for a happy time

Excellent place to stay! Such friendly people, amazing food, drinks, value for money & superb rooms. Can't wait to go back! ❤️

Room was filthy upon arrival. Staff were nice though.

Just like to say a big thank you to Simon,Daisy &the team at the balfour we had my dad's wake here on Thursday for about 40 people, we were able to have the restaurant to ourselves& the buffet was really lovely and plenty of choices for meat eaters and vegetarians.

Great atmosphere, great staff, great food and great beer garden. Dog friendly!

Really nice food, it was quiet when we went in. It fast service and nice people and really yummy affordable food. We will definitely go there again sometime.

We stayed at the Balfour Arm for a couple of days. The owner and staff we amazing. They made us and our two Springer dog’s extremely welcome. The bedroom were nice with a good en-suite loads of hot water. The location to Sidmouth was perfect an easy walk either through the street or as one of the staff told up along the river Byes

Nice room. Nice big bed. Lovely large hot shower! Good breakfast. Good pub fayre in afternoon and evening. Friendly & helpful staff. Good location, local amenities within walking distance and bus stop nearby. Would recommend.

Unfortunately it was poor food, poor service, and no atmosphere. We wanted pizza (shown online) but the new menu had not been enforced so we had to go for something else .. Our glumpy gravy and brown peas showed a lack of passion from the chefs. Not recommended, stay in town!

What a great place to stay all staff made us feel very welcome, room was fantastic I would highly recommend this place absolutely brilliant

Brilliant Sunday roast beef dinner and excellent service. Highly recommended

We booked for a Sunday lunch for 3 of us although when we got there is was very quiet in the restaurant area. The staff were friendly and the food was very good. We all had the roast (2 beef, 1 veggie) and were impressed with the portion sizes and quality of the food.

Lovely place , great atmosphere and food with lovely friendly staff nothing is too much trouble

Excellent choice of cider on tap

Sunday lunch was fine. Sheets on bed clean. Floor was dirty and needed a hoover and bathroom floor needed a mop. Shower riser was broken. Our room was over the entrance to the bar and the smell of the smokers and noise was terrible. Told breakfast was at 8.30. No one arrived to take order until 8.45. We left at 9.10 without breakfast! Very disorganised. Cutlery and cups were dirty, and chipped.

Great food and a fantastic live music. Friendly service

Had a very nice Sunday lunch at The Balfour. I had the Beef and my wife had Beef and chicken.We ate outside because we were watching the bands playing in the garden . The meals were brought to us with the meat and some of the veg on the plate. I liked the fact that the other veg was in a serving dish perfect for me! Also individual gravy boat. Lovely

The Balfour Arms is a fantastic entertainment venue and fun place to be. We had a fabulous time at our local on Bank holiday Sunday. Simon and Daisy do their absolute best to make you very welcome. There were 5 bands on during the afternoon and early evening. Face painting and comedy Sumo wrestling between band changes. We had the Sunday roast which was very good too. We have lived in Sidmouth since 1982 The Balfour is the best it's ever been!

So sad the Balfour Arms has gone down hill, spoilt my friends birthday meal, no welcome, bad service,food not good at all, a lot of what we choose was not available for various reasons our opinions were not helped by landlady/staff member in the bar drinking coffee in her dressing gown and slippers at lunch time then walking through restaurant to smoke in the garden, could go into more detail but I think enough said.

Quick service, new owners' the food has seriously improved. Definitely recommend 👌

We had a family meal on Friday 4th August at the start of folk week. 4 adults and 3 children. The food was great value for money. The steak is less than £15 per meal and was cooked beautifully. The service was very good and the band in the garden were great. A fantastic night out, would highly recommend!

Food ok. Definitely nothing to rave about. Managers attitude was shocking. Won’t be returning……………….

Fantastic hosts and team members are always welcoming .

We have been a couple of times for a meal now and have always left disappointed. I would like to address some of the issues we had last night. We were informed that my starter was not available (they suggested an alternative which I agreed to but it came with no sauce). When we got our food it was poor quality. The garlic bread was greasy and burnt, my partner’s burger was covered in an unpleasant tasting sauce and the onion rings were undercooked and flavourless. My sausages tasted cheap and like they had been deep fried. I am not normally someone who leaves negative reviews as I believe people can have bad nights and make mistakes but this was just not good enough for what we paid. The pub was almost empty so the chef was not exactly overwhelmed. Now we unfortunately have an idea of why it was so quiet on a Friday night. We will not be coming back which is a shame as it is so close to where we live. If you want repeat customers you have to improve the quality of your food. I would have expected better from a Wetherspoons to be honest.

Booked to stay here 21/07/23. Very disappointed to get a phone call 2 days before our stay to say they were fully booked even though I had received an email a month before to say my stay was confirmed. Very poor way to do business. They blame Booking.com but if Booking.com are letting rooms they haven’t got then they need to sort it out. It’s unfair for customers to find out very last minute they haven’t got a bed for the night. Had I been informed earlier it would have been a lot easier rather than spending a whole day on the phone one day before travelling trying to find somewhere to stay.

We had booked here for dinner, as reviews have said it is dog-friendly and it was near enough to us to walk from where we were staying. We had booked a table online, and when we arrived, they had a table ready for us. The owner/manager was super dog-friendly, and came to say hi to our doggies with treaties, which we are greatly appreciative of. We ordered starters of mozarella sticks and chicken strips. They did not have mozarella left, but they were versatile in suggesting swapping it for halloumi sticks, which we were happy with. The chicken strips were succulently tender and battered enough, and not too salty - very rare, and my huge compliments to the chef for achieving that! For mains, my husband had a mixed grill, while I had the rump steak. Mine was cooked medium-rare, which was what I requested and they had done that to the latter. My husband's mixed grill - they did not have one of the components, but they were fantastic in swapping it to something else acceptable to my husband, so all good! The drinks were lovely as well, and the whole meal was not too expensive! The only down side is we could not leave a tip, as they did not accept it on card, and we did not bring any cash with us! A real shame, but we will definitely be coming back again if we are in the area!

Great place fir Sunday roast. Reasonable price's, descent size portions. Good selection and friendly helpful staff. Nice beer garden, dog friendly pub. Highly recommend 5 star.

This pub has terrible service, horrible atmosphere, it is very unfriendly, there was hardly any customers, and the locals said to avoid it, should of listened!

Booked a table for lunch on Father's Day and were surprised to find only one table occupied in the restaurant when we got there. We both chose the roast pork at £13.95 and ordered a side of cauliflower cheese for an additional £3.75. The meat was well cooked and the veg was nice - the cauliflower cheese in particular was very cheesy - but the portion of roasties was rather stingy. Just 4 very small halves of potato each. The gravy was also very thick and gloopy. Would we go again? Probably not. There are carvery options locally which offer better value for money.

The Balfour Arms is in a good location for visiting Sidmouth,on a bus route so our car stayed in the car park. Our room was very comfortable and clean. .the bed was very comfortable. I slept reasonably well but could hear voices of the people in the next room, not sure if some soundproofing is possible. Our evening meals were good value for money, nicely presented. Perhaps a little more attention to detail would help with breakfast presentation, a menu of what is available would be a great help and tables ready made up for guests who are staying overnight..All this staff we met were friendly and helpful but maybe need a bit more direction regarding speed of service. The new management have only been there since November and are hoping to build up the local trade. If I stay in the area again I would definitely stay again.

Booked a table clearly didn’t need to place was empty barmaid said sit wherever you like picked a table out of the way with the dog dead flys on window sills wasn’t the best start no one to tell you how to order no table...

We booked a double room for two nights. On arrival we were warmly welcomed by Becky who gave us a tour of the pub premises and lead us to our room. The room was spacious and clean with en suite shower room again clean and...

Had a one night stay. The room was clean, light, warm and up to date. Impressed with the black out blinds and sound cancelling window. Bathroom very clean and a fantastic waterfall shower. We enjoyed a Sunday roast in the afternoon. Excellent service and the...

Booking made on their online system but they had no idea we were coming. Sat down in a dark corner of a large room with hardly anyone in it and left us. After being told it was table service we were left. 13 mins later...

had a great stay nice room polite staff and england won would reconmend now there is new management in place

Staff really friendly, food superb and entertainment for all. Would definitely visit again - had the mixed meat Sunday lunch!

Stayed for the weekend for a wedding. Spacious and well presented double room. Staff were friendly and helpful. The food was really great. Can't fault at all.

We stopped here as part of our road trip arrived at 11 room was available from 2 Which we knew previously we were able to leave our car in the car park and headed off into lovely Sidmouth arrived back at about 5 had a...

Would not recommend. Most appalling customer service. Probably the rudest and arrogant also unhelpful staff I’ve came across in the pub industry. Speak to customers disrespectfully. Treat younger staff undeservingly. Will not be returning, taints Sidmouth in a negative light which is not how I...

Lovely drink, friendly staff. Highly recommended. Brilliant food aswell. Best pub in Devon! Best owner a

A fantastic experience in this charming pub restaurant Lovely clean and well appointed room great food and charming nice people could not ask for more We happened to be there on open Mic night which was great fun and very entertaining. We would highly recommend...

Went as a table of 11 for a birthday meal. First of all the waiting staff was amazing amd couldnt fault her - tried to do everything she could to make the experience. Saddly the management, well they were just rude. The manager herself- Debbie,...

Working this way and found this brilliant pub, Debra is brilliant! Fantastic Landlady, staff are brilliant, perfect place

We stayed here for one night, the accommodation was first class the rooms were spotless with tea coffee etc in the room and outside was a little fridge with fresh milk and ice cold water for you to help yourselves. Nice big en-suite and although...

This has to be the worst Sunday roast ever meat tough unedible veg reheated.from last week not a patch.on alcatraz

Our friends were staying here for a 3 night break, so we joined them on their first night for an evening meal. Good service and very welcoming . Would certainly recommend The Balfour Arms.

I would like thank thank the staff at The Balfour Arms for two wonderful meals this week! When we arrived in Sidmouth, they were the first restaurant we went in to. We returned for a second wonderful meal this evening. The Balfour is dog friendly...

What a fantastic evening we had on Saturday! We were a big group in the garden with lots of children. You were so helpful, the children had a great time and the food was very yummy! Even though food was ordered at different times you...

Very very good tasty food with great service went their twice in a week the food was great both times the Gannon steak was so very tasty best meal of the week in Sidmouth

My wife and I booked a table for a Wednesday evening as the main pub restaurants in town were fully booked. When we arrived, it was obvious we need not have booked as there were eleven tables free inside and more outside. A pleasant young...

We went to this pub on Friday 10th of September, our first impression of the staff was not good, the lady behind the bar was not very friendly, thankfully the girl that was waiting on us more than made up for this. We are both...

Been a few times - a bit delayed doing this but have had excellent times here especially when the bands are on. All staff and public get involved and lovely to see the staff enjoying themselves even when they are competent working hard with the...

Been several times lately and really friendly staff. Food is excellent, cooked well and reasonably priced. Went yesterday and they had an excellent group that got great applause. Always new things going on so suggest you try it as you won't be disappointed i am...

I came to the balfour today for a Sunday roast. I'm not a big fan of those "help yourselves carverys" the meat is always dry and the veg cold or luke warm. I was surprised to find it was a "made to order" roast dinner...

My friend and I visited for dinner and we were overwhelmed by the positive and friendly service. The staff are second to none - thank you Sophie & Jason - they are attentive, fun, accommodating - and a huge shout out should go to Deborah...

Exceptionally attentive and good natured staff. The family feel of the pub made for the most wonderful evening. Delicious food, a lovely wine on the ‘Specials’ menu, and truly personal service - from Deborah, Sophie and Jason, on this occasion - made this a night...

Hands down the best food we found in Sidmouth. This was by a long shot the best food we found in the area we tried a few but this beat them both on Quality and the portions were the right size. The staff were attenuative...

Pours the best pint of Guinness in sidmouth, the food and service is top quality as well. The staff are some of the nicest I’ve met too. The outdoor area is a lovely place to sit and have a drink or a meal

Visited the Balfour with a few friends recently, I can hands down say the food was amazing and the service was very fast and very professional. We’ve dined with the Balfour 5 times now and never been disappointed. The staff of front of house are...

Pours the best pint of Guinness in sidmouth, a lovely place to go for a drink or a meal with your friends or family. The staff are some of the nicest I’ve met and the service is quick. The outdoor area is really nice as...

Super friendly staff that always shears a laughter with everyone, chefs are amazing cooks never fails to cook delicious food, I always enjoy the food especially loaded fries and beef brisket which is my favourite and what I’d always suggest to have for a meal...

The best pub I have visited in England, the staff are absolutely amazing and the service is quick and food is unbelievable good for a pub. I couldn't say anything else!! The best place in Devon!

We found The Balfour on line after having had some bad food. We were a party of four with two small dogs.A friendly welcome w.e decided to sit outside with the dogs.We all ordered our main course ,It was delicious and i am a very...

Food was not the best we've had but OK. Staff helped and friendly. Surroundings need improvement to make it a more pleasant place to have a meal.

Visited the Balfour Arms 13/7/21 we were on holiday. The lady on the phone said she could just squeeze us in . Arrived place was basically empty . Terrible service a big dog and a little dog running wild in the place the management dogs...

What a night last night, watching England reach a major final in 55 years. We are on holiday in Devon and searched for a local pub that would accommodate 6 adults and 3 dogs, who would all be cheering on England. I popped to the...