The Courtyard Restaurant in Exeter

The sirloin beef was excellent, and the vegetable cook produced perfect freshly cooked vegetables to go with the meal (no English mustard?). The restaurant was clean and the view is amazing. Nonetheless, the best meals are served by good waiters. I felt sorry for our waitress who had so obviously received totally inadequate training; we had to ask for a drinks menu. It was about twenty minutes before the wine I ordered arrived at our table. After our meal had been served, no one came to ask if everything was OK, (and it wasn't a busy day). we had to wait ages for our plates to be cleared and again when we wished to order our desert (As, I noted, did our neighbouring table). The pleasant atmosphere was somewhat spoiled by rather loud Musac. This was a rather harsh noise coming from the speaker above our head, completely tuneless and utterly pointless. If you feel the need to put a noise through the speakers, please make it relaxing. And tuneful would be nice!

An amazing restaurant in Exeter town centre. Food is excellent quality, fresh produce, cooked to perfection. Staff were friendly and attentive which made it a memorable night out. Don’t be put off by exterior - the restaurant is upstairs, with light bright attractive decor.

I can’t stress strongly enough just how terrible the restaurant food is. There is no welcoming atmosphere, nor a nice cosy restaurant feel either. We won’t be revisiting.

Came in for a tea and coffee to kill time in the area. Isobel, Emmy and Chloe provided fast and friendly service!

Very good and very welcoming. Excellent in many ways. The food was excellent which is the main thing.

The restaurant is in a quiet area of town but close to city area.The menu wasshort but gave a good choice. Each course was well presented and wine list was very well priced. Staff friendly and as it was ours anniversary it felt like a special occasion. Tables well spaced and covid measures adhered to

So went to the hotel for dinner on Monday 14th July with my family to celebrate my 43rd birthday. Such a huge disappointment and mistake from start to finish. I wish now we had gone some where else,I am so unhappy it's was horrendous. Firstly my pre dinner gin and tonic came with a slice of lemon and lime, yes both in the same glass, why I have no idea. We ordered in the bar then moved through to the restaurant. The tables are so old they are considered retro now and the decor is so dated it was like sitting in an 80's lounge, you no the type with the chintzy stripped curtains and pelmets. The food was mediocre at best, my pigeon starter was so tuff I actually flipped my knife of my plate trying to cut it,no check back either.For mains myself and my dad had lamb cutlets again a throw back to the 80's, it came with funny little barrel shaped veggies that had no colour and no taste. My dad asked the waitress when we ordered "how many cutlets would there be" her reply "oh 3 or 4" actually there were just 2. A bit of knowledge goes a long way.The cutlery we had was so old again I think it would now be called antiquated. Never once did anyone come and ask if everything was fine. To top it off the waitress with ginger hair started to clear the 3 plates That had finished before my dad Had finished eating. Very very poor service. Then When the mains were cleared the waitress left all our side plates from the starters and loads of unused cutlery all over the table,very messy and to think they were going to top up our wine well forget that right now. The real crux was when I ordered a floater coffee for my dad, I know it's old school but that's what he likes he is 67 after all. I did explain it was coffee with cream floating on the top,what arrived was a coffee in the glass with steamed milk yes steamed milk on the top. So what In fact they made was a really bad latte. Her excuse was " sorry it's not very good I couldn't get it to float" no wonder you couldn't love you used hot steamed milk instead of cream and no sugar so it's hardly surprising we got served a latte.The service in General was shockingly bad. The ginger haired waitress disappeared for nearly 20mins I'm guessing to eat and the other girl stood chatting to a couple for 15mins leaving no one to pay attention to the guests. The table next to us of 5 called her twice but she still ignored them and stood chatting. They eventually just left and went back to their rooms. When our bill arrived none of the food was itemised it was under "open food" on the bill with just an amount.So it was difficult for my guests to work out what their share was. The hotel is outdated,shabby and provides such shockingly poor service and attention to detail that watching paint dry would be quicker. The service was so slow In fact my mum compared it to Mrs Overall from acorn antiques. It's a dreadful place to eat and is so old fashioned and of Very low standard. I know privately owned hotels are normally pretty tired and left to decline but come on you need to do way better than this. I Would never recommend the hotel to anyone. After my 25 years in hospitality and as I was a managers at Michael Caines in Exeter and in some of London's top hotels and restaurants I know what service is and good quality food and this comes no where near. Who ever is the owner or manager You should be ashamed you allow your staff to govern themselves when they clearly need a lot of intensive training in basic service standards and need guidance from some one who is strong and capable. You ruined what has been an otherwise amazing birthday weekend. I Am NOT HAPPY AT ALL. I expect to hear from you in reply very very quickly. Darran from Exeter