Boathouse Tavern and Grill, Dawlish Warrenback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I am a returning visitor to Dawlish Warren and it has been a few years since I have been in the Boathouse. Went in April after a walk along the beach and the place is not how I remember it - perhaps there has been a recent refurb or my memory is playing tricks on me, but it seems a smarter more mature pub than I remember.
Didn't stay for food so can't comment on that. Two real ales on at the bar (three pumps but one was off) - Avocet Ale by Exeter Brewery and Pride Of Dartmoor by Black Tor Brewery. I don't actually remember which I went for, but in any event it was very enjoyable and served in a classic dimpled pint pot.
A bit more expensive than the bar at the holiday park we were staying at, but not outrageously so, and nice to try something different anyway.
Would happily call back again.
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I have been using the Boathouse for a number of years.Being in a Holiday Resort i am pleasantly surprised.The cask ales are from Devon breweries.And kept reasonably well. Catering is what i expected from a pub which caters mostly for holidaymakers..
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Yet again I see that some compulsive moaners have been sticking their miserable oars in. I have been using this pub for 2 to 3 weeks at different times for the last five years. The food is pub grub style. If you want something more intricate, then the Mount Pleasant is just a walk up the hill but I have NEVER seen anyone complaining about the food in all that time. As for winging that they do not serve what you want, well that is just pathetic. Go somewhere else that does! For the real ale drinker, they serve a range of frequently changing excellent ales and the bar staff, beside being helpful, tend to be knowledgeable about these ales; a refreshing change in all ways. And before you think that I am related to the owner, I live in the Midlands, near Leamington Spa and am NOT a relative of the owner. I am telling it as I see it, and very much as I enjoy using the Boathouse! Give over miseries and get a life!
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this pub is in a good location although is better to sit outside than inside, menu is your general pub menu and does have a good selection of food x
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Only ever drank in this pub so can't comment on the food side of things.
The beer was good and it was a cracking early spring day. The pub is in a great location by the sea so all in all we had a good experience here 8/10 from me.
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This pub is awful, it's a shame as it's in a nice location. Dirty glasses, crap food..I don't even think they have heard of vegetarians!!
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This is a ghastly place by any standards.
Built to purposely cater for large families of Pikies.
My burger (well, an insult to the word really) arrived about 50 seconds after I ordered it. I'm not joking, it actually was that fast ... no idea how they managed it.
Avoid it, if you have any taste whatsoever.
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Visited the pub, and after having chips at lunch, asked for salad instead, for me and my son, only to be told we have to have the chips and cant have salad with our steaks,I know chips are the preffered option, but surely we should be encouraging healthy eating in this day and age, no alcaholk free beer.
If you want a healthy option give it a miss!!!!
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built for mass catering, beer is ok and staff friendly, but generally it doesn't get any better, it obviously generates loads of money in the summer so why bother to serve some decent food ? it might hurt the profits
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Visted a few times as i live in the area and i must say its poor. Don't get me wrong, i wasn't expecting 5* but the food is no where near good enough for the price (excpt 2-4-1 :-s). The only redeaming factor was the ale (Well kept with a good changeover rate). I find the barmen to be quite engageing and some obviously enjoy what they do eventhough the management team are unhelpfull (1 exception). Dogs are welcome which is good as i enjoy walking along the beach and its nice not to be turfed out due to having a wet dog in tow. My advice have a pint or 2 then go and avoid at all costs in summer.
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Ate here 3 times lately whilst on holiday in Dawlish Warren. Nice location overlooking the sea. Found the food pretty good and reasonably priced. Service was OK though it was always pretty quiet when we visited, would wonder though how they manage in the peak season when I would imagine the place is rammed and pretty manic.
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Generally speaking, the weight of opinion suggests it's more Doghouse Tavern and Bowl than Boathouse Tavern and Grill.
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that's sarcasm brummie not paranoia, and on my ONE visit I wasn't looking for the dog bowl, sadly your defence of the boathouse hasn't gained any credability judging by the other reviews
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Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinne, I see you've let the familiar beer in the evening paranoia get the better of you. No I am not the manager, I holiday in Dawlish two or three times a year.
If you'd been to the Boathouse you would know that the dog bowl is in the outdoor seating area!!
Please write a subjective review "based on merit" rather than just a retort so that we can discontinue this pointless excercise. I think my theory that you have never actually been there is gaining more credibilty by your every comment!!
To address Alex's point, i have been in the majority of pubs in the Dawlish locality and the Boathouse is by no means the best...... but there are far, far worse. but of course, people are entitled to their opinion.
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All pubs should allow dogs..............its the children who should be banned. Parents just let them run riot. I agree this pub is not the best, I only call in if passing to see what beer is available, then I usually walk straight back out!
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If I may interject, there are 4 listed pubs in Dawlish Warren and a further 9 listed in nearby Dawlish. Out of that total of 13, this pub is currently rated 12th and by any standard, that has to be very poor.
On this basis and taking previous comments and observations into account, I think we can conclude, with some certainty, that those who might enjoy a visit to this pub the most are likely to have fur and four legs.
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hi brummy you seem very defensive of the boat house, are you the manager?, in my opinion it was a diabolical hole, that was my review and I didn't feel the need to elaborate further,and if you did read my reviews you would see that I judge a pub on merit and not just leaving a bowl of water for the dog, who shouldn't be in the pub any way, flea bag pests!!
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Hi Vinnie, the only person missing the point here is you. Alex however, does make a good point regarding genuine reviews. Why would I bother to "check your other reviews". You have left two unspecific comments about the Boathouse, but are yet to write an actual review.
The Boathouse is what it is, I don't think anyone is expecting it to get a michelin star, but for a cheap meal and sit down after a day on the beach I have found it acceptable. I call that being realistic, not "easily pleased". If other people have not found this the case, fine, write a review reflecting that.
So why don't you take a step back and write a subjective review based on your one visit?
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We were staying nearby and tried the Boathouse for our evening meal. How sorry we were! We ordered two adult and two child meals, and were sitting upstairs. This place is advertised as having a great atmosphere, with "free" children's play area. Firstly, the atmosphere was non-existent - tired, out-dated decor all around, with dirty tables, and toilets which were poor. The children's play area was indeed free - but was a small, box-like soft-play structure, overloaded with kids of all ages, and not at all clean. This, of course, wouldn't have mattered if the food had been anywhere near decent. It wasn't. It arrived after quite a wait, and looked as if it had been literally thrown onto the plate. I had the smothered chicken - the accompanying fries had been poured on top, landing on the chicken sauce. I say "sauce", because it wasn't so much a sauce as a hot grease! The chicken was tough, and inedible. I managed to eat some of the standard, frozen, fries. The kids' meals were similar standard out-of-the freezer chicken nuggets and chips.
We won't be going back, and wouldn't recommend it!o
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thank you alex, if brummyboy had bothered to check some of my reviews he would notice that I am a regular contributer to this site and most of my reviews are positive, as you said he completely missed the point, that people who post one off reviews for just one pub,that are quite obviosly over the top are usually contrived, incidently I have used the boat house ONCE ONLY, i'm pleased for him that he had a good experiance, but he's in a minority(or quite easily pleased)
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Alex Bradford, the reviews are not "generally" negative, it just so happens that the negative reviewers have gone into "chapter and verse". Fair enough, that's up to them. However, Vinnies comments are completely over the top and un-constructive. There are no details to his review, so can we assume he has even been in the Boathouse himself?
And for that matter have you? If not, you are being slightly hypocritical since you seem to be an advocate of, in your own words, "genuine reviews'.
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Brummyboy, the point here is that the reviews of this pub are generally very negative and usually angry. The highly positive review, recently added by motheroftwo doesn�t just stick out like a sore thumb, against a tide of negative comments, but reads just like a public relations campaign! It�s not just overstating the pub's merits - it's laughably positive and moreover is the only review ever to come from that �source�.
The idea of this website is for genuine visitors to leave genuine reviews, by which other readers can make an informed judgement. When someone leaves a �one off�, over the top, positive rating and review against a pub with extremely poor ones, it undermines the whole concept. [Although in this case, I suspect most readers will simply find it highly amusing, before dismissing it completely]. Of course, the same is just as true for someone who repeatedly leaves over the top, negative comments for all pubs in an area, except their chosen pub.
However, in one respect, you hit the nail on the head with the comment �people are trying to make a living�. Indeed, in the middle of a recession, with pubs closing down throughout the Country, pubs are trying to find innovative new ways of attracting new custom, particularly the poorest performing ones, who must be desperate to turn the tide.
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Vinnie, if you read all the comments you will see a number of positive reviews about the boathouse.
Whilst it's not the best, it's certainly not as bad as some people are making out.
I ate in there last friday with my family with no problems. It's normal pub fayre, it was served hot, arrived in good time, the order was accurate, the service was friendly, and overall it was good value. Decent selection of beer, I had cider incidently, just the thing for the boiling hot day it was. And there was a water bowl for the pooch. How any of that make this place a "diabolical hole" I don't know.
So to sum up.... If you don't like it in there, don't use it....simple. Don't run it down for the sake of it, people are trying to make a living.
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in all the years i've been using this site the previous review is the only good one i've ever seen for this diobolical hole of a tourist trap, a bit to good, and the only review ever posted by this person
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THIS PUB IS FANTASTIC!
I don't normally write reviews but I felt compelled to post a comment about this pub. We went for a walk on Dawlish Warren beach with our two children and decided to go into The Boathouse for a drink. We walked in and downstairs we were greeted by the really friendly staff, they were very busy but the lady behind the bar told us that if we go upstairs there is a play area where the children could have fun while we enjoyed five minutes peace and quiet.
Family Friendly takes on a whole new meaning here!!!! We had highchairs, baby changing, a microwave for customer use for baby food, colouring in and a fab children's meal deal with a dessert and drink for around �5.
We enjoyed the drink so much (my husband loves real ales and they had a great selection) we decided to stay for something to eat - my husband had the burger which was delicious and I had the lamb shank which was really nicely cooked and piping hot. What's more they support local suppliers - their meat is 100% westcountry, nice to know its not always about profit!
They run a membership scheme for local people - we paid �5 to join and we can now have 2 for 1 meals even in the summer months - not many places value local custom during the tourist season!
I would strongly recommend this pub to families and we are planning to return just the two of us to their live entertainment nights which apparently are a huge success. This pub is a real find!
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I don't know what peoples' expectations are of a seaside holiday pub.
I was in the Warren for two seperate weeks last year and visited The Boathouse regularly. They serve some excellent real ales and the young people behind the bar were pleasant and efficient. I saw not one party unhappy with with their food. if you want high quality cuisine then go somewhere else and pay for it. The Boathouse supplies decent pub nosh for a reasonable price. If you want a later evening pint in the quieter seasons, you may be disappointed. They tend to shut up shop earlier than usual if there isn't much trade in. The terminally grumpy always love to moan.
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it's a shame that many of the pubs in this area can rely on a roaring trade from the hoards of tourist,as they seem to think they can treat you all with compleat contempt,unfortunatly they probably get away with it year after year,this place is in a great location and with a bit of good managment could be great,but as long as people are prepared to pay for sub standard food and service they havn't got any reason to change
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This pub is awful!!!
Our table was filthy we had to ask for it to be cleaned. My food was cold although my partners was ok.
The staff were rude, and the place was filthy, crips packets and their contents under another table, we spoke to a member of the "management team" who apologised and offered us complimentary drinks which we declined, we pointed out the state of the place but did not see anyone attempting to try to clean up the mess, drinks are expensive when we queried this we were told its because its a privately owned pub, this pub needs to sort it's self out, it's in a good position and in a lovely area, don't be so complacent!!!and be fair and ensure your staff are trained properly, most of them are really young and don't have a clue about how to deal with things,
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I was disgusted by the service and food at this pub and the Dep manager was an arrogant pig to say the least!
We decided to have a family meal at the boat house during our weeks holiday last week.
Our meal came to over �90.00 I ordered the steak meal i asked the waiter for no peas or mushrooms and he complained that he would have to go to the kitchen himself to tell the chef!! when my meal came as i thought would happen their were peas and mushrooms on my plate! the steak was vile all dried out and just tasteless (like a cheap burger) My friend had the same meal and the mushrooms were boiled and the peas were tinned! i mean how hard is it to cook mushrooms and peas!! For my dessert i had chocolate fudge cake which again was just horrible it tasted like a cheap chocolate sponge!I had 1 small mouth full and decided that i was not going to eat it and wanted the chocolate fudge cake refunded so asked the waitress to take it back. she came back and said the manager would come and talk to me about it, a few minutes later an arrogant deputy manager came over and said that over half of the dessert had been consumed and he would not refund it! he said that he and the chef had tasted it and it was perfectly fine!!!! i was so insulted as i had only had a very small spoon full and sent it back and what ever happened to the customer always bieng right? i after explaining this to the fool got a refund on just the chocolate fudge cake! very poor customer service just a bunch of teenagers/very early twenties running the place who have no idea how to cook or to deal with customers!! I have worked in catering for the past ten years and was utterly shocked! I needless to say will never go there again! It such a shame as it is in an ideal location. I STRONGLY ADVISE PEOPLE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON BELOW SUB STANDARD FOOD!!
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Whilst this place isn't brilliant, i didn't find it as bad as some of the reviews below. we had a few drinks in here whilst on holiday and it was ok, service was prompt and the beer was above average. We had a meal for 14 on Wednesday evening, including 6 kids, and the food was normal pub fayre, came in good time and the staff were friendly. The 10oz steak offer was good value, and most of the adults took advantage of this, and got what they ordered which always helps. So i can only speak as i find, and i would go back and try it again. Oh yes, and we got up there with a wheelchair no problem.
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Went here for a meal yesterday. Well, tried to anyway. Service was practically non-existent, bar staff totally uncaring and not interested in customer care.
A great location overlooking the sea...well, you could do from the top deck if it was open, but on a wonderfully hot and sunny day yesterday, it was closed.
And to top it all, the Newky Brown was served in a pint glass!
We certainly shan't be returning. (Not that they'll care!!!)
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the boathouse has recently been refurbished and new meals on the menu, the staff were very friendly and quick service, the food came out hot and was not left standing around waiting for someone to hand it out.
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possibly the worst pub in devon, awful food, rare that is warm let alone hot, very bad service and did i mention the food is terrible.
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As an ex-retail management employee I felt compelled to write about a recent trip to The Boathouse in Dawlish Warren.
We had our meal and went to pay. On presenting my credit card, the supervisor was having trouble with the hand held PDQ machines. After a couple of connection attempts he sent a member of staff to get the manual swipe machine and carbonated receipts from the office, I waited for fifteen minutes and he returned with the manual machine but no receipts so he was sent back down to get them. After five minutes of inserting my card this way and that onto its platform the supervisor went off to find the boy who was off to find the carbonated slips. A waitress asked if we were being seen to and we replied yes we were being sorted! So glad she never asked if were ok.
The boy returned without the slips or the supervisor and we were told he was turning the phone lines off for thirty seconds. On the supervisor�s return he said he would try the line again. I asked if I would be receiving any discount for the long delay. He said because there wasn�t a problem with the food, as such, there could be no reimbursement but did I have any other means of payment. The answer to that was no.
My issue is not with the food here but while we are on the subject:-
My boyfriend was left at the bar by the only member of serving staff who went off to set a table and never returned for five minutes. In the meantime our dinner was served, an accompaniment sauce was missing because they had forgot about it and to say the food was luke warm would be an over estimate and nobody actually came round with the general., �Is everything all right with your meals?�
On trying the machine again He said he would try the one downstairs and if there was no joy he might have to right it off. I asked to speak to the manager and on his return we were lead to the downstairs bar to meet the manager. We were asked if they gave us the �1.50 fee charged by the ATM in the amusement arcade would we go and get the cash. I again, said, would we be given a further discount because not only had we waited so long we now had to put ourselves out to pay. We were greeted by a very stubborn attitude saying the fault lay with BT. We said they should have some manual slips ready for such sabotage, as they did in the (different company) stores that myself and my boyfriend had worked in previously so the fault was no longer just BT�s. After all we had been waiting a good twenty five minutes to pay. There was no give in her attitude, stating that she couldn�t believe we were actually asking for a compensatory measure, so I asked if I could have the head office address to complain. She said she would give us a slip on our return.
We set off to the arcade retrieved the money and when we returned the supervisor or manger was nowhere to be seen. We asked a the bar man if he could get the manager. A couple of minutes he said as he went off to serve some food. Fair enough. On his return we politely asked again.
The manager didn�t come back but the supervisor. We paid him. He apologised because that�s apparently that�s the best that they could do despite our thirty five minute inconvenience. He gave us a compliments slip with the details of head office, signed regards Sally Carr (the manageress). Would you believe it was the address to The Boathouse. Now I could think of a better terminology to use but I do believe she was just adding insult to injury.
Is it no wonder the conglomerates in every industry are bringing the small business into extinction. �We can�t compete,� is the general cry. How much does good customer service cost? Is it no wonder our tourist industry is on decline? If this is the sort of service that visitors to County or shores can expect.
I will certainly not be making a return voyage to This Boathouse and I advise not to.
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No good for the elderly - long way from car park with no disabled parking - also no good for the kids in winter - Top floor (with play area) closed.
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Great choice of food but tends to be more expensive than the mount pleasant. Around 7pm it gets very busy and is hard to find a table in the peak season. Good choice of beers with knowledgeable bar staff. Great service.
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as good as the mount pleasant sea views[top floor]
love this place bit more expensive but your paying for the location[outstanding]
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a good locatation, good to find a pub, that you van take children and dogs into. Lovely sea views from the top floor, great for when we have a sunny day
cheryl - 23 Sep 2004 10:52 |
Excellent food and service.
bill - 27 May 2004 19:04 |
Good pub on the sea front. Real Ale and good food on offer all day. Lovely sea views from the top floor. Dogs allowed in lower bar area and outside areas.
paul - 13 Jan 2004 19:27 |
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