Exeter
Dukes

Dukes

Market Pl, EX10 8AS, Exeter, United Kingdom

Pubs • Full • Steak • British


"My husband and I have stayed at Dukes for many years. It’s in the perfect spot, right on the sea front and we always treat ourselves to a room with a view! The food and service has always been good until our most recent visit in February. We booked a table on our first night for our anniversary and the second night we ate in the Conservatory. The first night was fab, good food, good atmosphere and friendly staff. However, on the second night we were left extremely disappointed. We’d checked with a member of staff what was the latest time to order food and were told 8:30pm. This gave us time to have a drink in the bar beforehand and unwind. At 8:00pm a different member of staff approached us for our food order. When we asked if we could wait until 8:30pm he was very disgruntled and rude. He wanted to know there and then if we were having starters and dessert. As we hadn’t even looked at a menu yet how were we supposed to know what we fancied and how full we’d be? So, declined a starter and dessert and literally went with the mains missed a sale there! Food was lovely as always but just as we finished eating the same guy came over and told us the bar was closing. This was approx 10:00pm. No one informed us that it was a reduced service, that they were closing early and that you won’t be able to relax and enjoy your evening because they all want to go home. The room rate doesn’t change throughout the year so why should the service. We were left feeling that we were nothing but an inconvenience and that our business wasn’t important. I would have thought given the current climate and the effect it’s having especially on hospitality that there would have been a bit more interest in your customer experience. Such a shame Dukes Team very disappointing experience."

Old Firehouse

Old Firehouse

50 New North Road, EX4 4EP, Exeter, United Kingdom

Pub • Pizza • Seafood • Western


"We have been coming to the old firehouse for over years. Usually have a great experience but not quite the same this time, with one member of staff [male, long hair beyond shoulder length] in particular taking profanities and other poor customer relation traits...to a level I’d not witnessed before. In the space of five minutes I witnessed a couple and two gentlemen receive abuse for standing near the bar hatch in his way when collecting glasses (clearly, they weren’t doing it on purpose). “Get out of the Fu way”, “are you fu stupid” were the first comments that attracted the spotlight. Then when a gentleman tried to apologise for causing an obstruction his response consisted of “don’t apologise, just get out of my fu way”. The nice lady in charge behind the bar did appear to have a word with him but it looked like it wasn’t the first time she’d had to deal with such complaints and appeared to make her very uncomfortable (understandable given how volatile he seemed). Appreciating that customers probably make this mistake frequently, the response was completely disproportionate and offensive and certainly undeserved. Like I’ve said, we normally have a great time in there but this experience is not something I’m keen to repeat any time soon. I really hope this kind of behaviour isn’t tolerated further. To the rest of the staff, I’m truly sorry I’ve had to award three stars as it would have been five. Pizzas and live music are still fantastic."