Taunton Deane
Hideout

Hideout

Castle Green, Taunton Deane, United Kingdom

Pubs • Sushi • Steak • British


"Feel so gutted as this place is usually such a great place to have drinks. Just do not recommend the food. Went here with my partner on a Saturday night. The place was lively as expected so when we got to the bar we asked for our table reservation. We went and sat down. We had to order at the bar which was absolutely fine, think lots of places do that now. When we ordered we were told the cocktail I had asked for was out of stock, not a problem so I chose a different one, then we ordered the steak and bbq chicken but was told the steak was not on the till, luckily i believe it was the chef that served us so they managed to put everything through and we took our seats while grabbing our drinks too. We didn’t have to wait long for the food and as it was Saturday it would have been understandable if we did. What really bothered us however is the state the food arrived to us at and the service following. The bbq chicken looked fine, it was abit cold which was a shame but we aren’t ones to complain so my partner just carried on and ate it. It was only later he discovered the middle of the chicken breast was undercooked and bright pink. I wish I had taken a photo but he refused to touch it then after he’d noticed. The steak I had ordered was asked for ‘medium’ but it was well done, dry, stone cold and chopped up. The only reason I can imagine it had arrived pre cut was the lack of cutlery we were given. When given the food we were told ‘I’ll just get some cutlery, do you want any sauces’ in which we asked for salt and pepper and tomato sauce. We sat for 5 minutes waiting on this while our food got colder and colder only later to see the our server walking around outside assuming on a break. My partner got up to ask again for cutlery in which we were told the kitchen were ‘making some up now’. Another 10 minutes go on and nothing. We were so hungry by this point I had pretty much eaten my meal with my hands. My partner went up to the bar a third time to ask for cutlery as he didn’t want to get bbq sauce all over him in which the poor bartender had to grab some quickly. We didn’t bother with sauces in the end and after the pink chicken my partner just wanted to leave. We both did. During all of this aswell we were seeing other customers being served fries and snacks WITH cutlery and sauces. It was so disappointing as we had reserved this table for an occasion and were really let down. I understand Saturdays are busy but with that level of service on meals I would just stick to serving drinks and snacks. Don’t bother offering a food menu. To top it off my partner ended up getting food poisoning and spending the next day in bed with a sick bucket. Never had such a bad experience."

Duende

Duende

4 High Street, TA4 2JX, Taunton Deane, United Kingdom

Wine • Meat • Coffee • British


"Little Wiveliscombe has a real gem in Duende, but it's well worth the drive wherever you live. We received a warm welcome to this quirkily decorated and moodily lit restaurant, where the ambience is friendly and relaxed. We chose the five course tasting menu and...enjoyed every dish so much that we really couldn't choose a favourite. We started with tasty goats curd with beetroot. The second course provided the best piece of mackerel I have ever eaten. A main of sliced sirloin steak on a bed of the creamiest of creamed potatoes. The rhubarb accompanying a creamy panna cotta was cooked to perfection (and thank you, chef, for the instructions A piece of soft Bath cheese was drizzled with the most delicious honey (I meant to ask for the supplier, but forgot) and sprinkled with crumbs with a subtle hint of fennel. Each course was a confection of layers of flavour and texture. We chose a nice bottle of Tempranillo to accompany, which at was good value by restaurant standards. It was a lovely evening in all regards and we will be returning soon. It's worth saying that having read some previous reviews which mentioned small portions, I wondered if I should eat a large lunch. In fact, my day was so busy that I'd hardly eaten at all. I still left Duende feeling fully sated, and didn't even eat breakfast the next day. And I would consider myself to be a fairly greedy person. I think some people confuse quality and quantity. To my mind, quality is the more important factor, but Duende certainly left this greedy girl very happy in both respects."