Betty Cottles Restaurant

Someone from this business manages this listing.

#1 of 1 Restaurant in Graddon Cross££ - £££, Bar, British, Vegetarian friendly

+44 1837 484825+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

12:00 - 16:00

Mon

12:00 - 15:00

Tue

12:00 - 15:00

Wed

12:00 - 15:00

Thu

12:00 - 15:0017:00 - 20:30

Fri

12:00 - 15:0017:00 - 21:00

Sat

12:00 - 15:0017:00 - 21:00

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Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

3.5

222 reviews

#1 of 1 Restaurant in Graddon Cross

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Details

Someone from this business manages this listing.

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PRICE RANGE

£4.00 – £15.00

CUISINES

Bar, British, Pub

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Gluten free options

meals, features

Location and contact

Betty Cottles Tavistock Road Graddon Cross, Graddon Cross, Dartmoor National Park, Okehampton EX20 4LR England

+44 1837 484825

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Does this place accept credit cards?

Yes

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About

Family Owned since May 2023. Built in the 17th Century, Betty Cottles is situated on the outskirts of Dartmoor. With only a short distance to the local town of Okehampton and surrounding Hamlets. Also accessible is the Granite Way, where you can take a stroll at your own leisure admiring the views and the Dartmoor Ponies. After a long day of traveling or sight seeing, you can look forward to a relaxing break in one of our many rooms. All of our rooms have T.V's and full tea & coffee making facilities. Whilst here why not try a meal from our new menu devised to suit all different tastes, using fresh food and cooked to order. With relaxing sofas and Log Fires to sit back and let your troubles drift away!!. We also offer darts and a pool table. We have a large car park which is free of charge and floodlit. Our friendly staff look forward to welcoming you and will be on hand to help with anything.

PRICE RANGE

£4.00 – £15.00

CUISINES

Bar, British, Pub

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, Drinks

FEATURES

Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Buffet, Seating, Parking Available, Free off-street parking, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Wine and Beer, American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Digital Payments, Free Wifi, Discover, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Live Music, Playgrounds, Dog Friendly, Family style, Non-smoking restaurants

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3.5

222 reviews

Excellent

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Paul F

Chesterfield4981 contributions

Very enjoyable evening meal

Aug 2020 • none

This place is big! and social distancing was very easy given the space we had. Our orders were taken and our warm, tasty food arrived in good time. We had the pie, jerk chicken and a burger all went down well. Tasty deserts and one last drink. The menu was reasonable in size given covid19 it was more extensive than other places we have stopped since being allowed to move around again. Good one way system in place to try and keep people apart. Good location just outside Oakhampton and a good size car park and beer garden to the rear.

Written 24 August 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jules K

St Giles on the Heath3 contributions

Disappointed

Jun 2024 • couples

Very disappointed, had been recommended.. by a friend. Ordered a simple Ploughman's lunch, menu stated comes with Honey roasted ham,served with 2 slices of processed ham, salad that hed seen better days and one tiny portion of butter. Will not be returning

Written 27 June 2024

james f

2 contributions

Drop Inn to see Betty cottle

Jul 2023 • family

Up to date decor cleanly executed, toilet facilities excellent spotless both staff and locals welcoming .plated Sunday roast great portion steak cut with an axe,just a wee bit tough but otherwise excellent. Took my son later for a steak again just a wee bit tough no steak knife apart from that outstanding establishment would de recommend slainte Betty cottle

Written 24 July 2023

Ben W

Exeter50 contributions

Terrible birthday meal

Aug 2020 • family

We thought we’d give this ‘eat out to help out’ scheme ago for my daughters birthday. So on arrival you could see that they were short staffed. We were seated very quickly and were told someone would be along to take our drinks order. After 20 minutes we decide to go to the bar to order a drink but were told that someone would come to us. The very unenthusiastic server took our drinks order. We asked for a non-alcoholic ginger beer but were told there was only a spiced ginger beer. When the drinks finally turned up we ended up with a flat ginger ALE not beer. After we placed the food order we waited for 1.5 hours for our food to turn up. After we chased our order up. When the food turned up we had order 3 medium-rare steaks. Each one turned up cooked differently. We had a well done, medium and medium rare. We order 2x peppercorn sauce and a blue cheese sauce. Each portion of sauce was a different size. 1 peppercorn and blue cheese sauce were over half full jugs and the other peppercorn was well under 1/4 full. The birthday child’s meal turned up and she was unimpressed by the dry chicken strips, cheap baked beans and anaemic chips. She was left unimpressed by it she left over half of her meal. And on the whole had a really disappointing birthday meal experience. I know you get some money off for the ‘eat out help out’ scheme but surely you should get the same dining experience as any other time.

Written 12 August 2020

Michele F

2 contributions

Such a great carvery Didn’t

Sept 2020 • couples

Such a great carvery Didn’t think it would be much having looked at reviews! We arrived and yes the pub is definitely in need of some TLC. Very old and worn looking. We were asking if we wanted a small medium or large carvery which we ordered at the bar with 2 pints of coke. All paid for before your taken to the table. Different way to do things but I really liked it as you sit, eat and leave when your ready not having to hang around to pay! The chef was friendly chatty and very professional. Asked what meat choice we wanted and service up a good potion of meat for a medium order. The meat was fabulous, tasty and of a good quality. There was a large selection of vegetable dishes on offer and Yorkshire’s which were home made. The vegetables were very tasty and cooked all so full of flavour! Really can’t fault the food or service and for £17 we had 2 carvery’s and 2 pints of Coke which I feel is a bargain!!

Written 7 September 2020

Jackie M

Kent22 contributions

Needs improving

Aug 2020 • family

Ok so i am going to give you my honest opinion of my experience. Fully understand everyone’s experience is different but here goes. I was so looking forward to eating here whilst on holiday, I had seen some mixed reviews but thought hey I will give it a go. The staff are friendly, but the pub has the certain smell that reminds me back to when the clubs and pubs had to stop Smoking (2007) and then it left that certain smell in the air without the cigarette smoke to cover it. Fly issue, but to be honest that is to be expected in the area we are in, just not great when you are fighting to keep your meal fly free. The quality of the meal was also way under my expectations. Cod had 5 big bones in it before we gave up Attempting to eat the meal, chicken had lots of fat, kids chicken meal had big lumps of fat also and the steak was full of gristle. Ale tasted off, wine was fine though. Did mention our issues to the young lady and gentlemen who said they would pass on feedback to chef but basically pay up. No clear line of management to discuss issues with. 4 half eaten meals at the very best and that was ok to them, it was only me mentioning the issue rather than the usual how was your meal standard question. I will not return, appreciate it suits some, but as I said at the start I am just giving my honest opinion of my experience.

Written 29 August 2020

134matthewc

Hi Jackie, Sorry to hear your experience was less than 5-stars. The cod is freshly prepared each day and the menu clearly states that there may be bones. Also, we use locally sourced meat from Dartmoor and our steaks are quality checked before sending out. We also use chicken breast which wouldn't have lumps of fat. If you’re open to discussing your experience further, please call/email us at 0183755339 and we will be happy to assist you in resolving any further issues.

Written 2 October 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Wends S

Okehampton160 contributions

Such a shame that it has gone downhill again

Aug 2020 • none

Utterly shambolic visit, which is disappointing after I was able to leave such a good review last year, following a couple of poor meals prior to that, which we put down to teething problems and new management. Sadly this visit will be our last as we were so unimpressed. We arrived at 7.05pm as booked, seated by 7.10 and food ordered by 7.20 We live in okehampton and want to support local business. Recent reviews have been more positive than in the past, so far so good. Then it went downhill. At 8.15pm as we sat there with empty glasses, we asked the barman who took our order where our food was as it had been a long time since ordering. We had ordered two mains, no starters. It wasnt exceptionally busy, but no food seemed to be coming out of the kitchen. We asked the barman who went to check in the kitchen, and returned to say the chef had told him it would be ready in six minutes. 25 minutes later we still had no food. Unacceptable. We appreciated not being charged for our drink, but we wont bother trying here again as the place itself is so unkempt and in need of a good deep clean. Something which you would think could have been done during the three month lock down. Soap and hot water and basic general maintainance isnt expensive .Skirting boards hanging off the wall, filthy windows and grotty ceilings, overgrown untidy beer garden and paths that need weeding. Such a shame as this is in a lovely location, and could be a fantastic pub. Im sure the manager will be checking her cctv to make sure I have my timings correct and I can assure her I have. I also have photos of the aforementioned dirt and broken skirting.

Written 5 August 2020

134matthewc

Hi Wends S, We’re so sorry that your experience did not match your expectations. Please help us to improve by providing more information on your experience. We can be reached at 0183755339 or inspirepubs@yahoo.com

Written 2 October 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jorebluc

London27 contributions

Overbooked so poor serivce and food

Aug 2020 • family

Have updated my review as had more time to reflect. The experience was very disappointing, the pub was clearly unprepared for the number of covers but should have capped it so they were not overrun. Food service was very slow but were warned about that, still it took 2hrs for the final mains to arrive and by then we couldn’t eat them as the kids had filled themselves up on chips and onion rings during the wait. Tables were dirty, the couple of inexperienced youngsters were clearly worked off their feet and so service was really impacted. We kept having to ask for basics like cutlery, did not get napkins and by the time the sauces arrived most mains were finished. On the food, half of what we originally wanted was no longer available but we did not find out at the start to took several order changes through the evening. Calamari was really bad I honestly have never had ones this bad. Tiny (think 10p and 20p coin) pieces, overcooked and dry, served without any sauce or lemon. Crustacean burger was just a broken patty between two buns, no sauce or salad so was just very plain and dry, could have been so much better. Fish cakes, only half eaten as very dry, possibly under the heat lamp for too long. Steak pie was better, nice chunks of meat but had just a small scoop of mash which was not that great. Fries were nice and onion rings were ok. Overall very disappointing and felt sorry for the young staff who were overwhelmed and seemed to be dealing with numerous complaints from other tables.

Written 6 August 2020

wkdh30

Devon9 contributions

I won't be returning

Apr 2022 • family

Extremely disappointing! From when we arrived until the moment we left. And yes we were offered discount by way of free deserts but that didn't go any way towards making up for the negative experience of the family for this 70th birthday celebration. Out of date facebook information, which is where you're directed by the website to view the nonexistent menu. But after some scrolling you can find some old incorrect Sunday roast prices. Choice of three meats for the plated roast which is the only option on a Sunday. Choices made, dinner arrives. It goes from bad to worse. Inch thick, almost raw and cold discs of carrot accompanied by several other cold veg hiding under the tough slithers of meat and completely hollow Yorkshire puds. And God forbid you require more than the issued drizzle of gravy as it's an extra £2.50! Which brings me to the children's roast... For £2 less you get almost a slice of meat, 1 roast potato, half a roast parsnip, two small pieces of cold hard brocoli, one inch in diameter stuffing ball and 4 thick hard chunks of carrot. No red cabbage, no sweede. That's right! All for the £6.99 children's menu price!! And despite it only being a plated roast as the option and the tables being less than a third full, they couldn't bring all 11 out to be eaten together! And asking for condiments was painful. Surely salt and pepper could have been already on the table? Onto desert, the menus were a joke. And once the orders were placed we were steadily informed over a period of 25 minutes of things that we had ordered that had since sold out. Eventually nearly all of us were slowly presented with some form of desert that vaguely resembeled what was ordered. In fact one of the sticky toffee sponges was described as.... Hot! As that was the only descriptive word they could find! And one person was left without a desert at all. The blame for this entire incompetence and disappointing experience was placed, by the manager, at the feet of the new 14year old and the two previous managers that walked out in December! We certainly wouldn't recommend and will not be returning!

Written 3 April 2022

foulds20

Hadlow24 contributions

Amazing Sunday carvery! Such

Dec 2020 • couples

Amazing Sunday carvery! Such a great find.. eaten here several times and I am amazed at the quality and price of the carvery. The meat was so tender it melted in your mouth. The vegetables and sides fresh tasting. All for £6.95 I can’t believe the portions you get! Staff are friendly and service is quick. Couldn’t ask for more!

Written 20 December 2020

Time E

1 contribution

Awful service - poor food - won’t go back.

Jun 2022 • none

Why was it poor? Where do I start? We went for a Sunday roast on Father’s Day. We booked ahead of time. Our table, for 10 only had 6 places, so we had to move a table ourselves because they were so ‘short staffed’. We ordered, having confirmed childrens potrions, small roasts and large roasts. Gravy, by the way, is £2.50 extra. The food came. With all but one having the wrong meat on it. They took the order back. Except for the correct one, which then went cold for the next 12 minutes while we waited. Then the food started to come out with the correct meat, but it seems that the child portions and ‘small’ and ‘large’ roasts are very similarly sized. More on this later. Some plates had three slices of meat, some one. Some had 4 (small) roasted potatoes some had only 2. None had any gravy on them. At all. The food was half decent, if not spectacular. I’ll give them that. Good Yorkshire puddings. Then the ‘chef’ (wearing civvies and an apron) came out to see us, I guess to apologise, but only brought excuses about ‘new staff’. When challenged about the gap in food and the poor service, he just shrugged. When it came to pay, we determined, as a group that the service, food and overall visit wasn’t good enough, so complained. We then found out the following: The only new staff was one person, washing up. There are no small or large portions for roasts. Despite our order and confirmation by the same staff member. In their view, all plates were ‘the same’. Staff didn’t like your complaint and he lost his cool, becoming frustrated and telling me ‘I’ve given you a deal so what more do you want?’. Classy. That our order on the ‘system’ was still incorrect. We received a discount of £9 on the meals and some of our drinks (almost all half soft drinks) gratis. In fact, all drinks except one Guinness. He couldn’t remove this from the tab, I guess. I appreciated their half hearted effort to make things right, but rudeness, a lack of awareness in serving food and a less than pleasant stay mean that I think it is only fair to share our experience and give our reasons for why we will never go back.

Written 19 June 2022

Elowen

3 contributions

Never again!

Apr 2022 • none

When we arrived we were taken to a very basic room, which was more like a cheap cafe, with awful wooden tables and chairs, and a pool table. None of the food we wanted was on the menu - despite it being on the Facebook page menu you are directed to from their website. So we decided to finish our drinks and find somewhere else. We were charged £27 for four drinks! I asked if they’d got it wrong, and was then given back £10 as they’d apparently made a mistake. The couple at a table behind us had both ordered a meal, but the waitress only brought out one for the man. He’d finished his and his wife was still waiting for hers. Turns out they’d forgotten it! Awful decor, awful surroundings, terrible service, nobody seemed to know what they were doing.

Written 11 April 2022

Bridget B

4 contributions

Birthday celebration

Oct 2020 • family

We have dined here several times over a number of years and have never been disappointed but tonight we found they have really upped their game another notch! The food was exceptional and we had great service with good COVID precautions/protections in place. I would totally recommend a visit if you’re in the area. (The sticky toffee pudding was to die for!)

Written 22 October 2020

Simon H

Portsmouth2 contributions

Been here two hours and still hungry.

Jul 2020 • family

Went with family to have a meal to celebrate getting engaged and wow this place put a downer on what was a good day. We arrived at seven as our booking was made for. First entry was dull and gloomy. We were then seated in the bar area which was also dull and gloomy. We were sat for twenty minutes before someone came to take a drinks order. She did apologise and explained she was the only member of staff on which we understood. She was very polite for the whole time we were there. To save waiting we ordered food at the same time as our drinks. Our drinks came and the two cokes were flat. The girl serving apologised and swapped them over. We then proceeded to wait over an hour for our starters. When they arrived they were luke warm at best but tasted okay. We then waited over half an hour for our mains which never materialised. This wouldn't be too bad however whilst sat waiting we all kept witnessing non-staff people walking around in the kitchen. There were two teen boys in tracksuit bottoms and tops, one who was wiping his face on his top. There was also a man holding a baby in the kitchen too and leaning on the sides. Everyone was acting as though this is perfectly normal however with covid19 there was zero efforts to maintain social distancing or any levels of hygiene. Ultimately after all we witnessed we paid up for what we had and left. If the mood doesn't kill you there then the food will!

Written 11 July 2020

134matthewc

To find our first review after re opening to be such a terrible one we were quite saddened and disappointed, however we have considered everything you have said and also looked at CCTV and the till system information. Screen shots have been taken of it all and we will be sending it to you in message in the hope you will make your review more factual rather than the exaggerated fiction you have described. But what we have concluded is that at no point have we done anything wrong and to claim that our food could "kill" is an extremely defamatory and damaging statement which we will be taking further. A false statement of fact that hurts a business is not protected by the right of free speech. We will also be asking Trip Advisor for your address details to send you the bill for the meals that were thrown in the bin and not paid for for no valid reason. You entered at 18:57, you were ordering starters at 19:20, your starters were delivered at 19:55 and you left at 20:37 just before your mains came out. You were here for a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes. To write a review where you are seemingly here writing it saying you have "been here" two hours and there is therefore more time to go is completely false as CCTV has proved. A twenty minute wait to place an order in normal times is longer than we would like, however these are far from normal times and we were also busy, with social distancing in place and also working under the guidelines of 1 member of staff where possible it will take longer than usual, just as people have had to queue outside supermarkets and banks and we would have thought a little more understanding would come into play here. 30 minutes for our starters again a little longer if this was normal times but 6 other tables were also being cooked for and just like those shop queues you were also in a queue, to enable you to eat our starters and then have your mains come out after 40 minutes is quite good, so 15 minutes to eat and then considering the queue, the social distancing and the 1 member of staff working to guidelines, this is acceptable, we are a fresh food restaurant not fast food. Flat coke? It came out of a not long opened bottle, but yes we changed it for you. We are a family business and we have children that live with us, this is our home, you may have seen the older children and if one were to wipe his face on his top (they play football outside) that is great as they have been taught not to touch their faces with their hands, they have to walk the corridor to the kitchen to get upstairs where we live, although there was also a teenager in the kitchen who was doing the pot washing so maybe you are confused but ours would not be in the kitchen but may be at the entrance, there is also little Leo who is 20 months old and yes he will be carried by my Husband who is co owner and if he needs to go to the kitchen to check what is going on he is quite entitled to, Leo would not have been put down in the kitchen and would not have touched anything so again all under control, we have strict measures in place with regards to food and it is not touched by anyone apart from those who should be and in a 5 hygiene rating kitchen. You have sat watching things and making assumptions that im afraid are wrong, maybe you should have spent more time looking after the child you brought in with you as when watching back the CCTV it is clear you have no control over him, he was allowed to wander around and touch everything when children are required to sit at the table in these worrying times and also you allowed him to take Leo`s ride in car and start playing in it without asking any permission whatsoever and you would have been told he could`nt had you asked, CCTV also shows the child, approximate age of 4 constantly going near other people and not being social distanced and touching everything,needless to say we had to deep clean and sanitize everywhere the child had been and touched after witnessing this. Please in future write an honest negative review and think about the impact false statements can have on a business and also think about what you are doing yourselves before criticising others actions that are not even anything negative. We will be in touch.

Written 14 July 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Stephen J D

Milton Keynes2 contributions

Outstanding Staff

Sept 2020 • none

We have just spent 5 days & 4 nights at the Betty Cottles Inn. It is true that some updating is needed, which has already begun. However, the rooms are clean & comfortable, the food is delicious & the staff (the Inn’s biggest asset) are outstanding. They are polite, attentive and nothing is too much trouble. Special mention to John, Debbie, Taylor &, especially, Oli. We will return!

Written 20 September 2020

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