Salcombe Restaurant Review...

This Easter I managed to visit 2 of Salcombe’s restaurants; The Galley and Dusters.

The Galley:
I have to say I was surprised on many accounts! The interior is pretty basic but pleasant, unless that is you can get a window seat as I did. This transforms the entire experience. Even though it was dark the moon was shining over from East Portlemouth church across the water, lighting up whitestrand pontoon and the few moored boats that are on the water in March, and seemed to end when it reached my table! It was perfect!

The food whilst not being outstanding was pretty good. I had crab linguine followed by monk fish. The crab was landed at Salcombe and the fish at Plymouth so all very local. The linguine was average and could have done with a bit more taste but the monk fish was very good and worth every penny of the quite reasonable £17:95.

All in all 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 desert and a few glasses of wine was £63, a perfectly acceptable price for the food and view. Although I have to say had I been sat in the corridor part of the restaurant I would not have been impressed! Definitely worth a visit but check when you book that you are not going to be sat in the corridor.

Dusters:
Overall I was very disappointed with Dusters. Back in the heyday of “Dusters Bistro”, when it was owned and run by Mike Hicks, it was unthinkable that you didn’t go at least once on a Sunday night during the summer! The jazz was great, the lights low, the food simple but perfect bistro food, the whole placed buzzed with a relaxed but energetic atmosphere, the bottles of Sol flowed and the napkins were actual Dusters hence the name "Dusters" Bistro….

So back to the present…first of all let me just say the jazz was superb! Harry seems to get better with age! However it was more mainstream jazz and not the ragtime that Harry used to belt out at Dusters. I much prefer the new music but not at Dusters, it needs that energy and punch and not to blend quietly into the background as the new stuff does. Harry used to perform by the door and the music would carry out into fore street, now he is pushed to the back of the restaurant like he is just another part of the place and not the main attraction.

The atmosphere was awful, the lights were too bright and the tableware too silver service, which the actual service was far from! We waited an age for our starters, at least an hour and then we waited so long for our deserts that they had switched the coffee machine off! I was stunned……it was also more expensive than the Galley by at least 20%. The steak was £22……what’s the mark-up on that!

The food was good but not memorable; I had Spinach Risotto and Sea Bass for my main but I can’t actually remember what my starter was or my dessert for that matter. Although I do seem to remember that the ice cream on the menu said "Dusters home made ice cream" but the waitress seemed to think it was actually Salcombe Dairy! The risotto was above average and I have to say cooked perfectly and the sea bass was as sea bass always is, brilliantly tasty.

The wine list was a total joke, one bottle of wine form 5 different countries and the wines were at best average.

So all in all it was pretty disappointing to say the least and I wont be rushing back. Dusters needs to decide if it’s a posh restaurant or a bistro type restaurant, at present it is stuck in middle somewhere. This is a real shame as it has the prime location for a restaurant. If only someone had a video of Dusters how it used to be they could learn a thing or 2.