Côte Exeter Reviews Summary

Location & Atmosphere

Pros:

• "A lovely French style restaurant, and great location looking onto Cathedral Green."
• "Restaurant in a lovely part of the city in the Cathedral Green an iconic setting largely unchanged for centuries."
• "The setting on the cathedral green is just plain peaceful."
• "Sat down with a spectacular view of the Cathedral, to be served with what I can aptly call 'a cup of Heaven'."
• "The location fabulous overlooking the Cathedral Green, especially from upstairs."
• "Nice meal outdoors looking out over Cathedral Green."
• "Plus you will get a beautiful view to Exeter cathedral."

Cons:

• "Typical Mediterranean restaurant leaving the door open all night! We were freezing."
• "Didn’t experience the same quality of service upstairs and it’s quite noisy up there."
• "The only downside is that it's quite noisy but I guess that adds to the atmosphere!"
• "Very noisy on the 3rd floor as it got later due to the noise carrying around the room."
• "The acoustics mean it gets incredibly noisy and hard to have a conversation even with an early sitting so no good if anyone is hard of hearing."
• "Atmosphere - top floor table. Noisy room. Needs some sound deadening."
• "It was a little noisy and maybe something could be done to dampen this a little."

Service

Pros:

• "Nice capable staff, food in general was good."
• "Very good food, been here all 3 years of my university experience and have yet to be disappointed."
• "Brilliant food and exceptional service at a reasonable price."
• "Service was fast and friendly, I am vegetarian and there was so much choice for me!"
• "The staff are very friendly and efficient."
• "Service was excellent and staff friendly."
• "Staff very friendly. A very good experience in a tourist hotspot."

Cons:

• "The whole meal was rushed through and our request to sit by the window was ignored."
• "The service was great but we were squashed in and it ruined it for me."
• "Service - our waiter was very good, however, we had to wait outside in the rain despite having booked."
• "Poor management and you ruined my birthday/wife's treat night."
• "Largish group of us there on Thursday night, service was shocking, the bloke... totally useless, and everything was too much trouble for him."
• "The Service was not so good, the two waitresses were engaged in animated conversation when we arrived and seemed inconvenienced by us turning up."
• "Service slow and impersonal, we had three different servers and had to walk to a till to find someone to pay."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Food excellent, service great and a lovely atmosphere."
• "Delicious lunch and lovely warm welcome!"
• "Great food perfectly cooked every time, with great flavours and at a good price."
• "The food was good."
• "The food was excellent both in taste and presentation."
• "Really good and very authentic French cuisine."
• "The food was delicious: Crab Maison, French onion soup, confit pork belly, beouf bourguignon & veg."

Cons:

• "Too many onions/shallots with the Moule and no creme fraiche even though it was meant to come with. Salmon main OK but over cooked so difficult to cut through."
• "Regret ordering the burger, clearly wasn’t made to order, dry and charred."
• "Food was salty and because it was in the quickish menu it was without vegetables."
• "The food however was quite tired, and basic, with minimal effort put into ingredients and presentation."
• "Admittedly we did have a large table but steaks were tough, and for £30 expected a bit better."
• "Seafood linguine would of been nice if Pasta had been cooked properly & not served in a big lump."
• "The steak tartare had oxidised and therefore arrived grey."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "Its not over priced- its not stuffed with fancy wall paper and overpriced cocktails."
• "The prices are really reasonable which is not something I was expecting."
• "The fixed price menu is very good value if you go before 7pm."
• "Very good value for money & plenty of choice."
• "The multi course deal is very good value with outstanding quality."
• "But the food is outstanding for a chain restaurant - good value."
• "Currently, there is a 3-course meal for £20 at lunch times. Very good deal, make the time to go try it."

Cons:

• "In conclusion, we found it to be poor value for money given the average food, small portions and high prices."
• "Drinks are very expensive and will soon bring the price up!"
• "The bottled beers were a little pricey at ~£4.75 for the cheapest."
• "Over priced and for the silver spanners. You're paying for their rent and the view."
• "Expensive though. I ordered the sea bream. I got one fillet. I had to order the carbohydrates and vegetables separately to make a meal."
• "The only fault I add was when I got home and looked at our bill for the meal I was shocked to see that we add been charged for apparently optional service charge of £21.00 in addition to the food charge."
• "Also, be warned that this place have joined the increasing number of restaurants who surreptitiously add an optional 10% service charge to your bill."