The White Hart - Torridge

Oh dear! Unfortunately we, a party of 5, had a very poor experience at The Spice Restaurant in Bideford. Our background is that we have recently moved to Devon and love to eat Indian/Bangladeshi/Nepalese food so had picked The Spice as our first local experience. Our booking was for 7.30pm on a Saturday night. We arrived about 10 minutes early and were promptly seated in the restaurant which was about 1/4 full (this was as busy as it got . Menus given, drinks were ordered and soon received. Our first disappointment was the house red wine, an average cost but it truly tasted like Ribena, not nasty but if I were the owner it would not be a wine I would choose to represent my restaurant with. So after 10-15 minutes contemplating the menu decisions had been made and our order of 12 dishes naan breads were placed. This is where the second disappointment came in. We waited, and waited, and waited. A table of two arrived, sat, ordered, ate and paid but still we had no food. Many, many online and take away orders went out the door while we still waited. At no point did any of the staff approach us to apologise for the delay and after 1hr 15mins we asked the staff what the problem was. An apology was received saying that they had been very busy with takeaway orders and a promise that the food would be delivered soon. The third disappointment was when the food eventually arrived. The waiter who delivered our food incorrectly labelled/described 80% of the food he placed on the table. He delivered two Peshwari naan breads and one plain naan where the actual order was for one Peshwari and one garlic naan. These naan breads were also the smallest I have ever seen delivered to a table in a restaurant. A portion of boiled rice was delivered instead of pilau rice. The Paneer Tikka was tasteless and was unlikely to have seen the inside of a tandoor oven as described on the menu. A portion of Chicken Madras was missed and after questioning where it was was finally delivered 10 minutes later. When it did arrive it contained just 5 bite sized pieces of chicken, very disappointing! A portion of Saag Bhaji was never actually received but by this time we were just wanting to draw a line under the whole 'Spice ' experience. The manager/owner (Naz? came to apologise and offered to give our wine for free (which we accepted but he seemed almost oblivious to the fact that we were there in person, sitting at his table in his restaurant ordering his alcohol (always a good profit margin and his food preferring instead to prioritise his takeaway orders. Will we be going back... Unlikely, instead we will try the other local Indian restaurants and if they are good we will happily consign our memory of the Spice restaurant to the lessons learned portion of our brain. One final thought, when we arrived we noticed the sign on the outside of the building had the 'S ' missing (so it reads 'The pice ' . If this were your restaurant would this not be considered an urgent repair? First impressions etc. etc!

I feel this place gets a harsh view. We paid under £60 for two mains, breads , rice , two drinks an abundance of poppadoms and dips. Service was pleasant albeit a little slow but being a busy bank holiday with lots of takeaway orders I think you need to let somethings slide. Staff all really pleasant , food really tasty . No complaints!

That was the worst flavourless curry I have ever had. I think I could have bought a supermarket curry sauce and had more enjoyment. The popadoms were the only good thing. Very watered down curries and burnt over cooked bhajis.

Visited this establishment recently with a group of friends. Conveniently located in the centre of Bideford with a view of the river. We were promptly seated and orders were taken soon after. A member of staff (I'm assuming she was a member of staff) wearing a hoody with her hood up took our order. I've not worked in hospitality but I'm assuming the attire needs to be smart? Food was good with the only downside being portion sizes and cold rice. Overall, a nice place to visit just a shame about the portion sizes.

Had a takeaway and to be honest very bland food, No flavour at all, I note the S in Spice is missing on the building signage but the whole of Spice is missing in their meals , The chicken was a little chewy, Everything was edible but only just, Sorry can’t recommend