The Smugglers Inn

I’m a carnivore so love the carvery. This is the best for miles. I love the fact you need to book in advance, shows how popular the place is and if you want a quiet meal you wouldn’t go to a carvery. The full menu is extensive and yes you have to wait. They have to cook it and we are not talking tiny alanothingonthepleate here. Meals take time to cook. So have a drink, talk to the diverse and interesting people. It’s a pub for gods sake. As for the busy staff as with most places this busy they will chat if they can but they also have to serve the miserable git on the next table.

This pub/​restaurant has a great position cliff-​side with amazing views. Staff are friendly, there is a good selection of drinks and bear on on tap. It is a comfortable clean place, a pleasant place to have some drinks with friends.
The food side of things didn’t impress me though, it’s the kind of menu that tries to please everyone, and the food itself is mediocre. I prefer a placed to have a smaller selection on the menu and do it well.
The nachos are dire stay away, unless you like to have ketchup flavoured nachos. Really they should just stop and take them off the menu, good nachos are not hard to make, this is a huge bear bug with me about nachos in UK pus.

I have to say that I’m really surprised about all the positive feedback regarding the food at the Smugglers! I can only speak for the carvery, –but its one of the worst I’ve ever eaten. I had tried one before several months ago which I thought was pretty dire, and only went again this time because an uncle was over from Canada. Ten of us had it this time. The beef was so tough you could have made a pair of shoes with it. The vegetables incuded red cabbage which left a taste in our mouths of fairy liquid, the stuffing with saltana’s was disgusting. Don’t try to be clever when you don’t know how to be! All this for just under £9.00! I can eat a better carvery for a fiver!!! The reason I didn’t complain at the time was because I didn’t want to completely ruin the night for my visiting uncle and family! The only positive feedback I can add is that the staff were friendly, so not their fault –just have a word with the kitchen!!!
The only reason the place is busy is because nobody else sells a carvery in the area. The amount of plates with food left on them at many tables, — indicates the poor quality food being served there! Sort it out!

A brilliant place. Carvery is excellent. It’s best to book well in advance as it gets very busy.

On the whole, I concur with the other reviews. The food is good, the beer is good, the service friendly although that friendliness is a bit ersatz, especially with the boss (I think he was anyway).
I went last week and it was very full, I shan’t even try getting in during the Summer, it must get horrendously busy with holidaymakers and the like. Great place to go out of season, though. The rather special sea view would be great any time of year. We went back again recently and I have to adjust my rating and opinion. Still good but slightly false service, still good beer but the food is not the best in the area. Most wrong is the carvery, which might be fine for carnivores but if you are a vegetarian you get the same minus the meat, nothing else unless you are prepared to wait extra for nut roast. No one can prepare and cook a nutroast in 10 minutes so I assume it is a slow microwave job. I consider this to be demeaning to vegetarians and a slight catering problem other carveries I have experienced have managed to get over with out charging £7.50 for a medley of overcooked vegetables and nothing else.

The Smugglers Inn is a hidden gem, its on the main road from Dawlish to Teignmouth, and has an extensive car park, although it is possbile to walk from either Dawlish or teignmouth, the car is better. The pub does a super carvery, where you get a choice of meats, you can have all 3 meats, the vegetables you help yourself to, which is great as you can mix and match what you fancy. There is an extensive menu as well as the carvery. The pub is in an ideal location as you can sit outside and the views are beautiful.

We visit this pub quite often simply because it offers good food (Carvery) and the owners and people who work there are friendly and nice to talk to.
It gets very busy during the weekends and evenings so its worth making a booking.
Although its possible to walk to it from Dawlish or Teignmouth its easier to drive if the weather is looking a bit doubtful.
There is a large car park, although it does seem to get pretty full! Its easy to park though normally so its not an issue.
Food is simply excellant. As someone else stated about sauces — the sauces are on the end of the carvery area.
The Carvery enables you to choose one, two or three meats and obviously as many vegetables as you want or can fit on your plate in my case.
Puddings are equally good, although we are normally so full up from the carvery we dont often have pudding!
Overall, I would recommend this pub to anyone that was passing by.
In the summer you can sit outside, which offers good views out over the hills and sea.

great meals here at Smugglers Inn, I once went for a long walk and walked there for my lunch of Scampi and chips on a nice day and then I bussed back home again, Staff friendly and give service with a smile, I recommend this Inn :)

When i go here it is fantastic, just to get here is brilliant. You take a train i cant remember which stop it is but from there you walk all the way across the beach which is a beautiful walk then you go up the countryside where there are cows and then you get to Kents Cavern.
The place is really good and the calvery is gorgeous. They have a good variety of drinks and the deserts are also very nice with specials on different days.
They also have a good variety of other food if you dont fancy a carvery and they also oddly enough have a vegetarian carvery but i wont comment on that as i really dont know what it is.
The only downside is that there were no sauces to go with your calvery. Also because the place is out of the way once you ate your giant meal you have to make your way back into town which is a long walk and is difficult on a full stomach lol.

We had a really nice meal here (from the carvery); big place; traditional beers, reasonably priced food; great views.

This is a great place for food and drink my mums wedding reception was great here very posh and fancy and you are very taken care of here the only thing i minus a star for is its location its right on the road so be careful but other than that its a great place

This place does great food and has great views sitting outside of the sea. Also friendly staff who are always willing to help especially on christmas works parties. It was Christmas so they did a carvary. Generally it does decent pub food and a carvary on some nights — can’t remember which. Does a great roast of the day sandwich (which ever meat you choose in between two huge slices of bread with roast potatoes).

Great place to take the family for lunch when your on holiday at the seaside. They serve lovely food, even if service is a bit slow sometimes, the toilet facilites are clean which makes you a bit more comfortable.