Coal Kitchen Cocktail Bar & Restaurant Exeter

First - bar staff Is good, really? ...when they take order, after that the staff simply " disappears" like in the magic tricks of David Copperfield. My dear colleagues "bartenders " - I perfectly understand that is full of people in the bar and all you have to serve, but not to overdo it - 30 minutes waiting for food? In addition, my order has been prepared incorrectly. I order smash potatoes - no fries, and to add insult to "injury" - they count for customer service. I will ask politely - what service? I do not recommend anyone to go there, is cold enough in side, staff is slow, and food not good. And just about food - I ordered a steak. As you can see in the picture, there are 2 things that are NOT TO ACCEPT! 1) The steak was as in the " Happy meal" for children, small and badly made, 2) people, the steak is served on a PLATE, NOT on the "timber board" straight from the kitchen! It's looks like you've just hunted meet and put in a pan. Really bad bad and again BAD pub in Exeter.

We had travelled to Exeter with our little boy and decided we would go somewhere that looked really nice as a treat for us all, the girl who took our drinks order was lovely and the drinks came quite quickly and this sadly was the only positive to our visit, we waited a long time for our food and when it arrived my pork skewers were cold and my sons corn on the cob were even colder, we called a staff member over who agreed that it was cold and said he would get it sorted and our meals would be half price, when the food did get to us it wasn't enjoyable I'm afraid to say, we used the toilets that were really not clean broken toilet seat and just didn't feel clean, my son had an ice cream included in his meal but the wait for that to arrive was again far too long and we decided to leave before it arrived.
Such a shame as we don't get to ear out very often and I felt that in had hadn't had very good value for money. The staff were nice just the food and timings let the place down

The flat bread starter was purchased but we're informed that it was no longer available. We had the houmous instead and that was delicious (definitely recommend).

My partner had a burger and chips but the chips were very over cooked and crispy. I had the vegan skillet, the veg was cooked perfectly but it was lacking in flavour as it solely had a tomato pure/sauce on top (see photos).

The pimms and lemonade was a delight on such a hot day. Beautifully mixed with fruit and mint. It was lovely. We left reasonably full but a little flat from the lack of fulfillment 💖

Lovely atmosphere, great staff and amazing food. We ordered possibly 6/7 different dishes and all were excellent. Would definitely visit again:)

Half the menu was unavailable. Sat beneath an alarm or sensor that kept going off every 2-3 minutes. Staff were friendly food was good. Just felt overly expensive + service charge when they cannot even deliver a complete dining experience. Won't be returning.

Cocktails are amazing, food not great, had chicken skewers which were raw in places, ribs and rest of food was cold/lukewarm. Gave us 15% off the bill, sorry, but won’t return for food 😟 definitely return for a cocktail though.

Coal: grill & bar is a very good meal choice. The food is mainly centred around BBQ, and includes burgers, chips and chicken. The outdoor seating is very nice and it is sheltered by large umbrellas. Food is prepared and served within half an hour and tastes good! The menu is reduced but there is still a lot of options, and the drink menu was full! There is a small kids menu but the portions on the regular menu are manageable by most people. Food is served in disposable paper packages and is fairly cheap. Very good meal choice - would visit again.

Perks - NHS discount, tasty cocktails, good atmosphere.

Downside - can't mix and match cocktails, mains are expensive then you have to pay for the sides.

We do like coming here for a different type of eat out though.

Criticism about the food, my friend had the chicken shish and there was barely any chicken on the skewer. My flatbread was like a thin crisp and for £11 I would expect more.