The Historic Davis-Bourne Inn & Tavern

I dined at this establishment on Saturday, 10/29/2011.  I was with a party of six.  We had reservations, but the staff was not expecting us.  This should have been the first sign something was wrong.

We were then greeted by our waitress.  It appeared to be her first day of work.  She took our drink orders, and returned with them after about twenty minutes...

Again, this should have been a sign.

The waitress took the orders for dinner.  The menu itself appeared promising.  Though the choices were rather limited (about 6 main entrees), all sounded like they would be good.  The table ordered salad, fish and chips, shrimp and grits, and a hamburger.

Now, insert a one hour wait. During this time, we were not offered any excuses or checked on.  Some tables had baskets of bread to help tide them over, but perhaps they ran out?

After an hour, we received the side salads that were to come with the meal.  This was the highlight of the dining service.  The lettuce was clean and came with dressing.

After another twenty minutes, the entrees arrived.  At this point, it seemed more like a British comedy than a dinner.

The hamburger was raw in the middle.  This appeared to be the result of taking a frozen beef patty and putting it on the griddle.  It was actually cold and bleeding in the center.

The fish and chips tasted much like those microwave fish dinners they sell at Wal-Mart.  It wasn't reheated quite right, resulting in soggy fish.  That was a little sad.

The shrimp and grits came with large clumps (bigger than marbles) of instant grits stuck together.

Maybe it was just that night, but there did not appear to be anyone over 18 years of age working there or helping customers.  They are either all new or very understaffed?

The best thing about eating here is no one had food poisoning the next morning.

These folks really want you to feel welcome!  Fresh-baked cookies and muffins were brought out when we arrived, and the staff is available all night if you need anything.

We stayed in the Davis room, which was lovely.  Free wi-fi is a nice touch, and while there is no TV in the room, there's a comfortable sitting room with a big-screen TV, and oh, by the way, wine is available if you want.

The continental breakfast that is included is OK, but for very little money ($6 omelette) you get a special-order breakfast with all the extras.  Paying extra for breakfast seemed rather odd at first (since it's a bed and breakfast) but the very inexpensive overnight rate (we paid $79) made it a decent trade.

A little hard to find--it's set back behind the town and not easy to spot from the road where the address appears to be, but worth the hunt.  Wish we could have stayed longer!