Another great find in Penzance, I was recommended to this place by two friends who had a great meal on Monday 25th Oct, so I went along on the 26th Oct. The bar/restaurant is situated just of the sea front at Penzance up a side street. It is a real character place with lots of old quirky features, pictures and bric-a-brac to enjoy.
The place had a nice buzz and atmosphere though not packed it was still quite busy. The bar man was great, welcomed us and made us feel right at home, both efficient and friendly.
The table we had was by the window in the restaurant part at the side of the bar area, which was nice but you can see into the kitchen (as the door was never closed) which I find strange.
I had the Bruscetta (2 pieces of ciabatta topped with tomatoes, herbs, garlic and olive oil) for a starter which was very tasty, followed by the sole (they have a board with daily specials on, in front of the bar) this was wonderful got 2 sole served with new potatoes and a selection of vegetables.
I followed this with the chocolate mouse and sorbet which was just perfect.
Now the strange part!! I enjoyed the meal so much, I booked a table on leaving for Friday night the 29th Oct to take 2 friends with me, the barman told me that was his day off, but I was not concerned.
I returned on Friday, and my table was reserved in the window of the bar area, which was great and a friendly lady behind the bar asked us to take a seat. The bar was again busy but not over busy with about 20-30 people in total.
We read the menu, decided what we wanted, continued to sit and wait, waitresses were talking together in the restaurant part but we were just ignored!!
Eventually after about 20 min one of my friends said shall I go and get some drinks? So he got up and went to the bar to order and bring the drinks to us, all very strange, meanwhile the waitresses continued to have a conversation between them selves. What was all that about?
Anyway we had our orders taken; again we had the Bruscetta (2 pieces of ciabatta topped with tomatoes, herbs, garlic and olive oil then roasted) followed by the Venison Pie served with fresh vegetables (the cauliflower was not cooked, and was hard to even cut) everything else was just perfect, my friends had the Bangers and Mash followed by the chocolate moose again.
I was disappointed mainly due to me raving about it to my friends following Tuesdays visit, it seemed on Friday they were totally disorganized, with no system or control, so if you do go I would avoid Fridays as the barman who seemed to have everything running like clockwork has a day off then.
Finally when I went to the bar to ask for the bill, I was overcharged and it had to be refunded, so the experience was very different than the Tuesday visit which was sad.
But the food was still great and I would return on my next visit to Cornwall. read more