The Rockpool Beach Cafe Gwithian

The Watermill

➤ The Watermill Old Coach Road, St Ives I-TR27 6LQ, United Kingdom

Menu • Pub • Pizza • British • European

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"We visited this restaurant yesterday after having to wait an hour at another pub because the chef never showed up! At this place, they welcomed us right away and told us there would be a 30-minute wait, but we didn’t have to wait at all! The food was fresh and delicious, and it stayed hot throughout our meal. The waitstaff were young, but they were very well-trained and exceptionally polite. We would definitely like to return; a huge round of applause for the entire team that worked together to deliver such perfect dishes. Thank you!"

Porthminster Beach Cafe

➤ Porthminster Beach, TR26 2EB, St. Ives, United Kingdom

Menu • Fusion • Seafood • European • International

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"Even in chilly and blustery late March, St Ives is a popular place. While the sun was out, the shops and bars on the waterfront were seemingly never short of customers, and the chocolate-box narrow streets and whitewashed cottages behind teemed with day trippers and young families. Heaven knows how difficult it is to get a reservation in the Porthminster Beach Café in season, for even now, from the moment they open for lunch until late into the evening, it seems every table is taken. And beautiful though lunch in the daytime would have been, above the stunning aquamarine waters of Porthminster Bay, we had somehow, by sheer fluke, snagged a table for early evening on Tuesday.From the outside, the building is a pretty beach house, one of quite a few along the same stretch of coastline. Inside, however, the décor is standard contemporary restaurant, spot-lighting, welcoming beach wood floors and comfortable furniture. The welcome from the staff, too, was superb they'd even laid on a birthday card having learned from the hotel that it was one of our party's birthday. An easy thing to do, perhaps, but these little details make all the difference. We began with a local oyster each (they were from Fowey, just up the coast), dressed simply with lemon juice. Lovely in fact they disappeared so quickly I didn't manage to get a photo taken in time, but here they are after we'd finished with them:My starter was some local St Ives beef, served with a kind of coleslaw and a parmesan crisp. The beef was excellent a great, deep flavour and seasoned very well, a perfect example of intelligent local sourcing. And I always think anything crispy goes well with beef I'm a sucker for strong texture contrasts. The only slightly off note were a row of weird dried olives which tasted of cardboard and didn't really add much. But other than that, a great start.Things continued to improve with the arrival of bream fillets (my second portion in two days) and razor clams. Quite aside from being a stunningly presented plate of food, each element of the dish was cooked to a very high standard. The bream was delicately filleted and cooked expertly, the vanilla froth matched the fish very well, and a row of shredded razor clam meat added another texture layer. Top stuff. Similar noises were made around the table, the organic salmon and langoustines being another highlight.For dessert, I was served a pretty selection of five different sweets a crème brûlée, a dab of homemade fig jam, a raspberry shortbread, a superb fruit sorbet and a playful shot of fruit jelly topped with popping candy. A riot of texture contrasts and displaying a range of cooking techniques, only the questionable seasonality of raspberries detracted from what was otherwise an entertaining and delicious way to end the meal.So, as it turned out, Porthminster Beach Café is wildly popular for a very good reason it's a damn fine restaurant. Not only does it have the advantage of probably the best location for any restaurant I've visited outside the Costa Brava, but the food is intelligent and superbly executed and considering they could probably charge double these prices and still have them queuing in the street, very reasonably priced indeed. Residents of St. Ives will no doubt be completely unsurprised by this glowing review, but for anyone who has yet to visit this devastatingly pretty part of the world, Porthminster Beach Café should be top of your list."

Cornish Arms

➤ 86 Commercial Road, Cornwall,Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom

Menu • Pub • Pizza • Steak • British

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"I think generally this is a nice place but we just had a bad experience. When we arrived we waited 15 minutes to order food. Food arrived and my Mac and cheese was nice, if a bit bland. But my partners food was a burger which came raw, when we sent it back and asked for just the patty to be put in the oven for a couple minutes and the wrong burger came back and our “millionaire fries”, were missing the truffle oil. We did let our server know who apologised but when the bartender came over with the bill we did ask for the service tip to be removed because we were disappointed with the food, he told us that it’s on the menu and therefore can’t be taken off. I’m sure we just had a bad experience but left feeling very disappointed."

The Bean Inn Vegetarian

➤ Coast Rd, Carbis Bay, TR26 2RT, St. Ives, United Kingdom

Menu • Pizza • Vegan • Cheese • British

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"Nearly passed this up for a chippy.... but can now say that we have bean inn.... The Bean Inn...yeah that's a terrible joke! ANYWAY! It brings me no pleasure to confess that I am in fact a wolf in sheep's clothing in that I do unfortunately eat...meat... Buuut but but! This place was absolutely AMAZING! There wasn't a single thing we didn't love! Even I as the blasted carnivore! In fact, I wouldn't have even known (had you not told me) that the butter, the cream, the ice cream, or the mud cake was vegan! I had trouble booking over the phone initially because signal in my area is naff, but they promptly managed to text me the information so I remained in the know that it was confirmed! The atmosphere was absolutely spot on! We were in a quieter room but even the other room felt warm and cosy and everyone was so friendly. The playlist was banger after banger and yet entirely appropriate for the mellow and relaxed mood, and the art on the walls was also fantastic! The tables were lovely too sounds silly but it was like the restaurant really knew what it was and what colours really worked! Earthy, red napkins and really warm! All we drank was their amazing Morwenna Sunset drink... and the food, OH THE FOOD! This is a restaurant that absolutely knows its craft and knows it so well that you can't be disappointed with anything you order! We had a starter, main and dessert each and only regret being too full for more. The waitresses were also fantastic. So lovely, polite and warm. It was like being at a cosy relative's house and not leaving without a full belly and a big smile! This restaurant deserves its own chain with places popping up on every corner! But then that would cause it to lose its charm, and there is no charm from a food place like it! I can't praise this place enough! Please go even if you're a carnivore! You'll never regret it! Power to the greens!"

Angarrack Inn

➤ 12 Steamers Hill, Cornwall,Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom

Menu • Pub • Pizza • Steak • British

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"would give 5 stars if I could! at least 5 vegan options including dessert on the main menu and generally a few more on the special table also. very courteous workers who ensure that they check whether they are milk products vegan etc. when they order and outline all the options. beautiful small pub in an equally beautiful environment. we plan to come back x"