The Noughts and Crosses — Hotel in Great Britain

my wife and I visited today at about 5.15 we were well met by a lovely gentleman behind the bar who was very personable and helpful ,who also had a great knowledge of the area. we ordered two drinks and sat in the bar where we inquired about food . we were informed that the kitchen didn't start evening meals until 6 but the gentleman asked about any allergy or dietary requirements and went through the menu with us explaining the catch of the day, locally sourced ingredients and the specials for the day . as soon as the kitchen was ready he already had our menu choices and took it into the kitchen before time .. we decided on local mussels for starter, catch of the day ( sea bass ) for myself and chicken parm for the wife .. with everything cooked to order and the place being just starting evening service I expected a wait but I was pleasantly surprised when the mussels in a beautifully decadent sauce were infront of us before I finished my pint..they were provided with a bowl and a hot lemon water to wash your hands if you eat like an animal as I tend to do . I went up to the bar when we finished the starter and met the owner of the hotel who was very happy to chat and was proud to talk about his place and the food namely the connections to the local area .this gentleman served me at the bar and when I returned to the table he came and cleared off the table ..and returned with the mains in short order .. the sea bass was exquisite and fresh , the sauce it came in was incredible and the new potatoes where slightly pan fried to give them this small crunch when you bit into them the veg was a vivid green and obviously fresh ..it was all perfectly balanced beautifully put together and filling but at the same time a light meal ..perfection . the chicken parm was presented equally well and my wife enjoyed it massively. we tried a small piece of each others and would have happily ordered each others ..and still might we have a few days here..for our desert we chose the lemon tart that was made in house and was divine ...this is first class food .have no doubt about that ...the portions are substantial I'm an eater and if I were to leave a place feeling hungry I'd not write a review .I really enjoyed myself tonight i hope I can return to try some of the other items on the menu try this place you will not regret it Best food I've had since arriving here in...

We booked a table for two at 6:45pm on a Thursday evening and arrived at 6:40 just behind a couple who'd walked in. Saw our reserved table and the notices saying do not go up to the bar due to covid restrictions, and that it was table service. We sat down at our table by the door and fireplace. The couple before us got served with drinks straight away so we assumed we would be served next. It was not busy - there were three other tables occupied and four empty tables (a couple were reserved for later).

What happened next was just a bizarre and uncomfortable experience. We sat there for over half an hour and we were completely ignored as if we didn't exist. The server went to other tables and took orders, having lengthy conversations about where they were staying and how long it took them to get there etc. The longer we sat there, the more unbelievable it got. We could hear the couple on the other table talking about how we hadn't been served yet, so it didn't go unnoticed by the other customers.

We tried to get the servers attention after he served others but even after looking in our direction several times he just kept walking back to the bar and busying himself.

In the end we just got up and left. The server didn't even flinch as we walked out. We didn't get as far as ordering a drink or looking at a menu. The absolute worst customer service we've ever experienced as it was completely non-existent. Never felt so unwelcome and uncomfortable. We are still at a loss as to what happened here.

Have visited here many times (under several previous owners) when visiting Polperro over the years and always had great service.

We will not be...

The food was very nice but the venue is incredibly small. The only thing smaller than the venue is the menu; not unusual and something I actually prefer but despite eating early in the evening (6pm) and the venue being in a fishing port they had no crab. This meant nearly a quarter of the menu was unavailable. Fair enough. Ordering the Steak we were offered a choice of cut, lovely, unfortunately not listed on the menu nor explained when ordering was the hidden charge that took a £25 sirloin (menu listed) up to £32 for the fillet. The 10% tip was also nicely hidden and added when the contactless terminal was loaded and blindly presented.

The food itself I would rate 5/5. Local excellent ingredients and pretty much everything was cooked incredibly well. Even ignoring anything written above I would have still given 5/5.

The venue had live music that, while great, it is entirely too small for especially while eating qnd left for an uncomfortable loud atmosphere for the maybe 20 people in the room.

On top of this the wait staff and who I presumed to be the owner, while polite, were very pushy and hovering alot trying to turn around tables. A couple of times we had to rescue plates that were still being eaten from. We were in less than an hour total and had maybe 15-20 minutes with my food before I had the contactless terminal brought to me (with that sneaky tip) and politely instructed to pay....while I was half way through my main course.

The food was very very good, compliments to the chef. Just let down by a confused venue trying to do too...