Palacio Lounge — Restaurant in England

Title: "No Cookies in Cornwall: A Tale of QR Codes and Cornish Confusion"

Right, my 'ansomes, let me tell 'ee 'bout our little escapade to this restaurant in Falmouth. Up the apples and pears we went, finding ourselves a cosy little nook upstairs. Now, you'd think being Cornish, we'd be used to a bit of technology by now, but when we spied a QR code to order our food, I felt more like a lost emmet than a savvy diner.

Gone are the days when QR codes were a novelty—now they're as common as seagulls nicking your pasty. So out comes me phone, and we start the ordering malarkey. But here's the kicker: up pops a message asking if we'd accept some cookies. "Bleddy right I will!" I thought, imagining a nice plate of choccy biccies to go with our meal.

We crack on with the ordering, and the food arrives, looking pretty lush for a chain place, although my wallet took a bit of a pasting. The view from our table was proper nice, overlooking the moor like something out of a Daphne du Maurier novel. The staff were friendly enough, but let's not beat around the bush—they weren't exactly run off their feet.

Now, here's where it gets sticky as a Cornish cream tea debate. The app had the cheek to ask for a tip before we'd even seen any of this so-called service. I mean, really? If I'm doing all the legwork, the least you can do is wait until I've had a sniff of me pasty.

Anyway, we tucked into our meal, nattering away like seagulls on a sunny day. But as the minutes ticked by, I realised something crucial was missing—where were me cookies? You can't dangle the promise of free cookies in front of a Cornishman and not deliver. It's practically criminal!

After what felt like an eternity (or at least long enough for the tide to change), we gave up hope of ever seeing those elusive biscuits. Feeling more betrayed than when someone puts jam on a scone first, we trotted off to Tesco and treated ourselves to some ice creams. At least Mr. Tesco delivers on his promises.

So, if you’re heading to this joint, be prepared for a decent meal, a bit of cheek from the app, and absolutely no cookies. Unless, of course, you count the ones in your browser history....

There was 0 welcome when we arrived and a staff member smoking right outside the door blowing smoke on those entering. We sat at a table upstairs that we saw available. We cleared up the table ourselves and proceeded to order our food through the QR scanner. I ordered the buttermilk chicken main and added a note to say no house slaw and I ordered Mac and cheese side. My friend ordered bang bang chicken and halloumi side. 20 minutes in a member of staff came up to tell us they couldn’t do the bang bang chicken without peas as it was pre-made. My friend then asked for another main and then was told that was pre-made too so she could have a substitute. Everything she asked about we were told was pre-made, my friend ended up ordering the buttermilk chicken too and wasn’t refunded for the price difference. 45 minutes after ordering our “pre-made” meals arrived and the notes we had added in our order were not noted. The buttermilk chicken was over cooked and dry, the Mac and cheese had a very funky taste and not edible and the halloumi side was just tasteless rubber. It all just tasted like frozen food just heated up. Might as well have gone to spoons if that’s what we were going to get. We both had just about half our chicken and left the halloumi and Mac and cheese. Just such a shame because we...

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Palacio Lounge, Falmouth today.

When I ordered a vanilla iced coffee, I was shocked to find ants in my drink. While waiting at the bar for my refund, I observed very poor hygiene standards. Milk cartons left open without lids, a banana peel discarded on the counter and dirty jugs left out. None of this was cleaned or dealt with in the 15 minutes I stood there waiting for the manager. Despite the establishment not being busy at all.

What made matters worse was the manager’s attitude. She did not acknowledge me at all, even though I was clearly waiting right in front of her. Instead, she handed a till key fob to her colleague without saying a single word to me. I found this extremely rude and unprofessional.

The only positive part of my visit was the lovely waitress who served me and processed the refund. She was very apologetic, kind, and professional – a real credit to the team.

As a local customer who frequently visits with friends and family, I am very disappointed by today’s experience and deeply concerned about the hygiene practices I witnessed. Standards have clearly slipped, and I will think twice...