Rick Stein's Café — Restaurant in England

We booked Bryn Cottage for 3 nights in August. Overall we had a lovely stay and I would recommend it, but there were a few issues (some before we'd even arrived) that the team should be looking at. |I was advised when I first booked (back in March) that payment would be taken for the cottage a week or two prior to arrival, I didn't receive another email/phone to let me know this was due (as promised) and when they did try to take it, our bank refused the payment as they thought it was fraudulent, It didn't help that the company name was just "seafood Trading" so our card was blocked and we had to wait for another to be issued, which in turn meant changing all of our details online, really frustrating and inconvenient. I explained this to the lady i spoke to via reservations. ||I received email instructions on how to get to the cottage and how to check in, however, when our cab was trying to find the cottage, a gentleman having his break outside, kindly informed us we had to go to The Seafood Restaurant' first to check in, so our cab had been needlessly driving around trying to find a suitable parking spot so we could find the cottage itself, this should be better explained. ||Check in was quick and we were driven up to the cottage by concierge with our case, which was really helpful as Padstow is quite 'hilly' |The cottage is beautifully presented, quaint and cozy, first impressions were really good. |The bedroom and bathroom are situated downstairs, the driver informed us this is to avoid gusts having to lug luggage up and down the stairs, plus with their being a garden terrace upstairs i understand this makes more sense, however, the down side to this being that every morning, we had people stopping directly outside the bedroom window to have early morning catch ups. ||There is a large open, bright lounge with a nice, modern fully quipped kitchen upstairs and the aforementioned garden terrace. I say fully equipped, but upon further inspection, i had to call reception and asked for certain items to be provided, tea towel, dishwasher tabs, washing up sponge and cloth, obviously missed by housekeeping. |Our 'Hamper' wasn't a hamper at all, just a few items placed in the fridge, maybe i misunderstood that part? We did get some lovely GF bread which we enjoyed for our breakfasts and the local Spa shop helped with the rest. ||The Garden terrace was sadly a let down. I can see it was probably beautiful when first fitted, however, i feel it hasn't been looked after and for the price you're paying for the cottage, it should be in much better condition (see photos) |We love nothing more than sitting out on a nice evening enjoying a few drinks, but the furniture was either falling to bits, or very dirty and sad looking. The lovely water feature at the end of the garden wasn't working and everything was covered in green mildew. Sun loungers were filthy and broken/unstable and the bedding plants all need some attention and a good clear up, particularly the broken lights. ||The bed was huge and very comfortable and the shower one of the best i've used, all the toiletries provided by Jill Stein were lovely and a great touch. |There is a lot of lighting within the cottage, all very atmospheric and easy enough to use. Wardrobe space is good, although the two large air con units weren't needed and took up too much space in there. |Overall we did have a great stay in the cottage, just a few issues that we feel need to...

We booked Bryn Cottage for 3 nights in August. Overall we had a lovely stay and I would recommend it, but there were a few issues (some before we'd even arrived) that the team should be looking at. |I was advised when I first booked (back in March) that payment would be taken for the cottage a week or two prior to arrival, I didn't receive another email/phone to let me know this was due (as promised) and when they did try to take it, our bank refused the payment as they thought it was fraudulent, It didn't help that the company name was just "seafood Trading" so our card was blocked and we had to wait for another to be issued, which in turn meant changing all of our details online, really frustrating and inconvenient. I explained this to the lady i spoke to via reservations. ||I received email instructions on how to get to the cottage and how to check in, however, when our cab was trying to find the cottage, a gentleman having his break outside, kindly informed us we had to go to The Seafood Restaurant' first to check in, so our cab had been needlessly driving around trying to find a suitable parking spot so we could find the cottage itself, this should be better explained. ||Check in was quick and we were driven up to the cottage by concierge with our case, which was really helpful as Padstow is quite 'hilly' |The cottage is beautifully presented, quaint and cozy, first impressions were really good. |The bedroom and bathroom are situated downstairs, the driver informed us this is to avoid gusts having to lug luggage up and down the stairs, plus with their being a garden terrace upstairs i understand this makes more sense, however, the down side to this being that every morning, we had people stopping directly outside the bedroom window to have early morning catch ups. ||There is a large open, bright lounge with a nice, modern fully quipped kitchen upstairs and the aforementioned garden terrace. I say fully equipped, but upon further inspection, i had to call reception and asked for certain items to be provided, tea towel, dishwasher tabs, washing up sponge and cloth, obviously missed by housekeeping. |Our 'Hamper' wasn't a hamper at all, just a few items placed in the fridge, maybe i misunderstood that part? We did get some lovely GF bread which we enjoyed for our breakfasts and the local Spa shop helped with the rest. ||The Garden terrace was sadly a let down. I can see it was probably beautiful when first fitted, however, i feel it hasn't been looked after and for the price you're paying for the cottage, it should be in much better condition (see photos) |We love nothing more than sitting out on a nice evening enjoying a few drinks, but the furniture was either falling to bits, or very dirty and sad looking. The lovely water feature at the end of the garden wasn't working and everything was covered in green mildew. Sun loungers were filthy and broken/unstable and the bedding plants all need some attention and a good clear up, particularly the broken lights. ||The bed was huge and very comfortable and the shower one of the best i've used, all the toiletries provided by Jill Stein were lovely and a great touch. |There is a lot of lighting within the cottage, all very atmospheric and easy enough to use. Wardrobe space is good, although the two large air con units weren't needed and took up too much space in there. |Overall we did have a great stay in the cottage, just a few issues that we feel need to...

A small group of us came to Cornwall for the week to surf but also to try some of the area’s best rated restaurants. Two of us have history of working in the food industry and in professional kitchens, so we were excited to book a number of well tipped places. One of these we were most excited to try was Rick Stein’s cafe as it has a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin guide. However, it was the only place of the week that was disappointing, and was so in a massive way, to a point where we genuinely question how on earth it has a Bib Gourmand.

Upon being sat down, we were informed the restaurant had run out rice - certainly not a deal breaker, but not sure how a restaurant runs out of rice mid service. One of us ordered their Scallops starter which costed £17.95, but sadly only consisted of three small scallops dressed on their shells with a soy based sauce. £17.95 for barely three mouthfuls seems pretty excessive, especially when a Bib Gourmand is meant to indicate excellent value for money.

As this was a special occasion, we had purposefully not driven and booked a 40 minute taxi to collect us after the meal so we could all drink and enjoy some nice wine. Consequently, we ordered a couple bottles of expensive wine (£50 per bottle). Perhaps this is us being snobby, but the wine was just brought over and dumped at the end of our table with the cap still on. No one invited us to taste the wine, or indeed poured our first glass. None of us were expecting a fine dining experience, but we just felt neglected and didn’t feel the price we were paying justified that.

Moving on we shared main courses of grilled lobster, cod curry and some sides of potatoes and vegetables. The lobster was average but the curry was very tasty. However, due to the lack of rice it was served with rice noodles. Strangely both the noodles and the side of tender stem broccoli tasted very strongly of vinegar, to the point where it was pretty inedible. So I can only assume they were for some reason boiled in vinegary water. Or rather than dressing the broccoli in olive oil as described on the menu, a chef accidentally dressed them in vinegar- though that seems a little far fetched. Our other side of seasonal cabbage was just a big bowl of plain over-boiled cabbage. There was no seasoning on it whatsoever, and it was no different to cabbage served at a school canteen. Hardly a side from a Bib Gourmand restaurant.

We politely raised these points with the waitress, who was very receptive and kindly took the sides off our bill. However, all in all it was a deeply disappointing meal. In contrast, we also ate at the Sardine Factory in Looe (another Bib Gourmand holder) and it was absolutely fantastic.

A side note for the restaurant, the male bathroom was in a horrific state and clearly hadn’t been cleaned in ages. The floor was soaking wet and there was loo...