The Bank at Bude Tapas Restaurant — Restaurant in England

We opted for the “Build your own Paella to Share” and ordered Mussels, Prawns, Squid, Haddock and Chicken. We purposely didn’t order peas or peppers as my partner doesn’t like either. We also ordered a glass of Merlot and a bottle of sparkling water, we discussed whether to order a large or small bottle of water but no size option was mentioned on the glass of wine.

We were rather surprised when the food arrived less than 10 minutes after placing the order given that Paella rice, including the brand mentioned on the menu, takes around 18-20 minutes to cook. We were warned to be careful with the hot handles. I add these details because of what happened next.

The paella for two was actually quite small and consisted of 3 mussels, 4 prawns, one piece of squid the size of my finger nail, 4 pieces of chicken, no haddock at all and rather a lot of peas. It was also tepid, the “hot” handles were little more than warm, incredibly dry and inedible – the rice stuck to the top of your mouth, the one prawn that I tried was overcooked and tasteless and the chicken so dry that the only taste was the slightly spiced coating on it.

We pressed the button in the booth to attract service – nothing happened. We eventually pressed it again but again got no response so I went to find the young man as he was the only person we had seen to that point.

We explained that we couldn’t eat the food as it had obviously been reheated and that we were happy to pay for the drinks but felt that we had lost faith in light of the very disappointing food that wasn’t even to the recipe we had ordered. He took the food away.

Shortly after that a young woman with a northern English accent came to see us, apologised for the problem and confirmed that the chef had agreed that food was dry, she didn’t introduce herself so I don’t know what her position at the restaurant is. She also stated quite clearly that the dish had been cooked to order from scratch, despite the physical impossibility of that given the type of rice used. She seemed to have forgotten that the order was also 50% incorrect. We declined her offer to have it recooked and asked for the bill for the drinks.

We got bored of waiting and went to find her – she was finally on her way with the bill. The bill for a glass of wine and a 75cl bottle of sparkling water was over £18! When I questioned the amount she said that it was a large glass of high quality wine and they’d charged £12.50 for it (despite the menu showing £11.50 for a large glass). I know places have to make a living but over £6 for a bottle of water?

People who have read my reviews over the years will know that I always try to be constructive and honest, I have continued to apply that approach here.

We have had some pretty bad meals across 4 continents but this one is right up there with the worst ever – the food was awful, the staff either dishonest or mis-informed and the...

I hate to give a subpar review to any restaurant but here it is. I will firstly say that I believe all that went wrong was entirely a management issue and the waiting staff were courteous and polite. I reserved my table of originally 8 at least 3 months before my booking where I was informed that I needed to pre-order to which I agreed and gave my email for order forms. Under a month before my booking I was yet to receive this email so I called again which they said they didn't have said email so I gave it again and waited - no response I then sent in a family member that lives in the area which they apologised and said they'd send over the order forms. I never got the order forms even when I changed the booking to 7 the day before in person, they were not mentioned again. So it is safe to say I assumed they decided they were still able to give me and my party an adequate experience. They did not, even with allergies which I will acknowledge they were thorough we waited over an hour for the food, it arrived painfully slowly and some of us had finished while others didn't even have their second dish. They completely forgot one and another arrived very late too due to a confusion when we were asked if we'd received our sweeties - we later realised this was meant to serve as an explanation for sweet potato fries. Which were abominable I have never seen anything quite like it on all the chips the salt content was insane, the salt crystals were big enough to serve as a diamond on an engagement ring. The other chips were equally salted and burnt.

Everybody was miserable and still hungry which I've never felt at any other tapas place the portion sizes were laughable at the price they ask. I took my birthday cake back and ate it with everyone at home which was much more enjoyable as I was so embarrassed to have taken my friends here when they had travelled over an hour I cried.

I will acknowledge the chips were taken off our bill which was appreciated they also gave us 4 shots for a group of 7 and randomly 4 lollipops - which seemed bizarre to me - yes I took them I needed a damn shot.

In summary, the food was semi decent if it arrived and I'm grateful for the gf options but I was upset that I was blamed for not pre-ordering when I did more than what should've been expected to in the first place. If you do go here pre-order perhaps on the phone. But I will certainly not...

Fabulous little restaurant looking out into local greenery. We came across by accident whilst walking down to the Electric Bakery we’d been told we must visit, (it’s also great if you’re visiting Bude btw!), and popped into book at table. We had to wait a few days as they were so booked up but now we’ve been in, we see why! The restaurant is gorgeous, amazing views and the food was stellar. Great variety of choices, loads of them gluten free which was fabulous for me. The staff were so attentive in general and made the experience all the more special but I have to mention, the care they took on my order really making me feel in safe hands coming back to check once we’d ordered via the handy little card system what I was having just to be even more careful in the kitchen even though I’d ordered all marked GF dishes. This may seem OTT to some but I thought that was so great as not all businesses take that much care and a lot of the time serving staff don’t even seem to know basic allergens never mind understanding and caring enough to double check everything. My personal favourite were the haddock goujons, fish tasted super fresh, fish flaking perfectly and the batter was light, crisp and crunchy with loads of flavour, Everything we tried was great including puddings, the chocolate orange tart was deliciously rich and yummy! If you’ve not been to The Bank, pop it on your to-do list as it’s been a highlight of our holiday. Fantastic food, lovely staff, beautiful views and a great way to end our stay. What a gem to have if you live locally, we will definitely be back on...