The Fistral Stable — Restaurant in England

Really liked the look of this place - food, views, and reviews seemed great, however the staff/management messed up our booking and then refused to let us in.

I had called 2 weeks ahead of our visit to book a table for lunch - I spoke with a lady who advised me that company policy meant they didn't allow stag groups - I explained that although we were in Newquay to celebrate a friend getting married, we were a smallish group of mixed ages, two of which were 50+. We weren't out on a booze-up - we just wanted to enjoy some nice food and views over the beach. She then agreed that this would be fine, and reserved us a table for the Saturday.

5 days before we were due to travel down, the same lady called me up to confirm we were still coming and to let us know that the table was all set for Saturday lunch.

Come Saturday, we walked over to the Stable looking forwards to the meal, only to be met with confusion and puzzlement at the door. The attending waitress had no record of any booking, even after I had explained that I had called up 2 weeks prior to reserve a table. Seeing the restaurant was pretty empty, I asked if we could just have another table for lunch, but seeing we were all male, she asked if we were a stag group, and then stated she couldn't give us a table because of company policy.

I explained that the lady in the office had already been made aware of the unique nature of our group, and that she had agreed we could dine there. This made no difference whatsoever, and even after speaking to the manager to explain the situation, he said since he had no record of our booking and that he couldn't let us have a table.

Needless to say we felt extremely let down by the restaurant. I'll happily acknowledge that the staff on the day were just sticking to company policy, that's fair enough, but the fact that a member of their team took our booking knowing full well what our group was, called back to confirm we were still coming, and then had no record whatsoever of anything, just feels like a total and utter shambles. No offer was made to investigate why we had been 'wrongly' promised a table or why our booking had been mysteriously 'erased' from all knowledge.

To be fair, I think the venue itself and the food would still be worth a try if you're thinking of visiting - just be wary about booking a table over the phone with the moron who...

Overall, we were a bit disappointed. This is such a brilliant location with great views and mostly good food, spoilt by seemingly incompetent staff.

When attempting to book a table for 8 people on a Thursday evening, I was told they wouldn’t usually take bookings at that time, but could squeeze us in. It wasn’t clear whether we had a booking, but it turned out we did. Either take bookings or don’t. No need to complicate things.

After waiting quite a while after ordering, they brought out the kids’ pizzas and adults’ Stix & Dips, some of which were so crispy that they virtually turned to crumbs when dipping them. Despite having explicitly ordered four of the kids menu meal deals and a side of wedges for them to share, the salad bites and wedges were nowhere to be seen. The children finished their pizza and there was still no sign of them. We were told they hadn’t been added to our order.

Then we all waited… and waited some more. Eventually the adult main courses arrived, along with the forgotten salad bites and wedges. We’d been warned when booking that there might be a long wait on food around 7pm, so we were prepared for that, but didn’t expect it to be so long between mains and sides.

To be fair, the pie and pizzas were great. Thin and crispy pizza bases with tasty topping combinations.

After all that waiting, the children were still hungry, so we all ordered desserts. The menu said that the “Little Hearts of Dorset” were supposed to be served with pots of “creamy melted chocolate” but the melted chocolate had been overheated and/or come into contact with water, making it separate and seize. We complained and it was taken away, only to be returned to us a bit warmer and told that’s just how it is. It was anything but creamy and none of the children enjoyed it.

In an effort to make things right, the waiter told us they would deduct the price of the kids’ desserts from the bill, which ended up causing each part of the kids’ meal deals to be priced separately, deducting nothing from the bill. The staff didn’t notice this until we pointed it out and they finally gave us a...

This place used to be a firm favourite and we would visit at least once a month. Unfortunately it has gone drastically downhill in the past year, and just seems to get worse and worse with each visit.

The staff seem to have no idea what’s going on, or just don’t care, and more interested in having a laugh and a joke with each other instead of taking care of the customers.

We were seated for 35 minutes before we finally had a drinks order taken. We then asked for a jug of tap water for the table. 10 minutes later, we received the jug, but only 3 glasses - for a table of 5.

Cocktails were completely tasteless, and honestly pretty disgusting.

We asked for a menu with the calories listed, but were told they don’t do those menus anymore - Stable you should address this immediately as since April 2022 this is a legal requirement!

Finally 4 out of the 5 pizzas turned up. Waited 10 minutes for the last pizza, so had to go up to the kitchen to ask the waiters if the other was coming. It seemed there had been some confusion as the pizza was ready, they just didn’t know what table it was for. Because of this, the pizza was now cold when it arrived at the table.

I had the Blazin Saddles pizza for a main. Not sure what happened with mine, but barely any beef, and it was slathered in so much sweet jam that it was pretty much inedible. It really tasted more like a pudding than a pizza. If it wasn’t so hard to get the attention of the waiters/waitresses, and had we not been waiting so long for any kind of service, I would have sent it back to the kitchen.

All in all, a really really disappointing way to spend £170 on what should have been a special occasion. Such a shame, as this place used to be so good. Fortunately there are some really fantastic pizza places to be found in Newquay, but unfortunately, this is no longer...