The Gurnard's Head — Restaurant in England

Do NOT stay in Room No 7||Whilst this is a negative review of The Gurnard's Head, please be aware:| 1. We found the staff to be lovely; and| 2. We came to an amicable financial arrangement before departure||We found The Gurnard's Head to be noisy, over-priced, shabby and the food not to live up to our expectations, read on to find out why…||The Gurnard's Head came to us highly recommended, we were celebrating our wedding anniversary and we really needed some respite, so back in Jan we booked a two night deal for bed, breakfast and evening meal…and we were so looking forward to our stay!||First impressions count for a lot and as we approached we did think the outside was somewhat shabby and not best maintained.||We received a lovely warm welcome from James, the House Manager, and he showed us around and on to our room, No 7. It has to be said, we did think that the wider interior had also seen better days and was in need of at least refreshing if not updating. When we entered Room No 7, there was gentle music playing from the radio, the room was light and airy and over-looked fields with a lovely vista to the coastline, but as the rest of the Gurnard Head, had seen better days. Still that's all very superficial and we were looking forward to our dinner and a nice quiet night's sleep.||We like good food and were anticipating a lovely meal, we'd previously discussed allergies and were provided with a suitably marked up menu…the menu was quite varied and required the use of Google to understand some of the finer subtleties. What we discovered was that some of the flavours of the finer subtleties were in fact overpowering and not suitable for our palettes…the best bit was actually the sticky toffee pudding desserts. We were disappointed, but that's a personal taste thing…we might suggest that perhaps the menu was trying to be a bit too clever, there was a level of complexity to every element - maybe have just a single complex element per course?||We were advised when we were seated that there was a problem with one of the cookers in the kitchen and thus things might be a tad slower - this was absolutely no problem for us being residents and we did enjoy the leisurely pace…imagine when we were then advised that our table was required for a second seating before we had had tea / coffee after dessert! At that point we just returned to our room…||It was when we retired to the room that the first thoughts of noise started to enter our heads…the exhaust noise from the kitchen fans was excessive, but my wife had a bath and I read whilst listening to music. Our thoughts being that the noise would cease when the kitchen closed down.||As the other folk started to retire we began to notice dogs barking in adjacent bedrooms; however, the noise from the kitchen fans permeated everything.||As The Gurnard's Head quietened, we could still hear the occasional dog barking, clearly hear everyone leaving and then finally the staff starting to leave, the kitchen fans still dominated noise!||I went down to ask if they could be turned off…but everyone had already left!||The Gurnard's Head is left unattended all night…James had warned us this would be so when he showed us to our room, but the full impact of that only hits when you need something, something like the kitchen fans being turned off! Obviously automated fire systems cover off that need but what about other issues or medical emergencies? Seems somewhat lax to me…||The kitchen fans were so loud that we were unable to sleep all night! It was the longest night ever…||I approached this the next morning with the nice young lady in charge and she appeared unsurprised…we decided we didn't want to stay another night in Room No 7 and discussed the options, which were very limited given the remaining rooms were occupied and so decided to leave.||As I said at the beginning, the staff were lovely and we came to an amicable financial resolution before we left.||On reflection, Room No 7 should only be offered to those with a major hearing impediment as it's not actually fit for purpose, e.g. use as a bedroom for normal people. I should point out that all windows were closed - I dread to think what this would've been like had we had to have the windows open! Shudder!!||Did I mention dogs?||We love dogs, but on our terms - the fact that dogs are permitted in eating areas and that, in general, modern dog owners seem incapable of controlling their animals or understanding that other folk don't want to interact with their animals! Grrrr…||Our experience with dog owners (noise, smell & interaction) at The Gurnard's Head has made us determined to never stay in a place that allows dogs…as I said, we're not dog haters, just fed up with the selfishness of a lot of dog owners!||Sorry The Gurnard's Head, your owners need to invest in better maintenance and perhaps even refurbish the property and defo invest in better kitchen exhaust systems because the current old ones are a...

We only live 20 minutes from the Gurnards and we'd been wanting to eat there for a while. We booked a table about 4 hours beforehand and were both really looking forward to it.||When we arrived there were only three people waiting at the bar. There was no warm greeting on arrival, in fact no eye contact was made, as we waited our turn. ||We were shown to our table and we were given table water right away. However, evolution appears to work faster than staff at the Gurnards Head. You're on GMT. They're on NY time. Waiting for the order you placed some years ago, you feel your life slipping away - that deadening feeling that you've made a terrible mistake but are trapped, because you've already committed. We waited 30 minutes just to order our wine! I wanted to leave, but my husband, tired from a very long week and recovering from a heart operation, just wanted to try and relax, not get worried or stressed and just eat so we stayed. ||This was supposed to be a really nice treat for us. We don't spend this kind of money on food on a regular basis. To us it was supposed to be special. We'd ordered the 250ml carafes of wine each (as per the menu) but 2 x 375ml turned up which we politely sent back. I was worried it might never turn up again given the initial 30 minute wait and we could see that they were very, very short-staffed. ||The meal was average. When we asked for bread for the mussels the waitress said the bread should have arrived when we ordered our food. I didn't really understand her answer so I asked if we could just have some bread to go with the starter. They brought 2 small slices so we had to ask for some more again. At Mackerel Sky (in Newlyn) the mussels are consistently amazing so that was our benchmark. The mussels here were a 6.5 out of 10 so these were decidedly average. The pork belly was ok but it was, along with the vegetable served with it, very, very oily. The chip portion was tiny, which is madness for £5. ||I spoke to the waitress when we left as we were too tired and embarrassed to say anything during the meal and my husband really didn't need the stress. I hate this sort of thing too so I felt more comfortable mentioning it as we left as there was no-one else in the restaurant area to overhear our conversation. She did apologise but said they were short-staffed. I said that they should let people know this on arrival so that they know drinks and food would take much longer to arrive and to be honest, if they are so short staffed that it takes 30 minutes for 2 glasses of wine and a beer to appear then perhaps best practice would be not to accept bookings when there's clearly not the staff to accommodate the service.||It was very, very expensive for what it was. I don't like it when a tip is added automatically either. It makes it far too embarrassing to ask for it to be removed. We had to send the bill back as they'd charged us for 2 x 375ml carafes of wine. This then brought the bill to £129.94, (including the tip) for 2 mussels, 2 pork bellies, 1 x chips, 1 alcohol-free pint and 2 glasses of wine for a very average meal. A ridiculous price for such poor service and average food. I'd say go to Mackerel Sky for consistently excellent food and don't waste your money and time at the...

We were travelling in our campervan in Cornwall, when we accidentally found this hidden gem. We were not sure if we’d be able to eat here as we got there at 8pm and did not know how much time we had until the kitchen closed. We also had 2 dogs with us, so we did not know if they would allow for them to come into the pub. When we walked in we were seen to straight away. The lovely gentleman behind the bar confirmed that it was a dog friendly place. And I can also say that this is the most dog-friendly pub we have ever been to. One of the lovely ladies that works there told us we could wait (in a cosy waiting area) while we wait for a table to free up. She did warn us it might be 30/40 mins wait. We didn’t mind as we were far away from our camp site. While we were waiting we were able to order our drinks to the table and our children were given pictures to colour in and some pencils. The doggies also got a few treats. All of the staff members were incredibly accommodating at such short notice and were so great with our children and our dogs. When we eventually got seated, the staff picked one of the best tables for us. It was tucked away from everyone else so we were able to enjoy a private dinner and not worry about the dogs pestering other people in the pub. The staff were constantly seeing to us to make sure we were ok and had everything we needed. The dogs had some more treats from different members of staff which was so lovely.

The food was absolutely incredible. It came out very quickly too. The chefs really need a big mention because the food was 10/10! We have been to so many exceptional restaurants, and this food was one of the best we have tried. The flavours were so good I could have eaten everything from the menu. I would describe the food as pure comfort food. I wish we could have tried more from the menu because I know we wouldn’t have been disappointed. The whole ambience and atmosphere in the pub was so relaxing and cosy. There was a little bit of music playing in the background, which was a nice touch. The location of this pub is great too. Very scenic drive to it. When we left it was pitch black outside. There was no light pollution near by. It was beautiful, peaceful and very quiet.

I don’t normally write reviews, but this was truly a wonderful dining experience. The staff made us feel so welcome and put us at ease as we were worried about the dogs being inside - as some people dislike dogs. If you happen to be in this area, I would highly recommend this place. I believe they also change their menu daily, which is exciting.

All in all our bill came to £140/£150 with the service charge (which we would have happily paid even if it wasn’t already added to the bill). This bill was for 2 adults and 2 children. We had 2 alcoholic beverages, 6 soft drinks, 2 kids meals + 2 kids desserts, 2 starters, 2 mains and 2 desserts. This is such a fair price considering the quality of the food and how brilliant the customer service was.

Thank you to all the staff members. It was a pleasure dining at your pub. And a big thank you to the chefs for the tasty food!

Unfortunately, I can’t review the rooms as we didn’t stay overnight. We would definitely visit again when we travel to...