The Old Coastguard — Restaurant in England

Having spent a lot of my childhood in Mousehole on holiday, the Old Coastguard Hotel had the reputation of being the best. It was where the locals said the "posh" tourists stayed.||So naturally when we decided to tour Cornwall and spend some time in Mousehole there was only one hotel to book. We were really looking forward to staying here and expected it to be one of the highlights of our tour.||On arrival at the reception we met by a very friendly lady and the check-in was very professional. However after that everything else went down hill. We have never had such a bad stay over four days. There has been the odd hic-up, but not as bad as this. If they had tried to make our stay as bad as possible they could not have done any worse.||The Room. We had booked a room with a sea view, which was about all we had, even if it was through on small window. The room itself was small, just enough room for a double bed, as once our cases were in there was not much left to move around. The "bathroom" was even smaller toilet and washbasin squeezed in. Then there was the shower. We gave up trying to shower with the door closed as it was nigh on impossible, you could not move unless the door was open. Coffin size comes to mind?? We met other guests who were staying here over the same, who had booked after us and were on the top floor, sea view, balcony, large room with on-suite bathroom as opposed to our on-suite cubbyhole. Obviously overseas visitors are treated differently. The hotel was fully booked so no point in asking for a different room.||Breakfast. Having put the disappointment with room behind us and determined to make the most of our stay we went down for breakfast that first morning. ||I must say the breakfast room is well set out with a cold buffet, fruit cereal and continental fare. There is also a good hot menu.||Having settled down to our tea and selection from the cold buffet we place our orders for breakfast. As we were chatting away with and worrying about time we did not notice that time was passing. It was only after the guest on the next table who arrived after us received their cooked breakfast did we realise we had not had ours. I called the young waitress to ask what was happening. Blushing and some what flustered she rushed off to the kitchen. Only to come back a few minutes later apologising profusely as she had forgotten to place our order. Ok these things happen and we would have just carried on if it were not for the elder waitress to cover over with a smile and "Thought we'd forgotten you" to which I replied "you did". Such smart and tasteless comments should not be made to paying guests. Clearly there is a total lack of good management at this hotel if staff feel they can speak to guest in such a way. Needless to say our cooked breakfasts were delivered promptly for the remainder of our stay. BUT the damage had been done.||Then on another morning during breakfast, guests who brought their dog into the dinning room obviously do not know when said dog needs to go outside. Eventually they started dragging it out when it did the business next to our table. Try finishing your breakfast with the smell of fresh dog pooh wafting through the room. No apologies from the guests or the management, just a member of staff sent to clean the mess up.||Let me say this we have dogs of our own and understand that accidents can happen, BUT we would never take ours into a restaurant as we have more respect for the other patrons. Also having lived in a rural area we were used to dogs in the pubs, but generally they were kept outside or in bad weather in a small ante room. Never were they where people were eating. How restaurants and cafes can display they 5 star hygiene plaque while having dogs in them while people are eating does not make compute with me.||Dinner. As we have family locally we booked two nights in the restaurant for dinner. They have a good and variable menu and a suitable wine list to compliment the food. The service by now had greatly improved and the waitress danced around us as if we were royalty. That was until one of our party asked what sole was on the menu. To which the waitress reply "Is there more than one sole". Guys if you are going to serve sole make sure the front of house staff know which one it is. You may get away with it with the run of the mill tourist, but not your locals. No help from management either. apart from that the meal was well presented, delicious and plenty of it. Obviously the chef is excellent.||The bill when it came however was wrong. Which I again I found difficult to understand. The menu clearly states the price for a two course and three course meal. We had a mix, plus extra sides along with drinks and wine. On both occasions the waitresses came back and tried to explain that it was a system error when they added the extra sides in. If that's their excuse it was difficult to argue, BUT if a 60+ pensioner can do mental maths quicker than a 20 something student I can't imagine what would happen on a night the """"system"""" happened to crash.||The one place that we did enjoy was the Crab Shack. Totally different attitude of the staff, helpful and eager to please. The snacks here are simply great and along with a beer or glass of wine one can enjoy the sea views out over Mounts Bay and St Clements Isle.||Based on our experience here I would not recommend the Old Coastguard Hotel. We can get by with the late breakfast and not being able to count. BUT paying over £200 for a small room and the cheeky and disrespectful staff...

This is a refuge for grown-ups. If you want "have-a-nice-day" staff and TV in your room to watch hotel porn, while getting unsociably sloshed from the mini-bar, then you are in the wrong place. The rooms are boutique, tastefully furnished and very comfortable. There's a decent radio and good wi-fi if you have to know what the world is doing, and a stack of books for bedtime reading. But for us, sitting out on the private terrace watching the blue, blue sea and the baby seagulls on the next door roof, before breakfast, was absolute bliss. ||||Food is at another level - amazing. Some of the menu might frighten gastropubbers, but have a bit of faith because it tastes wonderful. There's a lot of local produce, and that ties in with the subtle, but consistent (and grown-up), attempts the hotel makes to balance environmental concerns with providing luxury - something that is refreshing to note.||||But above all, it's the staff that make the place. There's nothing corporate about them - they are individuals, and allowed to take individual responsibility. So you don't get the "can't do, because there isn't a button on the till for it". You seem to be able to ask them anything, and they find a way to do it. We were there after a 2 year gap because of health issues, and the level of engagement, of thoughtfulness, and of simple human kindness shown, was worth more then...

We were delighted when we finally reached our accommodation, after the long Sennen Cove section of the SWCP in Mousehole. After a late start, several wrong turns and a tumble we were about two hours later than anticipated to arrive at The Old Coastguard. |We called ahead to change our dinner reservation but we were still 45 minutes later than anticipated due to an injury after a fall, and we were informed that the kitchen would be closed before we arrived. However, a very sweet and accommodating lady (shout out to Jane!) who I spoke to on the phone arranged with the kitchen staff to plate up two dinners which could be easily heated when we eventually arrived. It was 9:30pm when we finally limped in to the wonderful Old Coastguard. With a warm welcome we were shown to our room, told to take our time and come down to the restaurant where our dinner would be ready and waiting for us when we were ready. |Top marks to the accommodating staff. |Everything there was wonderful. Comfortable room with a large balcony and sea view, pub, dinner and breakfast. |This old inn was the sister hotel to The Gurnard’s Head in Zennor where we stayed two nights previously, and so we assumed it would be as good. We were not mistaken. Well worth a five star rating...