The Rocket Store — Restaurant in England

My friends and I visited The Rocket Store as a group of five - in summer a reservation is required a couple of days in advance as the indoor seating is extremely limited, with four tables inside (although there are several tables outside which are covered and have heaters). While there are a couple of main dishes, it is advised by the waiting staff to order dishes as a table for sharing (tapas style). We ordered a variety of dishes: the mackerel was the highlight, as it was absolutely delicious. The sea bass was also tasty as were the crispy chickpeas and the cabbage - the oysters were also sublime. The food was delightful overall; no dish required any major changes or improvement in terms of the recipe or preparation. However, there were some aspects of the meal which left us slightly dissatisfied. We felt some of the prices didn’t appropriately reflect the portion sizes. This was an issue for the sea bass and the lamb chops. For £14, one would expect slightly more than one very small lamb chop, and similarly for the sea bass one would expect slightly more than five or six small mouthfuls for £16. In a similar theme, we also had some confusion when the dishes were brought as they combined multiple orders of the same dish onto the same plate for some of the dishes but not others, which seemed inconsistent and lead us to believe that they had brought one of the two dishes ordered to the table and the other was still being prepared. We agreed that it would have been preferable if they either kept the two orders segregated onto separate plates or made it clear that the two orders had been combined onto one plate upon delivery of the dish to the table. Additionally, a service charge of 12.5% was added to the bill, and I am never in favour of a service charge - I would much rather just tip what I deem to be fair.

I would like to reiterate that the food was absolutely delectable, and we would absolutely return. However, we would be careful to choose the dishes in order to avoid those that offer poor value for money. Given the criticism presented above, we feel it fair to award four stars. All in all, it was a very positive...

We went here as a party of 5 for a family reunion meal. There was no indication on the website that this place was anything other than a normal high end seafood restaurant. Their social media shows pictures of fantastic looking dishes. We were unable to get a table inside as there are only 3 tables, so were seated outside. Upon arrival we were told to order our drinks from the large blackboard menu and they would then come back out and turn the board around to reveal the food menu for the evening. Atmostphere was what i can only describe as aloof. The reveal of the food menu came with an explanation that it was a "small plates" menu and recommended that you get 2/3 dishes per person in a tapas style experience. We were shocked to then see that an induvidual scallop was priced at £16.The bread was £4 and arrived burnt and with 4 slices between the 5 of us. The potatoes which had 5 large-ish new potatoe style potatoes and some aioli was £10. The halibut which was half a fillet in size, came with butter and a sprinkling of samphire at an outragoues £28. The portions were ridiculously small, far smaller that the pictures on their social media. Ie the beetroot carpacio had 6 slices of beetroot, as opposed to the 10 pictured on their instagram post. This might not have been so underwhelming had all the dishes arrived at once, however it was one dish at a time shared between us (a mouthful each), which left us feeling like oliver twist begging for more. By the time we were done, we were both hungry and very disappointed. The food was good, but nothing revolutionary considering the prices. Not by any means a seafood restaurant, as of the 14 dishes, only 5 were seafood. The experience only got worse when the bill came and was £217, almost £30 of which was service charge. We had the service charge removed and went to the corner shop to buy 3 pizzas to eat when...

Probably the weirdest review I am ever going to write.

Let’s start with the food. It’s fabulous. Go there for the food. My wife had never liked squid before, the squid dish was unbelievably good. (Good luck to other chefs trying to emulate it.) Everything else was tasty, brilliantly cooked and worth the price. Thank you.

Now on to everything else. We were sat inside, 4 tables of two all sitting a metre opposite the chef. Throughout the time we were there he didn’t make eye contact with a single customer. That’s fine, but if you are on show then it’s polite to acknowledge your audience.

However, the real issue for me is the music. My ears are still ringing an hour after walking up Boscastle hill. The restaurant is the size of a large shed and the music was so loud and invasive, it detracted from the wonderful food and completely ruined the meal for us. The super loud stoner music with high bass stops your guests from having a pleasant conversation about your food (or even talking to each other) which is a huge shame. It’s just not suitable for a restaurant. You are probably stopping yourself from obtaining the Michelin star you may deserve. We asked the waitress to turn it down and she said she would have to ask the chef. That doesn’t sit well as we were at The Rocket Store to eat, not be at a concert. (I’m a rock musician so have no issue with volume in the right environment).

We spent £140 and couldn’t wait to leave after an hour. We didn’t stay for desert, coffee etc. It may be excellent food, but that was poor value for what was meant to be a romantic meal in Boscastle.

I wouldn’t go back. Outstanding food….. but we hated every minute. Who leaves a fine dining restaurant after an hour (and we paid the the bill without question as the food was great) unless there is something fundamentally wrong.

Chef, please think of...