Zucchini Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in England

We arrived as the restaurant opened at 5:30. Sadly, the outside needs a lot of work to get it up to an acceptable standard, but as I told my wife "The reviews say it's great, so let's not judge it from the outside". The diary clearly showed only 2 tables booked all night (one at 5:45 for 6 people and one at 7pm for 8 people). We walked in, and were only the second group to walk in (as we had to wait outside for them to unlock the door). We asked for a table of 4, and were told that they needed to go and ask if they could accommodate us?? We waited almost 5 minutes (no exaggeration!) to be told it was fine they could seat us. Generally, the staff were really friendly and attentive. They are mainly younger members of staff, and sometimes this can be a negative, but we have nothing bad to say about the serving staff :) They were good. We ordered food, and waited about 40 minutes to get our food. We don't mind that, we are happy to wait for good food. The food arrived, one kids pizza, one kids pasta in tomato sauce, my mushroom carbonara, and my wife had a Penne Arrabiata . We were asked if we wanted fresh parmesan or black pepper, and then asked if they could get us anything else. We informed them we had also ordered 2 sides which they acknowledged. 5 minutes later, the "chunky chips" and "garlic pizza bread" arrived. The chips were nice, but I would suggest had been fried at LEAST once before, but the Garlic Bread was tiny. At almost £5, there was 4 small slices.... My wife then asked me to try her Arrabiata. All I can explain it as, was over cooked pasta, in tomato sauce. The menu says it has fresh chilli and is spicy... there was no chilli and it was not spicy. AT ALL. She then tried our childs pasta in tomato sauce and that was ten times nicer... Why didn't they simply add chilli to that sauce?? My wife also had to use a spoon to eat it... it was so wet / full of water / like a soup. My carbonara was nice, the tagliatelle was over cooked, but the flavour was nice. We then ordered the kids jelly and ice cream, which came promptly, and we asked for the bill. To our sheer shock and surprise, it was over £75!!!! For 2 adult mains, 2 kids mains, 2 kids deserts and 4 soft drinks with 2 sides... I was expecting maybe £50... We paid, and then looked at the kids prices. Their mains were £7.95 each, the desert was £3.95 and drink £2.95 meaning just between the 2 kids, we spent almost £30!!! To top it off, when we were leaving and out children went to the toilet, the (I assume) owner was telling off a member of staff openly at the bar for reading a negative review in front of a customer (or something like that) and saying how unprofessional it was... I am not sure telling off a member of staff in front of customers is any better!!

After the experience, I had to check I had read the reviews of the right place before going, as I honestly could not believe it was the same place... but it was!! So all I can assume, is something has changed. Maybe a new chef? Maybe no chef? I am not sure what... but it needs to change back, and very quickly!

So in summary... The place needs a lot of work (the toilets STINK), the food was average at best, the price is HORRENDOUS, the portion size is small, the junior staff were kind and friendly, but we won't be back. Which is a REAL shame, as we wanted to find a local Italian restaurant to regularly eat at.

I wanted to share an honest review, and not just slate the place, as that's not fair. I wouldn't recommend trying based on how it was...

We stumbled across this lovely hidden gem after a day in St Ives and returning to Perran Sands. With tired legs from a day of walking, wet and cold from the rain and tummys empty since our lunch time pasties down at the beach. The outside looks very rustic and you go inside to a cosy inviting resturant with a rustic calm vibe. We were greeted by a pretty waitress who was happy to have us even though we hadn't booked and showed us to a table. We were delighted. We are a family of 4 (including 2 children) Between us we shared the calamari which was beautiful. Lovely and crispy. For mains we had 1 childs fish finger n chips, a child's spaghetti bolognese & 2 penne pollo diabolo with added mushrooms. The food was absolutely beautiful. We all demolished our plates. The children's sizes were perfect, however I think the adult size meals could have been a little more generous (or are we just greedy aha?) Nevertheless we all enjoyed the flavoursome food very much. I believe one of the owners took our plates, we complimented the delicious food and to pass our thanks on to the chef who I believe was his brother. He seemed very happy with our compliments. The only tiny detail I would say there was no mention of a service charge. Within our bill this accumulated to just over £10. We would've more likely have tipped regardless but that felt a little forced on paying.

Thank you for a...

Me and my girlfriend had a fantastic time staying at the zucchini hotel and eating numerous times at the Zucchini Italian kitchen . From the moment we arrived, Hannah one of the owners, couldn’t have been more welcoming and informative. She had an extensive knowledge of all the best places to go and visit whilst on our holiday in Cornwall. She even went through the effort to devise a route map of sight seeing attractions for us.

Our room was very well presented, and could tell the effort had been put in to make the room extremely tidy and welcoming. We also had a large tv which was great when we wanted to chill out of an evening or morning. The bathroom toiletries provided were of top quality and smelt really pleasant.

Having the Zucchini Italian kitchen part of the hotel made it an easy decision when it came to where to eat for dinners and breakfast. The food was delicious and made to order, so was extra tasty and fresh. Philipe who is also one of the owners, knows how to cook great authentic Italian food. He would happily add or adjust ingredients and make meals to our liking (vegan). He was also extremely friendly and made us feel at home!

The hosts of the hotel/restaurant, and even the waiting staff, couldn’t of done any more for us. They were all soo friendly and helpful. We will be coming back next year for sure when we visit Cornwall again...