Argoe — Restaurant in Great Britain

Our final evening in Cornwall was unfortunately marked by an unpleasant dining experience, largely due to subpar service and an unwelcoming attitude from the staff.

Our waitress explained that the dishes were meant to be shared, and that the main courses “come with sides.” We ordered drinks, and shortly after, a different waitress came over to take our food order. We asked if our selection — fish soup, scad köfte, and grilled megrim — would be sufficient for two people. She advised that they usually recommend 4 to 6 dishes, so we added the aubergine and tomato flatbread.

The fish soup arrived first and, sadly, was quite bland — seriously lacking seasoning. Next came the scad köfte, which was the highlight of the meal — juicy, aromatic, and generously portioned. Followed by the flatbread with aubergine and tomato. While the toppings were tasty, the flatbread itself was undercooked and doughy.

Then came the grilled megrim — a massive fish, more suited to feeding four people than two. This made us question the earlier suggestion of ordering 4 to 6 plates. Worse still, the fish arrived alone, without the sides we were previously told would be included. The entire interaction was awkward, and the waitress seemed uncomfortable too. When we inquired about the missing sides and mentioned what we were told earlier, we were met with a curt explanation: you have to order the sides separately. Sure, that makes sense — but with clearer communication and a better explanation of the menu, this confusion could have been easily avoided.

When we politely expressed our disappointment to the first waitress — the one who initially told us sides were included — she offered no apology or acknowledgment. Her response felt dismissive and frankly rude. Since our complaint, a different waitress became passive aggressive towards us - she chucked the chips on the table that in the end we ordered to go with the fish. Seriously....? Is that how you treat your customers who pay £140 for the privallege of eating at your reataurant? At this point we wanted to leave the restaurant as soon possible.

When you’re paying a premium for a dining experience, not just the food, this kind of service is so disappointing. If you're going to present yourself as a high-end, “bougie” establishment, a little more warmth, clarity, and respect toward your customers would go a long way.

Two stars, mainly for the delicious scad köfte and the lovely view over...

Located on the harbour in Newlyn you'd be hard pressed to find a better place for a fish restaurant. Puts you in the mood for some great seafood. We were told the menu is designed for sharing which was fine but felt the menu design and choices didn't quite work well with this in mind. Sharing a bowl of soup is weird and messy. Fine for couples (maybe) but the idea of double dipping spoons with friends or colleagues etc isn't on and hasn't been thought about from a presentation point of view. I'm an ex chef of 20 years and it immediately jumped out at me as a bizzare idea. Menu descriptions could also do with being more detailed. We ordered mussels, my favourite, expecting quite reasonably for them to be hot and freshly cooked. We got an extremely overdressed mussel salad with soggy leaves and cold shelled mussels that tasted of nothing with slimy cold courgette strips. The description didn't remotely hint that the dish was a cold salad and we felt quite disappointed with what we got. I'd have never ordered a cold mussel salad which is what it was and as a dish it was not pleasant to eat at all. Next up some braised squid balls on a bed of stewed onions that you'd never know had any squid in them and were overpowered by the onions regardless. A confused dish neither of us enjoyed. We then had some raw seabass simply dressed which was delicious and octopus which was by far my favourite and felt like the only substantial portion of food of the evening.

I feel the idea of sharing small plates doesn't work well when the food comes out haphazardly as and when it's done, nor with larger tables where customers might be waiting while others eat. Each dish is quite small and is only a few bites per person and comes out with odd numbered items so someone is getting more food. You are also using the same plates and cutlery throughout which is off putting. Overall I felt it was pricey and small for what we ate, the food we liked was nice but we had 2 dishes that disappointed in flavour and weren't as described on the menu which left us a bit sore. The flow of the meal and food appearing was on the slow side with fairly long periods of time when you were waiting on your next item to arrive. It was a good 40 minutes from the first item arriving to the last. Waiting staff were lovely and attentive otherwise.

My advice for customers would be to ask questions about the menu items you want to order....

1.Dishes are advertised as sharing plates, but based on previous experiences of sharing places, the portions were far too big to share multiple dishes and too rich to have as a main.

Visually beautiful but not the easiest to eat. Ordered the cured bass, was tasty and beautifully presented but made it hard to eat without making a mess.

The fish soup was creamy and delicious and loved it! had a bisque feel to it. We also had the crab salad and grilled sardines which could've been seasoned better. I understand not overpowering the natural flavours, but some seasoning helps draw out the flavour. Ordered the Ling fish from the grill, again lacked seasoning apart from the strong lardo taste it was cooked in and sat in a bed of oil. The portion was massive, easily shared between 4 people. The skin was rubbery and thick, so not very edible but was told that Lings are not like cods and the skin doesn't crisp up. We were given a refund on it which was very nice of them.

Service could've been better, the couple next to us were clearly struggling with the menu and had questions and were just told to 'Read through the menu and let them know when they're ready to order'. Our waitress spoke so quickly it was hard to follow.

Space is minimalist and sleek but impractical. The seating was uncomfortable and space so small you could easily overhear gossip and conversations of the employees.

Other awkward things, like the manager occupying a table to do paper work at opening time (in a small space) and the waitress insisting we sit inside, then seating us next to the only other couple in the restaurant because the manager occupied the other 2 seater table. Someone came in and requested to speak to the chef about job vacancies in the middle of dinner service and the chef entertained it.

Found the entire experience to be pretentious (for the lack of a better word) and awkward. It took away from any enjoyment to be had from the dining experience. Might've just been a one off given the...