Artist Residence Penzance — Restaurant in Great Britain

We stayed for 3 days at The Artist Residence Penzance in May 2023. Upon arrival we were advised we’d been given a complimentary upgrade from a Comfy Luxe room to a Super Comfy Luxe, the difference being primarily the room being slightly larger and enabling a bigger bed. This was much appreciated as we have a SuperKing at home and are accustomed to having the extra space. We stayed in Room 19 which was on the 2nd storey. The room itself was lovely and typical of the AR quirky bohemian style. Being May it was warm but not hot hot which was fortunate as the room was stuffy with the windows closed. We were advised there was a fan in the cupboard but it wasn’t there. We asked the front desk and they brought a fan up to the room promptly. Being located in central Penzance the fan was necessary as from a noise POV you wouldn’t really want to leave the windows open overnight as we had busy Chapel Street on one side (bathroom) and the outdoor hangout bar area on the other (bedroom). The room was well appointed with wall mounted TV, hairdryer, slippers, mini fridge, coffee/tea making facilities, Roberts radio and Bramley bathroom products. If I were to add anything it would a small safe to store your valuables securely and air conditioning. The bathroom was a really good size with the gorgeous bath as a highlight! On our first night we had pre-dinner drinks outside on the terrace and dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was really nice. We had breakfast every morning in the hotel and it really was delicious! Highly recommend the Banana Bread French Toast with caramelised bananas and mascarpone! The mostly-young staff were all very friendly, polite and accommodating. Housekeeping did miss our room one day and the staff did apologise and ensured it was fully serviced promptly the next day. Would happily try another Artist Residence hotel based...

Firstly, the service was amazing. The staff was 5* but the food… we were quite disappointed. Might be due to the perspectives of a five star chef and his son but I will give the credit where it’s due!

The ribs were lovely, however the cabbage wasn’t far off raw. My father had the lemon sole which still had the scales on the skin. He said it had seemed to be steamed or cooked rather than grilled as it had no sear to it and the flavour was not there. The fish had also seemed to have been defrosted, noticed in the taste that it was not fresh.

My Cajun stew- the clams and prawns seemed to be fresh which was amazing - however; I noticed when I bit into the corn and tasted the sauce that it had an acidic taste and that it was off. I instantly told the waiter quietly (as I noticed the gentleman next to me had just ordered the same thing) and she had offered me something else off the menu. The lamb rump was lovely, however for £26, we thought you would get more than 5 small pieces of lamb.

My pavlova was really nice however my fathers affogato seemed to have half of the ice cream scoop missing??? I was as confused as he was as we looked around at the people who had ordered an ice cream and had a completely different portion.

When we had gone to pay we were charged the full price. We had mentioned that it wasn’t right to be charged for a meal that was spoiled and they had taken it off of the bill and were apologetic. I only feel bad as my father didn’t have too much patience after he noticed they didn’t have the intention to take it off themselves without us mentioning something and him choosing to hold his tongue based off of his experience. Other than those bits of the food, everything else...

The Cornish Barn, The Artist Residence, Penzance.

I went here to eat for my 50th birthday and honestly it ruined my entire big day. I asked for a gluten free burger bun and it came with a piece of burnt toast on top that was so crispy that it crumbled into dust. The burger ‘garnish’ was a lame bit of lettuce, that was, it with a tiny pot of barbecue sauce on the side but absolutely nothing more. In fairness the burger tasted nice but there was no attempt to make the food look enticing in the slightest. The chips were ‘loaded’ which meant a melted bit of processed cheese on top and some kind of sweetcorn in vinegar which was utterly repulsive as it made everything slimy. Portion sizes were also unimpressive.

I went with three friends and they all felt exactly the same way but as we are so ‘typically’ British we were too polite to say anything. Plus, it was my birthday and I think that made it more awkward. I was also really upset after as I had organised us going there - I felt I had wasted other people’s money too. My burger & fries cost approx £20.

I will never, ever, ever in a million years ever eat in there again. In fact, I have chatted to various other people since and got similar feedback or a thank you for giving them a heads up. You may be able to get away with the bare minimum amount of effort in the middle of summer when there’s a tourist frenzy but this time of year when it’s locals eating out it should be a different story.

The only plus side was that the waiter who served...