Port Gaverne Restaurant & Hotel — Restaurant in Great Britain

This review should be a ‘buyer beware’ notice to anyone eating in the Port Gaverne at a busy period or anyone taking a large group in. It follows a long email to the manager of the hotel offering her the chance to apologise and put right her shambles of a performance - but who has chosen instead to assume the ostrich position.

We booked in for Christmas Day lunch this year and it was shocking. Fawlty Towers couldn’t have delivered a better pantomime of a dinner service.

From the start they were late getting their menus up on the site in the early Autumn and it took four calls to secure a booking over a month in October. We were eventually booked for their 2nd sitting at 3pm. Arriving into the bar where there was no space to sit and told to wait as they were clearing down tables for us. 45 minutes later and only after asking 3 times we were shown to our table. Incorrectly set, missing cutlery, napkins. No one came to the table to check our order. A further wait of 25 minutes when the manager herself, Jacki, appeared at the table and without a word set down the 1st course off the main menu.

Her face would have soured milk , when I explained my wife was vegetarian and no one had checked to see if we wanted anything off the vegetarian menu. ‘I wasn’t told that’ she said brusquely with the distinct undertone that it was clearly my fault. I explained that no one had asked us. ‘Do you want this or not then? ‘. I said we’d keep with the main menu but just have the risotto as the replacement for the 3rd course turkey. 50 minutes later the 2nd course arrived which should have been a brill dish. Instead a bowl of mushroom soup was placed in front of my wife. I said that’s not what we’d ordered and asked them to bring the 2nd fish dish. 10 minutes later a waitress came back and apologetically asked if we’d mind just moving onto our main course as the kitchen could not manage to cook another fish starter at that time. Would we be happy to eat it after the main course? Seriously??

30 minutes after this, a lacklustre Risotto and a main Turkey dinner were produced. 2 hours after we came into the place.

During this time, I asked twice before the missing napkins, water and cutlery were finally provided.

I explained that the fish 2nd course was now pretty much redundant. We finished our cheese and pudding course without any further incident. The attending Waitress arrived at the table to tell us the manager would buy us a drink as an apology for mishaps. I said we’d rather not as we were driving. That waitress returned to say the Manager intended to do something ‘special’ to make up for things.

At some point that afternoon I later discovered my son called the Hotel and asked to buy some wine for us as a surprise. He gave card details over the phone and was told it would be sorted. Needless to say it never reached us.

Around us people were complaining about every aspect of the service and the food - within our part of the restaurant 2 of the 5 tables got up and walked out - one before the food was served and one in the middle of their main course.

When I went to pay our bill, no attempt at compensation was made and we were charged the full cost of £215 for a 5 course dinner that literally wasn’t.

This all stems from a management that just tried to be too greedy. 2 sittings were beyond them and it broke the service, in fact it smashed it. The couple of waitresses who were on the frontline did their very best and I felt genuinely sorry for them. Their manager sulked through the afternoon growling at them and being rude to customers in equal measure

Clearly the Port Gaverne Hotel gets it right enough times to get away with it judging by the reviews. The couple next to us said they’d been the year before and it had been perfect but they were completely staggered by the sheer ineptitude on display this year.

Things will go wrong at critical times in restaurants. Making mistakes with your customers can be a positive when you handle it properly. The Port Gaverne needs to learn...

I have been coming to the Port Gaverne Hotel for 40 years, with three different owners, and have loved staying, dining and lunching there. Previously, it was very special the hub of this small charming community, with locals coming and going, meeting at the bar for drinks and meals, and there was always a truly delightful buzzing atmosphere. The pub tables outside were always full of holiday makers and locals enjoying their pub lunches in the sun. Upon moving to Devon we used to visit often, sitting outside in the sun overlooking the bay, enjoying a two or three course pub lunch– it was our idea of a slice of paradise on earth and we loved the hotel and Port Gaverne as did all the visitors and the locals we chatted to. Last year we noticed that the prices had rocketed, so we couldn’t visit so often. Due to ill health we couldn’t visit this year until recently, and what an unpleasant shock we received! The bar menu had been removed, and a 2 course lunch was now £38 or 3 courses was £45 from the hotel restaurant, or snacks at circa £13.00 each. How can families with children possibly afford this? The place was deserted – nobody drinking in the bar, (which wasn’t surprising as 2 medium glasses of wine is now £20), nobody in the restaurant, and apart from us, only one other occupied table outside with a family who I noticed only ordered olives, chips and a drink each.. It was a pleasant sunny day with lots of holidays makers as the children were on holiday. I ordered fish and chips and had a large battered haddock, plus two tiny dipping bowls of peas and tartare sauce, which wasn’t homemade, plus some chips. Enjoyable, but not Michelin star and not worth the £28.00 charge. For a jug of Pimms, a bowl of olives, plus a small pleasant starter and my fish I was charged a total of £74.00. Unbelievably expensive for what I had eaten, and unsurprising that the hotel was so deserted. I felt sorry for the staff who looked unhappy and underworked, and who hopefully pointed out the tip section on the card machine, to us when paying. I checked The Pilchards to see if they offered a cheaper lunch, but their sharing plates for two was £85 or a Surf and Turf for £130. Unless a more affordably priced pub lunch can be provided in future, we and many others will be unable to come to Port Gaverne Hotel any longer, which is heart breaking for us. All the pleasant happy charm of the hotel has vanished becoming instead this sad deserted hotel, which was once the proud and happy hub of this delightful village community, and which doesn’t need to punch...

Learning that the Port Gaverne Hotel had recently become part of our favourite St Austell Brewery inns and hotels group, we looked forward to visiting it for the first time. We booked for a short midweek break and were very pleased with what we found.||The inn is situated in a small cove just north of nearby Port Isaac, which can reached on foot, if you don't mind a fairly steep climb up the hill to get there. It is, as you might expect, an old building but has been recently refurbished and is an atmospheric and peaceful place to stay, ideal for walkers and those who just want to chill out in a quiet location. There are tables and chairs outside, making it a pleasant place to sit in the sun with a drink and something to eat, whilst watching the world go by.||Inside is a bar and restaurant area and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. Because of the age of the buildiing the staircases to the bedroom accommodation are steep but were worth the climb to our comfortable room which was warm, clean and well presented, with a view of the sea, just steps away from the hotel. A really nice touch was the provision of beach robes - very handy for a pre-breakfast dip! ||There are breakfast, daytime and evening menues which are varied, if perhaps a little formulaic. The food was delicious and well cooked at competetive prices. We ate in throughout our stay and very much enjoyed everything that we had to eat.||In summary, we had a wonderful stay, made even better by the staff that we met who were, without exception, cheerful, friendly and helpful. We would particularly like to thank Pou who, from the moment that we srrived welcomed us warmly and made us feel very special, always going the extra mile for everybody. She is a great ambassador, not only for the Port Gaverne Hotel but for the whole St Austell breweries group. ||We will look forward to our next visit and, in the meantime, will not hesitate to recommend this hotel to others planning a trip...