The Singing Rooster — Restaurant in Great Britain

I took my wife, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend to The Singing Rooster for a super, happy, memorable lunch early in May 2025. We had travelled all the way down to Penzance from St Mawes specially. I was tired of the usual options of pub or buffet which are the staples of the Cornish lunchtime, and had noted the consistently high online ratings the Rooster was getting and also the fact that, after five years without promotion, glamorous environment or prosperous locale, the business was apparently thriving. After Covid and Brexit that is an obvious and tremendous achievement. The Rooster is unassuming to a fault, and feels like a canteen, but offers a great and unique service - Polish cuisine done really well. I had wanted to try the pierlogi but they are labour-intensive and only available, it transpired, in the evenings. Instead I had the meaty bigos, and my wife had the beetroot tart and our daughter had the vegan, non-dairy bigos. We had a pink prosecco. The Rooster describes itself as a cafe, perhaps because it is not huge and is not plush, but it is very comfortable, and unlike other reviewers I never wanted piped music or anything like that - it was great to be able to hear the kitchen at work and to talk to Tomasz and each other without difficulty. Home-made food and several drinks for four came to less than three figures. Atmosphere-wise the wooden floor cried out for chunky wooden furniture and the prosecco cried out for tall glasses, but I am not cavilling - I would dearly love to return to the Rooster at night and have the pierlogi and other things too, and I know that we soon will....

I always love eating at The Singing Rooster. The food is always so tasty and there is a lovely variety of soups and meals to choose from. Today I had the delicious soup of the day to start with and spinach lasagne as my main course. There was a meat lasagne option too as well as a good range of other meals to choose from. The lasagne was perfect, wonderful flavours and textures and served with a selection of fresh and tasty salads. I could not resist a piece of chocolate cake afterwards. Their cakes are always freshly made, light rich and delicious. There are usually gluten-free choices. A lovely cup of coffee completed my meal, all served by the lovely friendly staff and at very reasonable prices. I really enjoyed my meal today. I won't be long before...

The food was absolutely delicious and truly deserves the highest praise, but unfortunately the whole experience was ruined by the service. The waiter who served us was arrogant and made us feel as if our presence was bothersome. We felt like intruders – watched and unwelcome. The atmosphere was very unpleasant.

What’s more, when we wanted to order just soups and starters, the waiter sarcastically told us that “here you also order a main course” and that I was “the first person in 13 years to order only a soup.” This was completely inappropriate and made us feel even worse.

It’s a shame, because the kitchen is of a very high standard, but the staff’s attitude towards guests completely takes away the desire...