Fisherman’s Cottage, Shanklin — Restaurant in Shanklin

So just got back from the worst meal and experience I've had at a restaurant for a very long time possibly ever, at the fisherman's cottage shanklin. In our area there where 6 tables ( 5 eating and 1 walked in to drink) pretty sure no manor of social distancing involved in this place, towards the end of the meal the staff gave up on their ppe and where wandering around with no masks on or keeping a distance. One table to our left at the end of their meal where asked by staff what they had had as they didnt have it on the system to sort the bill, they told them then 10-15 mins later the same staff came out to check again another 10 mins and a different staff member came with their bill they checked it and agreed and having paid and about to leave the first employee came back to take their money unaware they'd just paid. Following this the table next to them asked to see the manager (who was no where to be found, leaving a young group of staff unorganised and in chaos) 10 mins later they where still waiting and asked again as they had found plastic and other bits in they food, eventually they left without paying as no one showed up. Then the next table asked to see someone as theyd been waiting for 80mins to be served food, but again no one would come out so they then walked out. The table behind us were told 20 mins after ordering they didnt have any of what they had ordered so they reordered eventually having not recieved any service they also walked out. As for our main meal it eventually came and having already over heard the waiting and kitchen staff shout that they didnt have enough mussels for the orders in the restaurant i checked ours as he put it down and questiined the portion size, we got told it was the correct size although it was half the size of the container we begrudgingly were given some extra. I had to order a 2nd drink twice before i got it 20 mins later. And at the end of what was a very unsatisfying meal and expereince, the girl who went to get our bill offered us a discount due to the chaos around us as we were the only ones not to walk out, at this point we then found out they werent evening doing the eat out to help out offer so it was full price. So we only got £9 off rather than £20 as expected. To summarise it was the most expensive meal of our holiday, was the worst quality food with the worst service (primarily due to a major lack of any management leadership organising a inexpereinced young team) there was also a very young girl who appeared to be serving going to and from the kitchen and shouting to the staff and going up stairs i presume the daughter of the owners. Do not go to the fishermams cottage if you value a good night out with good food and service at a...

1 star is really too generous after our experience here. The very first hurdle we came across was that upon arrival it seemed that all tables had been double booked and we had to wait a while for the table that we had booked weeks ago.

When we were eventually seated (outside as we had a dog, despite the pub being advertised as dog friendly), we had another lengthy wait for our drinks and had to ask repeatedly for the menus to be brought over to us.

We ordered our food and then had to wait over an hour for it to be brought out. In the meantime we had to ask several times for our second round of drinks to be brought to the table too.

When the food finally arrived, it wasn't without another problem, they had forgotten one of our meals. This meal was unfortunately for my 85 year old grandmother who had to make do with parts of our meals served to her on a napkin.

Her food arrived about 10 minutes after everybody else had finished eating. By this point we had been sat outside for well over 2 hours, we were all cold and my gran was more than ready to head back to the hotel. So, I went inside to ask for some plastic pots to package her food up into, only to find one of the waitresses eating something in the kitchen. After she finished her mouthful, I was greeted with several eye rolls but did manage to get 3 small containers to decant cold chicken, chips and salad into.

When it came to paying for the meal, understandably we asked to speak to somebody in charge to work out the bill. We were then met with a further eye roll and a few minutes later another waitress came out but seemed confused as to why she had been sent over to us. She explained that the missing meal had been sent to the bar and not the kitchen. I'm still trying to work out how this happened and why the communication was so severly lacking that the drinks team were not able to pass on a food order to the chef.

All in all we had a terrible experience here and will not be returning in the future. A discount was offered but unfortunately did not reflect the scale of the problems experienced. However we did receive some free biscuits at the end which my gran enjoyed more than her cold chicken and chips.

If you want a pleasant, tasty and stress-free meal, avoid...

We had heard and read good things about this place but were disappointed. When entering, we were told there would be a 20-minute wait for food - not a problem as we were forewarned. I ordered fisherman's pie but they didn't have any left so I ordered fish and chips, which was very good. However, some of the tables were very close together as if we were in normal times. The restaurant had a written policy of table service only but this was ignored and flouted as people went up to the bar anyway. It was also written that children should not run around. One father went up to the bar to ask for the bill and his little cherub followed, then ran back to mummy, then back to daddy. Whilst this irresponsibility was the fault of the parents, why did the bar staff not politely ask the man to go back to his table? We also saw that tables were not always sanitised between customers. After finishing our mains, we finally attracted the attention of a waiter and asked for dessert menus. We ordered dessert but our dirty plates from our main courses remained in front of us. I also asked for the bill at the same time we ordered our desserts. At least 15 minutes passed before the desserts came although by this time there were far fewer customers. It was only by coincidence that a rather gormless server came to take away our dirty main plates at the same time a waitress brought our desserts or she would have had to set the desserts on top of the dirty main dishes. At least a quarter of an hour later, our bill had still not arrived. I wanted to go up to the bar and put down in cash what I thought would cover the bill but my wife dissuaded me. FINALLY, after asking AGAIN for the bill, it arrived. I am happy to leave a tip for good service but needless to say, I left nothing. The restaurant was busy when we arrived but not when we left. The food was good and the decor and building atmospheric so I award one star for each but the service...