The Hideaway — Restaurant in Shanklin

The real hidden star of Shanklin.

The first thing that strikes you about The Hideaway are the views and the quaint, nautical decor. Second is the completely stellar friendliness of the staff. The way they interact with each other is like family, and you are immediately welcomed in like a long-lost cousin. The dogs will be totally spoiled. I don't think I've felt so comfortable in a restaurant ever.

This alone would be enough to put them head and shoulders above the island competition. But then the food just adds to the experience. The menu might be a bit misleading - it's mostly full of pub classics that you would expect to be par for the course or standardised. But everything is homemade and bursting with flavour. We went for the Sunday roast, the pie of the day and the lasagne. The portions aren't over the top but the tastes really overdeliver. I was dubious about the lasagna - pubs can mess up pasta more than anything else - but it was really amazing with a depth of flavour making me rethink my own recipes at home.

The amount of people popping in hoping for a table without a booking is testament to the local appeal of The Hideaway.

All of us loved our time here - especially our two pups - and our one regret was only coming on our final night away after having mixed experiences elsewhere on the island. We'll definitely be back, and in the meantime I wish all the staff here smooth sailing and every success...

We visited the Hideaway due to all the great reviews and lovely photos, but unfortunately we found it very disappointing.

As it was full inside, we had to sit in the garden. However, the outside seating area is quite dated and dirty, which is especially concerning as it is decorated to appeal to children, but I wasn’t very comfortable letting our son explore and wander round.

The staff were lovely and took our orders efficiently, but there were long delays between the meals arriving. Even though we were all sitting on the same table, one of us got our meal a good 15 minutes before the others, and even more baffling was the kid’s meal arriving so long after the parents’. To make matters worse, the kids meal was clearly just a supermarket microwave pizza (which our son didn’t touch at all) so I’m very confused why it took so long to appear.

The adult meals were fine but definitely not worth the prices we paid (£16.75 for cod and chips and around £12 for a burger that came with no sauce or cheese).

Lastly there were very few non-alcoholic drink options, so I opted for a mocktail and was amazed when the can that was on display (un-refrigerated for who knows how long) was simply decanted into a glass with no ice.

Overall, from our visit, I simply don’t understand how the Hideaway has become so well rated. I never leave bad reviews, but our experience here soured an otherwise pleasant day trip...

I came here with two friends who are local to the island and come often. We were aware you had to pre book, which seems a surprise to some people reading the reviews, It’s a busy little place so booking makes sense. We had no issues parking, we just parked down the road and enjoyed the sea views on the short walk to the bar. We booked an outside table to make the most of the views on a lovely sunny day and sat in the bar for a little bit until our table was ready as we were quite early.

Our table was a booth and was nice and comfy with added cushions which was a nice touch. They had a good selection of choices on their menu and also a specials board inside including sausages for your dog. I had the pork belly and it was cooked perfectly with a nice bit of cracking on top! My husband and friend had the gammon and her husband had burger, no complaints from anyone! All perfectly cooked and 4 empty plates finished off with a chocolate orange cake with custard. The views while we were eating were beautiful and every member of staff was friendly and helpful. The gentleman running the outside bar was kind enough to fetch something from inside for my friend.

Highly recommend this little gem on the IOW and will definitely cone back when we next visit your lovely island. Thanks very much for making our trip that much more...