St Kew Inn

A beautiful Cornish pub off the beaten track. The Sunday roasts were exceptional – hot, tasty, and plentiful. The meat melted in your mouth. It wasn’t a case of quantity over quality – it was both quality and quantity. The dessert options were spot on and rounded off a perfect Sunday lunch. Service was fantastic – unbelievably accommodating of a food intolerance, with staff going above and beyond to make substitutions as if it were no bother at all. A must-visit. We’ll definitely be back!

We enjoyed a delicious meal from the Early Bird Menu for a joint birthday celebration. The food was too quality, the service was friendly and obliging, and our young daughter was welcomed and attended to (we had been nervous that she would be considered disruptive).

Delicious freshly cooked food. We had fish chowder, a hamburger with chips and spiced squash soup and all was super, super, good. Also it's a lovely ancient traditional pub with a beautiful fireplace and the staff was really nice. Super recommended.

One of the nicest pubs I've been to recently, full of character and with great food. The staff are also really good, attentive and patient. The burger isnt great, too many toppings that don't work together. Other than that, the rest of the menu was amazing, and the homemade "bounty" dessert was probably the best dessert I've ever had.

Really good food and service. I would have given max stars apart from it was a little chilly in the restaurant area. Main bar had a roaring fire but no heating on where we were sat. Table next to us said they were cold as well

Fantastic meal with the family. Very friendly and fast service. The food is really good. Some quirky specials as well which is great to provide options for something a little different

This Inn serves excellent food in a beautiful location and has now gone on my favourites list. I am allergic to Rapeseed Oil and Shellfish and my dietary needs were completely catered for without fuss. The serving team were friendly, helpful and professional. I have recommended it to several people.

Visited for my wife's birthday as a treat. Arrived a little early so had a drink in the bar. Service was very pleasant. I have to say I thought the food was pretty average. I ordered the pork chop telling the wife that I hadn't had one since I was a kid and what we had back then was pretty bad so I thought one prepared from a good chef would be very different. It wasn't, just a dried up chunk of meat - did remind me of home though...lol Bit of a shame but wouldn't of minded normally. What was an irritation was we were placed next to a table of Dr's who droned on in a very loud volume how they were totally hard done by and they should strike. This seems to be the norm in restaurants now - most of us just want a quiet night out - not to be berated by loud mouths.

When we drove out from Port Isaac this morning, we passed through this quaint village, and my Lovely Bride exclaimed "This looks just like every village church I've read about!" So, when we were returning home from a day visiting Saint Michael's Mount, Penzance, and St. Ives, she half-jokingly said "They have an Inn. I wonder if they serve non-guests?" I pulled into the car park, and stepped across the road to ask. Serving starts in 15 minutes! Huzzah! We pulled up a seat in the bar, with the Lovely Bride's half pint of local cider and my pint of St. Austell's lovely Tribute Pale Ale, considered our options. She chose roasted chicken with veggies, and I opted for a plate of mussels. This may harken back to my childhood, but when I'm near the sea, it's tough for me not to get some local seafood. And Port Isaac Mussels less than five miles from the port are about as fresh as you can get them. They were served in a creme sauce with mature Cornish cheese grated over, and a few pieces of crusty bread to soak up the sauce. They were steamed to perfection, and I had to work hard to finish. Especially since they also provided a bowl or chips (French fries) alongside! I was full, but quite happy! The Tribute ale paired well, and said much for the attention to gastronomic adventure in the area. In Cornwall, they do it right!

St Kew Inn is an extremely popular place, it took us five days to book a table! Without doing so, you just won't get a table. Set in the picturesque village of St Kew, it has a large off street car park, adjacent to the beer garden which has a great setting, shaded by mature trees. The Inn has a cosy country pub feel about it, with a compact bar, a lounge area and a restaurant area that overlooks the beer garden. It has a decent menu showcasing many local produce, with additional daily specials. Plumping for the St Kew Burger, it was pretty standard fare, but tasty nonetheless. However, my wife ordered the salmon - pan fried, with a crisp salted skin, roast tomato sauce and fresh seasonal vegetables, she said it was one of the best meals she had ever eaten. As usual I had made the wrong choice! This should have ensured a definite five stars, however, because the staff were rushed off their feet, the tone of some of them, was a little abrupt. Still St Kew Inn is a fine restaurant, echoed by its difficulty in booking in a table.

Oh dear. The setting was lovely, the menu was limited and the prices high, but this just reassured us that the food would be of a high quality and prepared with care. What a shame that this was so far from the case. Fish was mushy, previously frozen perhaps? The chips were good but very over-salted, a mediocre meal for £13.50. Steak and chips priced at £19.95 should have been pretty incredible, but the steak was small and nothing to write home about. The beef bourginone for £11.50 was gristly and fatty, and the crushed potato accompaniment was again very over-salted. 'Glazed' carrots at an extra £2.55 were simply microwaved with a little butter and parsley by the taste of them, and the £3.00 onion rings were flavourless and greasy (how you can strip the flavour out of an onion I'm not sure!). The barman was disinterested, when we asked for a table he said he would set one up for us and then disappeared. When he reappeared behind the bar to continue serving drinks we asked if our table was ready - he seemed surprised that we had asked, perhaps assuming that we would know when it was ready by some kind of knowledge osmosis as he didn't bother to let us know. The coke on draft started coming through clear - presumably the syrup had run out, so when we asked for a coke he told us 'look, it's coming out clear.' and left it at that - no suggestions for other options, or apologies for the inconvenience. When we asked what he could do about this he simply said 'oh, well you can have a bottle, that's an extra 70p' So we paid the extra 70p for a 200ml bottle of coke, served without a smile.... We had such high hopes, but if I were allowed to sewar in this review, I would resort to some choice language to describe our experience. We will not be going back, and we will be telling our friends and colleagues not to go either. Save your money, and your tastebuds and eat elsewhere.