Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Cornwall
Hardens guides have spent 32 years compiling reviews of the best Cornwall restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 75 restaurants in Cornwall and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Cornwall restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Cornwall Restaurants
1. Àclèaf at Boringdon Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Plympton
Boringdon Hall - PL7
A 40-seat raised gallery overlooking the Great Hall of this very impressive-looking (like a castle!) five star near Plymouth provides the venue for this ambitious dining space, which is entering its third year of operation. Feedback is not as plentiful as we’d like for Scott Paton’s cuisine, showcased with a 4-course menu, but such as we have acclaims it as “amazing from start to finish!”.
2. Port Gaverne Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Port Isaac
“A quirky hotel and restaurant serving excellent local fish” – this whitewashed, seventeenth-century hotel in a coastal bay is “always outstanding”. Chef James Lean (appointed in 2015) oversees a menu that’s naturally fish-focused. “Friendly service and great Cornish ales” complete the picture.
3. Tremenheere Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Gulval
Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens - TR20
Tremenheere Kitchen is a modern, family friendly restaurant in Penzance, Cornwall, situated close to St Michael's Mount and Marazion. We offer a diverse menu, making the most of seasonal ingredients, and catering for a variety of tastes and dietary requirements. Th...
4. The Idle Rocks
British, Modern restaurant in St Mawes
Harbourside - TR2
“A really special place to eat in summer or winter with views out over the bustling harbour of St Mawes” – this 18-bedroom Relais & Châteaux hotel is perched near the sea, and its restaurant occupies a “light and attractive dining room” that’s warmly reviewed in all feedback. “A limited seasonal menu doesn’t detract: each course is beautifully presented by cheerful staff; and the fish is fresh and guaranteed to make you want to come back time and again”. If you want to push the boat out, there’s also a seven-course ‘signature’ option.
5. 2 Fore Street Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Mousehole
2 Fore St - TR19
“A busy restaurant full of happy people” – Joe Wardell’s unassuming bistro a short walk from the harbour is a mainstay of the village and its ongoing popularity is “a testament to the food offering and service”. It serves “great food with daily specials at a reasonable price” – “good local fish (e.g. sardines) is very good value for money”.
6. The restaurant at Old Quay House
British, Modern restaurant in Fowey
28 Fore Street - PL23
“Reliably good food for a meal that feels special, with estuary views” – the backdrop of the water defines the experience at this Victorian hotel with 13 bedrooms, and where there’s no better location than the deck on a sunny day.
7. Driftwood Hotel
International restaurant in Rosevine
On the Roseland Peninsula, this clifftop boutique hotel occupies a fine-looking Georgian building in a glorious position, a short walk from the beach. Aaron McNamara succeeded Olly Pierrepoint as head chef in May 2022, just as our survey was concluding. We have rated the restaurant assuming a continuation of his predecessor’s high standard of cooking, which fans say was “simply fabulous! The tasting menu with superbly chosen wine flight is a journey you just don’t want to end!”.
8. Emily Scott at Watergate Bay
British, Modern restaurant in Watergate Bay
With its “simple, top-quality seafood” combined with “one of the most romantic locations in Cornwall” – “who could fail to be impressed on a date at Emily Scott’s new restaurant overlooking stunning Watergate Bay?”. One of four restaurants in the Watergate Bay Hotel, it followed a 2020 beachside pop-up from the Cornwall-based chef whose profile has been on the rise. On the downside, there are those who feel the experience is “lovely, but overpriced”.
9. Beached Lamb
British, Modern restaurant in Newquay
72 Fore St - TR7
2019 Review: “Delicious breakfasts” and lunches come “in very cool surroundings” at this chilled, ultra-vibrant café, handy for Fistral and Towan beaches, and they “also do great cake and coffee!”
10. Trevibban Mill Bar
Organic restaurant in Padstow
Dark Lane - PL27
2021 Review: “Windows overlooking the vineyard” afford views onto this peacefully located spot – run by Andy Appleton (a graduate of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall) although the “huge barn” it occupies can feel a tad “quiet” at less busy times. Numerous “excellent” meals are reported last year from its Med-slanted modern British menu.
11. The Scarlet Hotel
British, Traditional restaurant in Mawgan Porth
Tredragon Rd - TR8
This “modern spa hotel with views out to sea” from its clifftop vantage point is fully geared-up for the eco tourist, with a solidly rated kitchen serving up sustainable meals from breakfast via lunch and afternoon tea to dinner, when there is a choice of tasting menus including vegetarian and vegan. Non-residents are now welcome to book, but it remains child-free.
12. Fish House
Fish & chips restaurant in Newquay
Unit 5 International Surf Centre, Headland Road - TR7
“Never fails to bring joy to my heart” – Paul Harwood’s “lovely, intimate, high-quality seafood restaurant” right “by the sea” on Fistral Beach again wins a big thumbs-up in reports: “super fresh fish” is the big deal you’d hope, for somewhere with top views of the surf and sands.
13. Hubbox
Burgers, etc restaurant in Truro
116 Kenwyn Street - TR1
2022 Review: “Good burgers, excellent fries and tasty shakes…should be easy but so often done badly” – fortunately not the case at this West Country fast-food chain. This branch benefits from a “lovely cosy atmosphere in an old church and cheerful service” to boot.
14. Tabb’s
British, Modern restaurant in Truro
85 Kenwyn St - TR1
2022 Review: “Interesting food in an intimate dining room” makes Nigel Tabb’s former pub a “favourite local fine-dining venue”, making “great use of local Cornish ingredients”. It also helps that there’s a “small but well-constructed wine list which offers exceptional value”. It’s “a little difficult to find, away from the centre of Truro, but worth the effort”.
15. Penrose Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Truro
Penrose Water Garden, Tregavethan - TR4
This “hidden gem just outside Truro” from husband-and-wife team Ben & Sam Harmer features “impressive” cooking, “exceptional service” and a “splendid outdoor eating area” for warmer weather. Ben’s classical training took in the kitchens of The Savoy and Le Gavroche – hence “the soufflé is impressive”.
16. Sam's on the Beach
British, Modern restaurant in Polkerris
“A gorgeous spot to eat tasty food while watching the sea”, this former Victorian lifeboat station has been transformed under Sam Sixton, who launched his local dining empire at the age of 17, back in 1988 (his son Noah is now part of the team). The “casual” menu runs from “wonderful fresh fish and seafood” to “tasty pizzas with both traditional and unusual toppings”.
17. Bridge Bistro
British, Modern restaurant in Wadebridge
4 Molesworth St - PL27
2019 Review: Those who have “watched Bridge Bistro go from strength to strength” over the years – and expand next door, doubling in size – proclaim the husband-and-wife team’s “amazing knack for finding brilliant staff” and “great menu options” that are “simple and quite delicious”… “long may they continue!”
18. Tiny Thai
Thai restaurant in Wadebridge
1a Molesworth Street - PL27
2021 Review: “At last a decent… well, actually quite a bit more than decent, Thai restaurant in North Cornwall!” – this “pretty tightly packed” café “lives up to its name, but this just adds to the fun” and its spicy scoff comes highly recommended.
19. Asquiths
British, Modern restaurant in Lostwithiel
19 North Street - PL22
“A small and intimate restaurant” – opposite an old church in Cornwall’s antiques capital – Graham Cuthbertson’s wood-panelled spot “serves great modern European and local dishes and the dining room is really comfortable”. “I went there with all my family and they were really accommodating with young children”.
20. The Cornish Arms
British, Modern restaurant in St Merryn
Churchtown - PL28
The Stein empire’s village pub has been much-extended over the years and nowadays feels much more restauranty and professional than when the family first took it over in 2009. Results in prior years have been up-and-down, but ratings were good this year – “had mixed expectations for this, but the food was enjoyable, and pretty reasonably priced given its good execution”.
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