Rick Stein's Café Reviews Summary

Service

Pros:

• "The service was perfect, a wonderful experience, thank you."
• "The staff where super friendly, the food delicious."
• "The service in this place is very good, the waiting staff are all very attentive and friendly."
• "Very professional and friendly staff."
• "Great value, service is relaxed and unhurried, but top notch."
• "Service welcoming, faultless, friendly, and professional throughout."
• "Top notch service and really appreciated the professionalism."

Cons:

• "Staff inexperienced, lacks of knowledge on their foods and drinks."
• "Bad service not friendly they forgot to put my drink inside the bag."
• "The service was slow with only one person in front of me waiting to order and one person sat who’d already been served."
• "Service was poor."
• "The service was a bit cold and verging on passive aggressive!"
• "Can't help but think the service was a bit lacking for the discretionary fee that they add on."
• "Nobody came to ask if all was ok."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food was of very good quality, although the portion sizes were economical, particularly the lamb curry."
• "The food was exceptional!"
• "Really delicious food, well cooked and excellent service and all at a fairly decent price."
• "The food was amazing, I was in a lunchtime party of six and there was nothing left on the plates when we left."
• "Every dish was perfect and the flavours were outstanding."
• "The food itself was first class. Very reasonably priced too."
• "The food was absolutely amazing! Steak was out of this world!"

Cons:

• "The seasoning of all the food all around left much to be desired."
• "The prawns were way overdone and the mussels nowhere near fresh."
• "The general atmosphere and waiting staff was nothing more than average."
• "Tiny bit of gristle in the chicken salad."
• "The seafood was masked by the overly powerful flavours from the other ingredients."
• "The food overall isn't up to the standard of a certain local competitor."
• "Went today for lunch-very poor quality of food."

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Very welcoming atmosphere with a touch of sophistication."
• "Super atmosphere and quite a cosy feel."
• "It's a lovely relaxing atmosphere, excellent service, food and drinks - represents great value."
• "The atmosphere was warm and friendly."
• "A wonderful, cozy and convivial café."
• "The atmosphere inside this cafe was so calm and relaxed with very good and attentive service."
• "A warm welcome to a cosy but ambient venue that retains it pleasant atmosphere despite socially distanced tables."

Cons:

• "The courtyard lacked any ambience and we became the walk through for anyone going to the toilet."
• "Too bright inside and quiet needs more atmosphere."
• "No atmosphere at all."
• "It spoils the meal somewhat if you can’t hear your family’s conversation at your own table and you are being watched by other customers queuing next to your table for the toilets."
• "The entourage looks cozy as well, I like it even better than the Cornish Arms, where I was a few days ago."
• "Some very tired tables and plastic lights enroute to unkempt toilets."
• "Overall, it was terrible, overpriced and we won't be back again."

Pricing

Pros:

• "The food was not too pricey given they could easily add a quid or two because of the associated name."
• "Also Café offers decent prices for an amazing food."
• "Not much more expensive than some of the chain pubs in the town but the food was amazing."
• "The price was fine... £105 for lunch for 5 people is not extortionate."
• "Fantastic value for money and a lovely bottle of wine at a very reasonable cost."
• "Although expensive, it is entirely justified."
• "And it's not as expensive as you would think."

Cons:

• "Could be excused if the price was decent. But those are London prices, far, far away from London."
• "The breakfast we had was nice, though a little bit pricey for the amount of food you actually got."
• "The small bottles of cider are extortionately expensive."
• "The prices are really quite high, but I guess this what you have to pay for a Rick Stein experience."
• "The only reason why I’ve marked it down is a couple of dishes were overpriced for the size (especially the mussels)!"
• "Went for lunch yesterday all food very good But was Absolutely Shocked that they charged for a peppercorn sauce It came in a Jug Not much bigger than a Thimble £3 already paid £26 for the steak."
• "At £150 for two it should have been an awful lot better."

Management

Pros:

• "The staff were outstanding. Very friendly, informative and helpful."
• "The waiting on staff are near on the top of their game and will welcome even the most anxious of guests."
• "The staff were amazing I've been to so many places where they have promised me there was no lemongrass in the food and lied but here they were amazing."
• "The staff were really polite & helpful, overall a splendid evening."
• "All the staff were very friendly and welcoming."
• "The head waiting staff was very helpful nice professional."
• "Every member of staff was so pleasant and competent."

Cons:

• "So excited to be eating at a Rick Stein’s in Padstow soo disappointed- firstly the Maitre de is a smoker and you can smell it all over him."
• "Clueless manager doesn't read the booking which says ask for a window seat."
• "The manager knew our table had a problem but at no point came to our table."
• "We were met with 'is the front door open?' by a male member of staff..not a great start!!"
• "Female staff not very friendly."
• "The male member of staff who served us needs a customer service course."
• "Went in at 12 and asked if you could bring in dogs, gentleman said he had a table outside and to come back at one. Came back with two very excited children to be told no table."