The Mermaid Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "All dishes cooked perfectly, they really know their fish."
• "The food is gorgeous."
• "It was so delicious we went back 2 more nights for the paella again and then the fish pot which was also amazing."
• "Delicious food."
• "The food was absolutely delicious, specially seafood."
• "Food was delicious, well presented and tasted fantastic."
• "The mermaid platter, pot of seafood and Thai fish curry are the best any of us have ever had."

Cons:

• "Like cheap pub food set at fine dining prices!"
• "Very overpriced. Like others say not sure why all the fuss..."
• "The food was pretty standard and nothing special."
• "Considering the praise this place gets it was a bit meh."
• "The Mussels were amongst the poorest I've ever tasted, especially in St Ives."
• "so not worth the horrible tasteless dry bland food you pay for."
• "Unfortunately it wasn't, it was very bland and tasteless, it was also very greasy and not crispy batter as I would expect."

Service

Pros:

• "Fantastic service."
• "We had amazing service from Hannah. She's attentive but not pushy and a has great sense of humour!"
• "The staff were warm, helpful and friendly."
• "Staff were very friendly, making us and our 3yr old welcome."
• "Service great, prices very competitive."
• "Wonderful service."
• "Staff really lovely."

Cons:

• "The thing that made the experience very poor was the service."
• "We had to remind the waitress about our water even though our other drinks had been served ages before."
• "The waitresses were poor but friendly enough."
• "The service is quite poor and unhelpful."
• "Staff not attentive at all and appear uninterested."
• "The staff also did not ask us at any point how our meal was, either during or after."
• "The service dropped off and that was reflected in us not leaving a tip or a good review."

Ambiance

Pros:

• "Staff were lovely. Restaurant was cosy and romantic even."
• "A cosy, romantic restaurant which is full of character."
• "Perfect atmosphere, lovely staff."
• "Great intimate atmosphere."
• "A quirky restaurant with a lovely atmosphere."
• "Traditional low ceilings, very cramped but that adds to the atmosphere!"
• "Lovely atmosphere!"

Cons:

• "Pop music/charts music didn’t seem very fitting for the place!"
• "Some may say the decor is a little old fashioned, but I'm much more interested in the food."
• "The decorations inside the restaurant is like the 80' American movie."
• "The atmosphere was dead."
• "it was so cramped with the ladies sitting adjacent in a similar predicament but with no view."
• "But the decor is very dated, not much space to move around between tables as they cram people in."
• "Tables are VERY close together and there isn't much room to move around."

Booking and Accessibility

Pros:

• "We were lucky to get a table on the day due to a cancellation."
• "You might get lucky and book last minute if there are any cancellations."
• "Please do yourself a favour and book ahead of time!"
• "Booking early is absolutely essential."
• "You will need to book in advance if you want to eat here."
• "Highly recommend a visit. Its a must if visiting St Ives."
• "The staff were super friendly and managed to find a time to fit us in despite it being busy on a Thursday."

Cons:

• "We love the mermaid, but sadly couldn't get a table, everywhere was busy due to covid restrictions, but the mermaid was booked until the middle of October."
• "They say walk ins only for lunch... but we were turned away, being told they were full."
• "We went today at 1 o'clock and there was a table for two and a table for six empty but we were turned away, being told they were full."
• "Tried to get a table last April and couldn't."
• "But the big insult was when we got asked to finish our drinks at the drafty bar because they wanted the table for a family who had just walked in."
• "We were asked to finish our drinks in the bar and leave the table."
• "Unfortunately the experience was spoiled by having the window seats."

Value

Pros:

• "Delicious food, friendly and reasonably priced!"
• "Service great, prices very competitive."
• "Also very well priced which is a nice change from seafood restaurants trying to charge you £40+ for a Lobster!"
• "The primitivo red wine at £19 a bottle was a steal."
• "Staff couldn't do enough for us and prices were reasonable for the food served up."
• "Prices were reasonable for the food served up."
• "Very good value for money."

Cons:

• "Food was very good, but slightly overpriced in my opinion."
• "Very overpriced. Like others say not sure why all the fuss..."
• "Like cheap pub food set at fine dining prices!"
• "The prices are very high for the highly disappointing food."
• "Very poor lunch time meal far too expensive for poor quality food."
• "The food was average and quite pricey."
• "Downside was that they sneaked on a 10% service charge to the bill."