The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in St Ives, Cornwall*

St Ives, Cornwall Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• Becks Fish & Chips, Carbis Bay
• There's actually a cool vegetarian/vegan scene in and around the Penwith District. Rumours of an art/vegetarian restaurant on Lambeth Walk will hopefully come to fruition. There's The Feast in Truro, Archie Brown's and YAM Parlour in Penzance, and the salad Bar in Good Health in St. Ives. And for supplies, Richard's Health Food (below Archie Brown's), Hendra's in Truro and Good Health in St. Ives are all well-stocked and friendly lovely folks.
• The prices in the majority of the restuarants in St Ives are becoming absolutely ridiculous. The Seafood Cafe was one of the forerunners of the expensive restaurants. I live in London, and for the prices it charges I expect London-level quality, and I'm afraid it doesn't quite measure up. Stacking stuff is SO 5 years ago, darlings! It looks stooopid and is impossible to eat. Bring the prices down and stop stacking the produce, ok? Other places are ridiculously priced - Blue Fish, Porthminster Cafe...it is bloody insulting! St Ives used to be about family holidays by the sea, and now I can't imagine many families can afford this. Peppers has it right - medium quality food at acceptable, sensible prices. No surprises then that it is always booked up! Come on St Ives, get your act together. We don't come to you to be ripped off, but to chill out.
• The Porthgwidden now has a Spanish/Moroccan feel. I had the best meal I've ever had in St Ives there. Porthminster Cafe, Onshore and Alba are excellent. The Pig and Fish is now the Blue Fish. We don't go there because the owner drives a Porsche. Seriously - mixed reports.
• New restaurant, Coast, overlooking the harbour. Not open long (as of April 03)but delicious food. Place is on the 1st floor so good views over the harbour and to Hayle and beyond. Very clean, wood floors, light painted walls. Waitress had lovely green eyes matching her T shirt! Average to expensive, depending what you order. Lots of variety on menu, something for everyone.
• St.Ives now has Britains Best Pizza Restaurant. OnShore were winners of The Italian Pizza and Pasta Association award for the best pizza restaurant in the country. The pizza menu is unlike any others i have tried and the waitresses are all very tasty also!!! They also offer lobster cooked inthe wood burning oven.
• caffe pasta on the end of wharf road is great-lovely pasta, pizza and fish(and more)give it a try!is very busy during summer months so booking advisable!
• loads of places to get takeaway food!
• Curry Garden We had a takeaway from here. Onion bhajees like mini hand grenades...totally dried out & tough. Sag aloo included potato, peas (???) & miniscule amount of spinach. Good bombay aloo but BRIGHT red jalfrezi, no fresh chillies. However, they will make up a meal according to your taste. Try it if you dare!
• The Primrose Valley Hotel offers a freindly service at all times of the day, and features a bar open to non residents with a smashing view over the bay, and every half hour the train rolls in across th railway bridge, a well known landmark to those aquainted with this place. The nightlife includes barbeques with Al Fresco dining overlooking the bay, (beutiful sunsets while having a freshly cooked cajun chicken- Magnifique!) and race nights include all the fun family and freinds could want after a great day sun bathing or sightseeing along the coastal path. Also they offer a quiz night on tuesdays which also makes for a wonderful night out. Be sure to visit this place, as the Kiwis went when they were staying at the Porthminster hotel! And thats gotta be something special.
• Yet another recommendation for the Porthminster Cafe - superb food and incredible views. If you can't get in there, try the Porthgwidden Cafe, which has a similar, similarly excellent menu - and is very reasonably priced. By far the best of the cheaper restaurants is Caffe Pasta at the western end of the Wharf. This isn't just another pseudo-Italian place, but offers delicious pasta dishes, unusually good pizzas, and very impressive fish dishes at noticeably lower prices than you'd pay for this quality elsewhere in town. The deserts are simply wonderful.
• The resturaunt at Porthgwidden beach is really good, sort of italian style but also does great breakfasts and snacks and stuff, also brilliant views of the beach and the island.
• Porthminster Beach Cafe for the best food and views. Right on the beach.
• Never had an idea that pasties could come in so many forms.
• We had a very strange meal at the The Curry Garden during Christmas 2000. I can't say I'd go there again. A very odd intepretation of Indian food (I've had plenty; I currently live in London). The muttar panner turned out to be chick peas with grated cheddar grilled on top.
• GIVE IT A TRY! 'The Curry Garden' in St Andrews st.The food is EXCELLENT, - It is a take-your-own-beer/wine place. But beware they will charge you £1.50 corkage regardless of whether you removed the cork yourself! Don't be put off by the lack of indian waiters - the staff are very friendly and know their stuff.
• Porthminster Restaurant - Knowhere's rave sent us there - double underline it! We're Aussies so you might expect perfect espresso, fresh, imaginative food & amazing views to appeal. It did! Our best meals out ever! A couple of popular guides to Great Britain suggest eating at the Pig 'n Fish - it doesn't exist anymore. Go to Portminster Restaurant
• Portminster Cafe, Spanish feel to the restaraunt. Excellent food and imaginative menu. Friendly welcome and lively clientel. Green and white buliding on the beach looking out over the bay. Highly reccomended.
• Al Fresco on the seafront has best food and not too expensive. Make sure you book.
• The best restaurant has got to be Mobys Restaurant which is a allrounder eating place which do the best fish and chips in town. They also have a Takeaway and seafood bar to tantilize your taste buds.
• Peppers 'pizzas and pastas' on Fore Street are the best you can get anywhere in the UK. Service pretty good too.

Pubs

• The Lifeboat
• Sloop Inn - Most miserable staff I have ever seen The Golden Lion; Locals only in the front bar please. The back bar is like a cross between a youth club (in decor) and a playschool (in clientele) The Three Ferrets - Goos Staff, Football always on the box, Get Fish and Chips from Annies up the road and eat it in the pub. Superb !!
• Cornish Arms in Carbis Bay is killer, love it. Sloop is old-school (about 800 years old school in fact). Harbour Pool Club sucks now, used to be nice, still cheap though. Huer's is good for frou-frou drinks, and the Queen's got it's sh together a couple years back.
• All town centre pubs are OK and most allow dogs in. The food at the sloop is overpriced and poor. The Three Ferrets used to be called the Thirty Ferrets but the locals ate the other twenty seven. Just outside town, the Tinners at Zennor, hasn't changed for centuries. The Gurnard's Head, at Treen has log fires in winter and good food.
• Huers-kind of like a coctail bar-got comfy sofas and great view over harbour-some rather handsome barmen too
• quite a few good pubs, the reef bar is good (i think that what its called) thats the 1 to the right of the arcade and its upstairs (if i remember right)
• You must try Huers Wine Bar at least once, the cocktails are fab. The bar staff are far from ugly but watch your head if you are over 5'10!
• The Sloop rules - the most fun pub I went to in England
• Sloop is nice, ususally have very fit barmen, like the Antonio Banderas lookeylikey. Reef only £1!
• The Lifeboat Inn on the harbour has been refurbished and is set to rival the Sloop. Well worth a visit. Excellent food.
• The Sloop Inn
• The sloop is the most popular, also the Golden lion, the three ferets, and Scandals which is also the nightclub (Elbow room)
• Poor, but best is the Sloop, if you don't mind Trogs.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Porthminster Beach Cafe, Porthmeor Cafe & Porthgwidden Beach Cafe to name but a few
• Porthmeor coffee shop under the Tate Gallery does really bad cappuccino & espresso. Their cooked brekkies are ok though - not greasy & eggs how you like them - even poached.

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

We make no claims as to the accuracy of the information in the Guide - our only purpose is to provide a forum for users to share their knowledge and opinions. So please keep a large bag of salt handy and be prepared to read between the lines!

If you disagree with a comment, or information is out of date, please submit an update! The contributors come from all walks of life, and their opinions are bound to be subjective, so if your view isn't represented, please speak up and contribute to the balance of the Guide. See below in the 'Have Your Say' section for how to add your voice.

If we have helped you out or made you laugh you can buy us a pint.

Have Your Say...

You can tell us more about St Ives. This is also the method to use if you want to correct some of the information already here. (But please remember you're not mailing the person who actually wrote whatever-it-is.)

You can use the add an event form to tell us about events happening in St Ives.

Or, if you'd just like to leave a message for other users of this site, take a look at The Knowhere Board (handy if you're just trying to get in touch with someone).

Credits

Last updated: 2008-07-03