porthminster cafe, St. Ives

If you love fish your in for a treat. Wonderful flavours and great service. A little pricey but superb dishes in fine cuisine style. Unfortunately my partner had a different opinion to me as she’s not a lover of fish unless it’s battered. She had the fillet steak which was great but she found the presentation a little bit too fussy and slightly pretentious. The restaurant has probably the best views in St. Ives and has a soft warm ambiance in the evening. A great place for a romantic meal.

cosy restaurant situated on the bay of st ives. Quality food at a price. Would visit again.

Over rated, over priced, mediocre food, a favorite of the newspaper hacks.

I was recently in St. Ives, Cornwall. And I found this stunning restaurant, the place gives you a true "coasty" feeling with its location right in the seafront of Porthminster beach and its simple but great marine deco. Unfortunately they were only open for lunch because of the season but still it looked quite busy. Immediately as we came in the staff was very polite and welcoming, the menu and the wine list were superb and the kitchen plays with different ingredients daily. I had a couple of glasses of a local rose cider, that by the way were complementary because the kitchen took a long time to serve our table, finally after a pleasant wait my starter arrived; venison tartare with white tomato sorbet, the mix between the icy sorbet and the rest was superb. For mains I had the red mullet fillet, tempura scallops and crab thai salad with yuzu the intense flavours of the fresh fish and the bittersweet taste of the homemade yuzu amazed my taste buds, the crab salad was juicy and citrus, perfect mix. The waitress was very attentive and polite, not savvy on the menu but I overlooked that because she had some stories to share about the place. Overall it was a great experience and if it wasn't for the waiting times it would have been perfect.

We were all very dissapointed with our third visit to the cafe, previously we had all fallen under its spell and were looking forward to another return visit. Co-incidentally the eldest daughter had visited with partner the week previous to our visit and had felt the same, but she hadn't said anything to us as she knew that we were looking forward to returning there. The service left a great deal to be desired, disinterested staff, mixing up orders etc - all fairly forgiveable but the food itself fell way below atandard. The haloumi starters, which two of us had, were served on toasted bread that was too hard to cut into - was it my elderly gnashers I asked myself? but no, my surfer dude son-in-law abandoned his attempts after a few minutes.We kept quiet and awaited the main courses. My monkfish curry contained more mussels (in their shells) than monkfish, which floated in samllish pieces in an unidetifiable sauce - certainly not "curry". The daughters goats cheese tart was a disc of seemingly uncooked goats cheese served atop an aubergine type mush in a hard filo pastry case. Everyone gave up on puddings apart from me - which wasn't bad. Sadly I shan't be returning to the Porthminster as there are so many excellent places to eat in St Ives, this is a place living on its past glories.

Went there last Friday evening, had an Excellent time !!!

Red Mullet starter was superb.

Anybody visiting the St Ives neck of the woods its a must.

The location is Romantic, it epitomises CORNWALL and so much of the ART you see for sale in the shops.

The food is good. The fish flaked and was fresh with crispy batter. The chips were superb!

The Chef is from Australia and knows a thing or two about cooking. Our whole party gave this place the thumbs up!

Food= value for money.
Staff = pleasant
Location = "It's like living in a Cornish Coast painting".

They serve Cream Teas too.

Try the White Chocolate Cookie Dough Ice Cream_ It's a winner!

as you pull up to this grand hotel you realize why you've paid quite a bit for accomodation, it has a large bar area with lovely veiws of St Ives bay and pier. the rooms are spacious and have a small room off the main bedroom with either twin beds or a bunk bed si you don't have the children on top of you like some places are. the breakfast is self serve from buffet style so you can choose what you like good for fussy children that only want bacon and sausage. cost us around £800 for 3 night stay on b&b rate, but you do get use of the pool and jacuzzi, sauna and small gym.

The Porthminster Cafe is easily the best restaurant in St. Ives. The setting is fantastic (right on Porthminster beach!). Try to get a seat with a view of the bay (we didn’t quite manage this as we booked on the same day).

You can expect to pay £10 for a starter and £20 for main here. Not cheap, but definitely worth it as a holiday treat. The baked cod was excellent and the calamari fresh and crisp. Wine comes served in beach buckets which i thought was a nice little touch!

Highly recommended posh nosh.

If you’re coming to St Ives, you must go here. I’ve only eaten dinner there, although I’m told the lunch service is excellent too. The small but perfectly formed menu comprises of local ingredients, some even grown and picked fresh from the garden across the path, and is just delicious. A non-fish lover, I ordered scallops which were divine, and a delicious thai inspired fish dish as my main course. I was converted there and then! Try and get a table outside - even at night the patio heaters are on - eating this food whilst listening to the waves lap against Porthminster beach is an experience everyone should try once.

Great place to eat with stunning views across the bay. A lovely relaxed atmosphere & friendly helpful staff. They do scrumptiously delicious food, fish is a great speciality & the sweets are heavenly. They have a good choice of wines. Can’t wait to go back!!

Great food, stunning on-beach location, sea views, friendly, relaxed atmosphere. What more could you ask for? Well this restaurant has a secret. Below the restaurant is a beach cafe where you can get some of the best chips in the world. They are tasty and crispy, not soggy and smelling of old fried chicken. I will not eat chips from most chip shops and usually prefer to make my own, but these I always look forward to.

Whether you like fine dining upstairs or the more rustic fare available on the beach you will not be disappointed.

I’ve been a few times, great on a sunny day, but need to book a good table early on the terrace or a window seat.
Good food, maily fish, reasonable value.

i have to say that i have visited this restaurant about 4 times now and it has to rank as one of the greatest locations for a sea food restaurant in the country .,.. Amazing food .. great service and a fine wine list … if you want to wow a new partner this is the place to take them !!