The Clipper..more like The Sh****r (The Clipper (Padstow))

Member Name: sweetpea01

Product:	The Clipper (Padstow)
Date:	01/09/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: There are none!

Disadvantages: Everything and anything!

On the Saturday night after booking into our very lovely B&B it was time to meet Mr Pea's parents and find somewhere to eat. On the way out of the B&B we were asked where we would be eating tonight and we responded "we don't know yet", we were then told that it was advisable that we needed to book! This raised a slight concern but as we had got in to a great place (The Basement - see previous review) on the Friday night we thought we'd be okay!

Oh how wrong we all were! After leaving our usual pub (the one that did fantastic wine!) we set about finding somewhere to have our evening meal, our worries started to sink in when we were turned down by a few restaurants, advising us that they were fully booked! On walking round for a while we came upon a restaurant called The Clipper. We didn't bother looking at the menu outside on the wall as hunger had started to set in and we just wanted food! The Clipper is right in the centre of town right near Barclays Bank and next to a few of the pasty shops. On the outside it looks like quite an old, historic building with the timber beams still showing. As we entered it seemed pretty busy (which can't be bad for a Saturday night) but as you delve further inside there are quite a few empty tables which for a Saturday night in Padstow cannot be good!

*~*~* The Interior *~*~*

Upon entering The Clipper you felt as if you had just entered an old tavern style pub! Dark mahogany tables and chairs with badly ironed white table clothes (which were clearly cheap)! Even the walls were half mahogany wood and white paint which seemed a little tired around the edges.

On the walls is old ship memorabilia and paintings which looked as if they had been on the walls for decades and hadn't been moved! On the beams the restaurant had put again mahogany shelving up which was then stocked with wine bottles. Because there was so much mahogany wood both on the walls, the ceiling and the furniture it made the place feel incredibly dank and dark.

The furniture had clearly been in the place since it had first opened as the chairs were well worn and rocked slightly but on a positive note they seemed to fit in with the wall hangings, ship memorabilia and pictures but I guess that's hardly positive unless you like that worn out and tired look!

Dare I mention the toilets?! Well yes, to me a restaurant needs to have good toilets especially in a place which welcomes high volumes of tourists (I cant see the locals eating here). Well the toilets (I'm only reviewing the women's) were much like the interior of the restaurant, dark and a bit shoddy! I would call it clean but I would by lying, it was usable lets just leave it at that!

*~*~* The Food *~*~*

The menu we received was huge, pages and pages of dishes and options! There were so many dishes to choose from you didn't know where to start. I think The Clipper is a little over ambitious with their menu as there is no doubt that a menu that big means that the food is certainly not fresh as it would just be impossible. They also fail in the menu to use the word "fresh" even for the fish of the day and the grilled fish section, that's always a worrying sign when "fresh" isn't used, especially next to fish!

Now in my usual reviews about restaurants/ pubs I normally list a sample of the dishes together with their prices, however, in this case The Clipper does not have a menu online as it doesn't even have a website, so I cant but I can tell you what the four of us had to eat:-

Starter:-

Seafood Medley (shared) - Smoked salmon, 1 crab's claw, mussels and a few shelled prawns.

None of it was fresh the salmon seemed to come out of a packet and the mussels were rubbery so were definitely not fresh! The "sharing platter" was hardly something you could share between 4 people; it would easily do 1 person as a starter if you wanted to eat it of course!

Mains:-

2 Sirloin Steaks which only came with a mountain of chips. Both of the steaks were returned as they didn't resemble a sirloin and was far too tough to even cut through let alone eat. And since when did a steak not come with a mushroom?!

Fish Pie with potatoes, salmon, cod and prawns and topped with mashed potato - This was simply disgusting; there is no other way to describe it. It had clearly been frozen as the sauce had now turned to water and the fish tasted horrible and the prawns were made of rubber. This was my meal and I was actually stopped from eating it in case I was ill!

Beef Curry which came with boiled white rice - Now this was the only dish that wasn't returned however that doesn't mean it was great food! It was eventually shared between 3 people just so they could have something to eat!

It was clear that the meals we received had either been frozen, micro-waved or re-heated as nothing was fresh. You could tell the prawns and chips had been frozen due to their taste and look and the rest of the food had probably just been re-cooked and re-heated. There was no particular taste to anything unfortunately. I think a main flaw in this restaurant is the menu and the fact it's so large that nothing can be cooked fresh. If they chose a few select dishes I think they could make a real effort but I have a feeling that the chefs are not actually chefs but people just brought in to cook food. What makes matters worse is that the dishes on the menu are not exactly cheap either! How they get away with charging people quite a bit of money for something of such poor care and quality is beyond me. I think roughly a main dish started at £9 and went up to around £25 and that's excluding the grilled dishes of the day.

*~*~* The Staff *~*~*

We didn't really see much of the staff! We were seated by an eastern European man (and I hope I'm not offending anyone by that term!) who was a man of very few words and just walked us to a table which was not to our liking and we were then re-seated at the bottom of the restaurant opposite a fridge containing gorgeous looking desserts and also next to their own ice cream shop (slightly bizarre!). Other than that we saw staff clearing tables and generally chatting amongst themselves at the top of the restaurant!

We dealt in the end mainly with the manager who was only too helpful to see to our problems with the food. She did offer for the chef to cook us something else, to which we turned down as the food in itself was not great and we didn't want to be disappointed a second time. She agreed that the food was not up to The Clipper's usual standard and took the three main dishes off our bill. She did then point out that they very very rarely receive complaints about the food, but as I've done a little digging on the web 99.9% of the reviews I have read have all been negative about the place and the food so I have a feeling she is putting a brave face on things.

*~*~* Non-Useful Details *~*~*

Address:-

4 Mill Sq
Padstow
Cornwall
PL28 8AE

Tel: - 01841 532450

*~*~* Overall Opinion *~*~*

My overall opinion is incredibly low! The food was awful and inedible, the interior is old and dated and the staff are more concerned with chatting between themselves than actually being useful. So all in all this place really is terrible. Any positives?! Well no there aren't any, I can't think of one single thing which makes this a visit worthy establishment. I hate writing such negative reviews but this restaurant (as it claims to be) does not have anything going for it, other than an owner which expectations far too high, the menu is too large as the chefs are clearly not chefs at all and clearly do not have the skills to produce wonderful dishes and the place is far too large which results in a lot of empty seating. It's always a worry when all the other restaurants in Padstow are fully booked and The Clipper has a lot of empty tables.

So would I recommend?!! Definitely not. If you find yourself without a booked table for the night I suggest going to the Chinese takeaway or even better getting a pasty and eating outside as you will have no doubt have a far more enjoyable meal!

So what was the result of our Saturday evening?! Well after leaving The Clipper and finding the Chinese closes at 11pm we decided to head to the pub where we all shared numerous packets of crisps! Not a great evening by any stretch of the imagination but it certainly is memorable!!

Just a word to the wise the:- Tourist Information Office (TIC) in Padstow do not have The Clipper on their panel of restaurant/ eatery/ pub members and this is purely because the standard is so low. Shame we were told about this from an employee at TIC in the pub after our disastrous meal!

My advice is simple: - Never ever go and book a table!!

Summary: Never visit the place...even for a toilet stop!