A shipwreck in the making (The Old Ship Hotel)

Member Name: Surfbabe13

Product:	The Old Ship Hotel
Date:	01/07/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice seating area if its not windy

Disadvantages: Service not up to scratch, food mediocre

The Old Ship Hotel is situated just off the quay at the Cornish town of Padstow. It is a hotel, restaurant and bar/pub. We have been there twice in the last year - once just for a drink and once to eat, so can't comment on the hotel side of this establishment.
There is a covered outside seating area with 12 long benches, seating about 10 at each table so it can get quite crowded, which was quite good the first time we went as it was chilly and the amount of people around warmed the place up as the overhead heaters do not appear to be very efficient. The atmosphere was jovial and there were lots of people eating. The menu looked really good, but on that occasion we had already eaten so had to forgo trying all the lovely items!
The second time we went intending to have tea, dinner, supper - call it what you will - there. It had been quite a hot day although there was a cold breeze and by the evening it was necessary for a lightweight jumper to be worn. At this point we were hoping that there would be lots of people filling the outside space so that it would be comfortably warm - however this was not to be. Only 3 tables had people around them, leaving 9 to choose from, none of which were under the heaters and at that point there was a stiff breeze blowing in from the quay. Not the most conducive atmosphere for seating out and eating an evening meal.
There is an extensive menu and a daily specials board featuring the best seasonal Cornish produce including, crab, lobster, fish, vegetables and meat. There are classic dishes, such as lasagne, fish and chips, moule mairineire, Gammon, steak as well as lighter healthier options such as salads, and baguettes.
We ordered, moules mairiniers, Gammon Steak and Fishermans Pie. This is when things started to go wrong. The staff had given us the menu's and we had ordered from the ones we'd been given. Unfortunately they had given us the lunchtime menu (at 7.30pm) so we then were asked to re-order. We weren't too happy about it but did choose something else and substituted the moules for squid.
Things got no better as the evening wore on - the service was awful - we waited well over an hour for our meals and they were mediocre to say the least when they did arrive. The staff could not come up with a decent reason for the delay, which was made worse by the fact that people that ordered after us received their meals well before we did. As to the food itself - well it was mediocre. The fish pie was just a sludge of cheesey sauce with potato on top, the fish having disentegrated completley, so I couldn;t even tell you wht fish it contain. The gammon , according to my daughter was quite leathery, although she did concede that the chips were ok. The Squid - well this looked like huge onion rings in batter and actually tasted a bit like it. It was a huge plate full of chloesterol basically. There was no discernable taste of fish to it and it came served iwth a huge mound of chips. All in all a huge disappointment as all three dished could be so brilliant if cooked well. We had moved inside by the time our food did appear, having told the staff that was what we were doing, as it had got extremely chilly outside. The bar part of the hotel was very noisy, with the ubiquitous large screens around pumping out inane music and videos.

All in all the experience was not a terribly enjoyable one and it may well have been that we hit the place on a bad night. The atmosphere the previous time had been completely different.

Summary: There are better places in Padstow to eat