Porthmeor Cafe in Cornwall, Isles of Scilly

Incredible food with an incredible view, absolutely faultless!

This is our happy place. It’s hard to beat a table by the wide window, watching the dogs play on the beach as the tide rolls in, and being treated to outstanding food and drink. You can feel your cares melting away! The standard of food here is consistently high, and the chefs manage to get incredible and distinct flavours out of every dish (the tapas dishes remind us of Ottolenghi). The staff are all friendly and kind, and we’re especially grateful to Mihaela who gave us a warm welcome every time. We know there are great restaurants in St Ives, but we keep being drawn back here!

As a local I thought I'd give this place another try after the last bad experience we all had. This time was worse. We waited just over 20 minutes to get our drinks order which then took another age to deliver. The food was nice but the pudding had salt in it which ruined it as it was chocolate sauce. It never mentioned salt in the menu. What made all of this worse was the bill. Bearing in mind one had water and one only had one drink, no starters and only two puddings, it came to £120 for the 3 of us. I also thought it was absolutely disgusting that they added 10% on the bill without our consent. So for me it's really easy. I'll never be going back again!

Breakfast was so good we came back for lunch! Came here based on reviews for breakfast which was really good so we booked for a tapas lunch the following day - location wise it really doesn’t get much better, the menu, considering the location and quality of food is very reasonable. The staff are very friendly and attentive Absolutely would recommend and will be back!

Wow, what a lovely experience lunch was. Friendly team who made us feel welcome and some excellent tapas - we enjoyed the prawns, mussels, crab croquettes and the omelette. All very tasty and well presented and such a beautiful spot overlooking the beach. Will be back for sure!

One of the best places to eat, lovely staff, great food and beautiful views.

Best place for seafood I've been to in a long while. So happy I found it by chance and spent a great time there with my family. Thank you guys!

Beautiful sunny February day and fabulous spot to enjoy it all with a glass of wine and some tasty tapas.

Wonderful welcome - seated in a window seat for four with amazing views. Service was so friendly and welcoming. Food was incredible. Extremely good value. We will definitely be back! Highly recommend the mussels, crab cakes, fish cakes and children's chicken and chips.

Great food and always friendly .Always have meal here in the summer if in the area Great sea food and Service. Book early to get a table

Dropped in for a warming cup of tea on a chilly February day and received a lovely welcome. Didn't eat but the lemon, ginger and honey infusion tea was tasty..

I love the pancakes! I added hashbrowns on the side. I also enjoyed having the English breakfast and their hot chocolate. I love enjoying the ordered food as I sit facing the view of the beach. The staff are also kind and friendly. It was definitely a lovely day.

One of our favourite places to visit. We always enjoy ourselves here and have done so consistently over the years we've been coming to St.Ives . Location couldn't be more perfect and it's made even better by the wonderful food, drinks and service

Need to book for breakfast in busy seasons, but a great breakfast

Called in with the wife after a walk on the beach, we only had a hot chocolate drink each, it looked good when it was delivered to the table but it was tasteless and not very warm, had better in the harbour for less £, probably won't return here.

Shown to seat. 10 mins later had to ask for a menu, 10 mins after that nobody had taken our order - all we wanted was a drink which they said they were happy to do - disappointed

We were passing and came across this lovely beach cafe so decided to stop for a drink, and possibly a light lunch too, if the menu appealed to us. By the time our latte and tea arrived, we’d been seduced by the food that was being served to other diners, particularly the tapas dishes which looked and smelled delicious. We weren’t overly hungry so we opted to share some grilled halloumi, king prawns, rosemary chips and bread, with some lemon polenta to finish. Certainly, we had no complaints about the food which was really tasty and full of flavour. However, it’s not especially cheap here (our bill was just under £50 for what I would call a snacky type of lunch) and we were surprised to find that a 10% service charge had automatically been added to our bill, even though this hadn’t been mentioned to us. Service was okay, but not exceptional by any means, and whilst we would have left a tip, we felt that staff should have been transparent about the service charge. As ‘walk-ins’ during a busy lunchtime, we were seated inside, with no direct view of the sea or beach, which is fair enough, but perhaps if we’d had a lovely view, we might have felt differently about the prices and service charge. All that said, we’d definitely return but would book in advance so that we could take advantage of the amazing views that everybody talks about!

Fabulously tasty tapas menu and great location to watch the world go by

Excellent food, great ocean view, friendly staff. Fish stew was delicious!

We were inspired to visit after reading the review by Miss Piggy (couple of reviews below this one) Miss P seethes so much over so little we just had to see what the fuss was all about Imagine how disappointed we were when we discovered a charming beach cafe with wonderful staff and food to die for And with views over a stunning bay We tried really hard to master some anger and negativity but we just couldn’t The place thwarted us with its pesky excellence Doh

Service with an attitude, including manageress. However one sympathises it's challenging for the waiting staff dealing with a neverending queue of demanding holidaymakers. Food fair, location lovely overlooking beach.

Great food with an amazing view, the staff are very nice and efficient

Amazing place with beautiful views . Very nice food and service . Staff super friendly

Lovely tea and vegan chocolate cake, a really nice end to our honeymoon! Thank you :)

Oh my goodness this place is fantastic! Not only is the location amazing but the food is exceptional. The service was impressive too - highly recommend. You must book otherwise you won’t get a table.

Great food, great service, great views.

Perfect glass of wine watching the surfing 👍

Stunning views and you can have a heated pod so you can get refreshed while you watch the tide roll in.

Beautiful views but overpriced for portion size. Great coffee!

Great beach place, mussels are really delicious 🤤

Having recently moved to Cornwall we are keen to explore the area, so on a nice Sunny Sunday in October we took the Dog for a walk on the beach and we were just about ready for some breakfast. Very friendly service and they accommodated our Dog. They do a 'build your own Breakfast' which is a great idea. Yes, its not the cheapest Brekky ive ever had but it was certainly one of the best. Kept me full up for most of Sunday. Highly recommended if in the area

Had a wonderful lunch with family, visited on 29th October. Staff amazing and the food was out of this world, thank you for a fantastic meal.

Great little place to get a hot drink or something to eat.

Exquisite food, service and location.

This is a perfect place to eat and relax with friends. I went with my grand-daughter two days ago and, as always, every thing was wonderful. The food is delicious and the staff are so friendly and efficient. We love it. I was pleased to note that dogs are not welcomed. I love dogs but around food? NO! We shall return time and time again.

A lovely family meal, slightly marred by the freezing cold wind blowing through the verandah, made worse by the fact that the heater didn't work. We still had a great time there, as we do every year. Food fantastic. Enjoy

We had breakfast here on two morning’s The food was fantastic, with an excellent menu. The views are breathtaking and the staff are second to none.Highly recommended, we will be back!!!

Our favourite spot for food when visiting St Ives. It has the most amazing view of Porthmeor beach and we’ve always been so impressed with the food and service. We love being able to sit outside in the heated pods in the winter - an absolute must when visiting St Ives!

Our annual treat - breakfast every day during our week in St Ives. Fantastic food, friendly attentive staff, and what a view! Looking forward to returning next October already!

We had a delicious lunch here last weekend. We shared olives, crab sandwich and mussels. The mussels were delicious, really good size and super tasty. My one tiny issue was we ordered vino verde, we had 3 glasses but I’m almost convinced it wasn’t a vino verde, either that or it wasn’t a very good one as was very sweet…..our take away coffee was also stone cold. BUT food was good, service was good and location was beautiful

Staff are amazing in here, the food delicious. Had tapas one evening and also breakfast which was lovely

The food was amazing and there was plenty of it, though a bit pricey. The service was exceptional even though they were busy.

This was an unexpected find!! Food was amazing the views are amazing!!! Service is a bit slow, this could because of the time I visited. However the staff work hard to insure we and other enjoyed the experience,FYI the seafood menu is one of the best ( wish could add pictures off the food )

Very popular place so booking is recommended. We have been fortunate enough to grab a stool for a quick drink when passing by, but if you want a table for food I recommend booking ahead of time. The food here is really good and the view across Porthmeor is the best in St Ives (imo). Heat lamps and blankets are provided if it gets cold which it was on our last visit when these photos were taken in March, but there is also indoor seating.

We had a party of 6 eating tonight. The service was impeccable. The food was superb. We have had snacks and coffee on numerous occasions here, but this was the first evening dinner we have tried. It was absolutely brilliant and we enjoyed every part of it. I Highly recommend tapas ,especially the roasted cauliflower, tahini dressing, lentil salad. Hats off to the super friendly staff. We will be returning.. xx

Spectacular food, the mackerel dish was exceptionally fantastic and a much larger portion of fries than i expected (compared to bristol places) and the crab sandwich was delightful. Desserts looked great too. Amazing food, views and atmosphere😊

Called in for drinks only - superb view across Porthmeor beach!

Fantastic breakfast. Great customer service, we come here every time.e we are in St Ives..

Great view, but unfortunately the service is very slow.

Came here a few times for breakfast whilst staying in St Ives, we loved it! The build your own breakfasts are so handy especially if you don’t like all the traditional items on an English breakfast, there is no hassle of having to swap & remove items if you don’t like them! The staff were all very friendly and the service was quick. Great views of the beach which makes everything a bit better! ☺️

An excellent little café with food and drink quality way above expectations for such a small place. Special mention for their coffee - easily the strongest and loveliest tasting black coffee I've had anywhere I've travelled.

Lovely cafe, steady flow of people in and out but they'll always try and find you a seat. The service is excellent, lovely friendly, efficient service. The eggs were great, scrambled but more folded eggs, and roasted butternut squash, well seasoned and almost caramelised..so delicious.. I didn't even care if I had toast, I'd go back just for that. Very nice coffee, a well made flat white. And what a wonderful view 😊

Lovely breakfast. Efficient team but still keeps it relaxed and friendly, especially good at the end of a long season! Good beach vibe. Recommend booking.

This was the highlight of our trip to St Ives, good food, service and outstanding views. The breakfast was brilliant, be sure to book and it's dog friendly in one section

Exquisite food & excellent service!

Delicious food and stunning location. Crunch crunch!

We recently visited St Ives and had both breakfast and dinner here. The food was amazing, the staff are very friendly, and you simply can’t beat the view! What makes it even better is how dog friendly they are, you can sit on the Terrace with your dog and it is suitable on a sunny morning or a cold evening with heaters and shelter from the wind. Will definitely be back next time we visit!

We manage to visit, if we can, once a year and have done for many years. Service is always great: friendly, approachable, professional and efficiently organised. Food: we had Tapas was fantastic. From the simple bread and oil, to the rosemary truffle chips [to die for], to Mackerel and fennel, serrano ham, pear, roasted walnuts and honey, the IOW tomatoes to the spiced aubergine it was absolutely delicious. And not to miss out the caramalised banana and my lemon merangue pie. And the view you cannot beat, with the rolling waves, the lovely beach and the dark blue and cornish turquoise of the sea. Strongly recommend, and to avoid major disappointment- book if you can.

Pleasant place to sit overlooking beach. Inside and outside seating. Reasonably priced. Not over keen on letting customers sitting outside use the toilets.

Visited St. Ives on a drizzly day. Beach Café highlight with a delicious crab salad and a good glass of pinot grigio. Super!

Lovely place. The lovely staff make it even better. The food is not far behind. Super chilled, lovely outlook and delicious tapas.

Absolutely incredible. Some of the best food we've had in a long time. We visited on the last evening of our trip to Cornwall and everything was brilliant. We're both vegetarian and all the options we chose were so lovely and full of flavour. We were talking about this place for days afterwards! Will definitely be back next time we're in St Ives

Greatly disappointed to find NO vegan ice-cream, even though it's advertised on the board for a milkshake. Was going to be the treat at the end of the holiday. Staff apologetic but apparently haven't had any for some time. We left.

The attention from the staff is 10/10, Chloe I think her name was stood out from the crowd at the time we arrived, you can see the passion and the love for what she does, after an 8 hour journey from Sheffield the greeting we got showed why we came to visit, we were both so touched by the service the review had to be made. Chloe was very caring for us and also other customers surrounding, such an unreal experience, can see why the place is always packed. Thankyou Chloe and the rest of the staff for the experience, will definitely be seeing us again 😉

Absolutely incredible. Some of the best food we've had in a long time. We visited on the last evening of our trip to Cornwall and everything was brilliant. We're both vegetarian and all the options we chose were so lovely and full of flavour. We were talking about this place for days afterwards! Will definitely be back next time we're in St Ives

This is our favourite restaurant in St Ives. We go for the tapas each visit and they are all fabulous. Too many to list but highlights included Sri Lankan chicken, tender stem with mojo, crispy squid with aioli, mozzarella and sun-dried tomato arancini. Great service and great cocktails. My only criticism is that our booking was accepted for 845pm. We ordered bread and olives and some drinks whilst we looked at menu. When we ordered just before 9pm we were told that kitchen closes at 9pm. With tapas it’s sometimes good to order a few and then order a few more depending on appetite. We had to order them all together and did over order. Having said that we had a wonderful evening and will keep returning as food and service so good

We happened to be at this restaurant because we were looking for shelter from the rain. We waited a while but were then assigned to a table outside. Since there was heating, that was easy to use and there is a great view of the beach! The food was very good, overall it's a bit more expensive - but the view makes up for it all ;-)

Stunning restaurant with a beautiful view, food was soo nice and of such high quality would definitely come back… even in the rain!

Highly recommend. Excellent service. Food is fabulous. This is not a cafe. They have a chef and super food. We had the sole. Mackerel. Mussels and shrimps. All delicious. Great view. Staff excellent.

Good location but sadly very few veg options.

We had a lovely lunch here, the tapas option means you can have a couple of small plates that all taste delicious, whilst overlooking the beach

Absolutely excellent & a must do restaurant if you're in St Ives. We have already been twice in 4 days & are returning for our final visit before we leave St Ives. All staff are really friendly, efficient & attentive , the restaurant has a lovely atmosphere & a beautiful position overlooking Porthmeor Beach. Food is absolutely amazing - we've had a variety of small plates & the hake & pork belly from the main dishes & the salted caramelized banana & lemon posset from the dessert menu. It has all been utterly delicious & the presentation of the food is beautiful too. Washed down with a good selection of wines & cocktails & superb liquer coffee/ coffees too. Such an amazing place to eat, we love it! 100% recommend!

This is for the bar open on the beach. It’s very confusing that there isn’t a separate entry on Google. Open till 7 for food and 8 for drinks. It’s just a beach bar, but what else do you need for a night on the beach in st Ives? Edit - Been to both the the beach cafe and the beach bar itself - both are excellent. Expect to spend £30+ per person upstairs. And you have to book literally 2 weeks in advance - 3+ weeks if you want a peak time.

Absolutely astonishing! We ducked in out of the rain after visiting the Tate gallery across the road. We really weren't expecting it to be quite so high a standard! Food was excellant, the range of small plates was really well thought through, with a decent vegetarian option too. The scones were also pretty great!

Me and my partner have been coming here for years now, and it seems to only get better. The breakfast is solid but it really shines at lunch and dinner, with great views, and new and improved drinks menu with some smashing cocktails and more importantly, some GREAT and creative mocktails! The view and sunset is unmatched and this place will always be up there on our list. The food is tapas style dining for a sharing experience or you can order larger plates that are actually full meals unlike other small plate restaurants. From our most recent visit, the lemon sole was gorgeous, I highly recommend that, as well as the broccoli lol, it was so good. The desserts are pretty good too, though aren’t ever quite as good as the main dishes. All in all, a lovely restaurant with lovely service. It’s not cheap, but for the standard of food and the views, you simply can’t go wrong.

Fantastic place for breakfast! Booking is definitely worth it if you want to sit by the window. The food was delicious and came in a really good portion size. The price was reflective of the quality and great value in my opinion. Highly recommend!!

Waited patiently by the sign that said 'Please wait to be seated' whilst being ignored by staff and after 10 minutes we were told by the staff member that had ignored us we needed to wait on the other side to get a table. So many cafes around so we left to find a place with a lovely atmosphere, a nice smile with quick and excellent service from a cafe called Sea View (Tate Gallery) which had a magical view.

Came here for food on our first night. Fantastic service, views and food was just top of the pops. Had the belly pork which was just mouthwatering. Presentation was excellent and tasted so good. Will always want to eat here from now on when in St. Ives!

Wonderful meal. Delicious tapas. Special shout out to Rebecca and Emily who made our visit very special. The grilled halloumi served on a crisp salad was delicious, followed by sea bass taco, mackerel & fennel, spicy chicken all hit the spot. The Rosemary and salted fries completed the meal. The bottle of Rosé was refreshing too. Hats off to the real hero’s, the Chefs 👍

Great service, very friendly staff and amazing location for the morning coffee ‘with a view’ which I really enjoyed! You may need to consider an advance table booking if you would like to enjoy a lunch or dinner here as the place seems to be very popular.

Wow, we visited this restaurant on a sunny Friday evening in August. We hadn’t booked, and the team managed to squeeze us in, providing us with a balcony table within 15 minutes. Adults had fish dishes, teenagers had tapas. Best fish dish (plaice) I’ve ever had, with a fantastic glass of white Italian wine to accompany it. Dessert was delicious; caramelised banana, with peanut and ice-cream. When we visit St Ives again, we will be back. Well done to the whole team of Porthmeor Beach Cafe. The evening was perfect.

10 adults, it was amazing, staff were amazing.

Great tapas and truly brilliant staff, the view of the sunset made it magical. Everyone was happy with their food and left satisfied

Excellent service (we went for lunch) amazing food and lovely setting. Will definitely visit again

We had a lovely time, from booking over the phone with Chloe to our early arrival they were very accommodating. The squid starter was flawless and so was the prawn skewer, unfortunately the prawn curry had a subtle bitter finish, however it did not spoil the dish. We’ll be back in the future for more of your lovely food and the view! x

The staff 100% the food 100% the service 💯% location 💯% great value for money myself and my son will be back.

A wonderful place for lunch with exceptional food, a great view and excellent service. Of course this comes at a price, but in our opinion it was well worth it.

Bit pricey! Quantity is less too. Food tasted okay.

Amazing staff and fresh beautiful food! They catered for us being gluten and milk free. We were a big group of loud kids and adults and the staff were very accommodating and polite. The view was lovely (even though it was raining).

Best location in St Ives, overlooking Porthmeor beach where you can eat watching the sun set. We have visited many times and the food and service are consistently excellent. The tapas options are a great choice for dinner, with so much to choose from it's very difficult not to over order! Everything we tried was delicious and my only regret was that we didn't have room for dessert. Try and reserve a booth outdoors if you can.

Visited for food here on two occasions and had a great experience. The dishes were delicious especially the tapas, the staff were brilliant in accommodating me on the sun terrace even though I didn’t book which is recommended as it gets busy on the evening around sunset, and the service was great. Looking forward to dining here again.

Fabulous location above the beach and just by the Tate gallery. Very limited provision for a vegan breakfast. The waitress did kindly point out that though their granola has honey in it, lots of people 'don't mind'. En̈ded up having beans on toast while companions enjoyed a variety of colourful and tasty options. It is a long time since I've felt so 'difficult' and unwelcome.

We have visited Porthmeor cafe for lunch each year we’ve been coming to St Ives and have always loved it. This year we made a reservation for dinner. Unfortunately this year was disappointing, mainly because of the poor service, which bordered on rude at times - no drinks order taken for ages, mussels being absent from the menu being explained as them not being available at this time of day (?), long wait for an order of one dessert, dismissed as ‘well this is a very large restaurant and there are a lot of people in your position’ and no one asking we would like any more drinks during the meal. The food was okay but difficult to enjoy when service was so poor. Porthmeor cafe has always been a must do each holiday, but not anymore after this.

Good manageress & welcome, but sullen staff who left us feeling like we had inconvenienced them. Slow to get order, some standing around chatting. We arrived 3.30pm before they closed at 4pm so they were perhaps tired. Cafe drinks, cake and tapas. Some tapas dishes very good, others not so. Stunning location. A very busy place so perhaps to be expected.

Really friendly staff here and lovely views. Visited for breakfast and I had a granola / fruit bowl with yogurt which was well worth the £9 - the portion was huge and lots of fruit! Lots of vegetarian options on the breakfast menu

Great gluten free and low fodmap options. Delicious food and view!

I suggest that the person running the cafe, read all the one star reviews going back over the recent years because nothings changed. Very poor service by young female staff who quite obviously feel it's below them to serve customers. We waited patiently whilst two staff talked and others walked past us numerous times with no acknowledgement. When I eventually asked to place an order it was as if we were an inconvenience. Wouldn't go again and wouldn't recommend.

Great food, service and a fantastic view !

Beautiful view. Excellent service and food.

Very busy, best to book a table in advance. Limited menu, but tasty dishes. Pretty expensive.