Porthmeor Cafe in Cornwall, Isles of Scilly

Exquisite food, service and location.

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

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

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!

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! ☺️

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 😊

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 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

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!

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

Good location but sadly very few veg options.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

What a fantastic place this is. Staff were amazing, friendly and proffesional. The food was top notch. We came for dinner and had the tapas bites. Good size portions, very tasty. The best food I ate whilst visiting St Ives. Cannot fault this place.

Booked on line for morning breakfast. Excellent friendly and efficient service. Lovely view of beach from our seat. Americano with hot milk one of best I’ve had for some time. Fruit pancakes delicious

Great place for food and drink. Would highly recommend Keep up the good work

Disappointed! Staff very good and friendly but fish and chips very poor. I'm sure the haddock had been halved and served to us both with thick batter as full portions. Batter was so thick the inside was uncooked. We did complain but there was no apology from kitchen. Instead they waived the service charge which as far as I'm concerned is voluntary anyway. Won't be back I'm afraid.

Thank you so much for making my birthday so special, I really did have the best time on Friday 5/7 . Lovely welcome for the 2 of us plus bob the dog (really sorry we double booked you were so nice about it , it was totally my fault) delicious drinks and food, I mean kimchi fritters - who knew, so delicious and the aubergine dish , generally I think of aubergine as the devils food but it was so tasty, I’m a convert now. All the food was so good . The service was lovely it was all just great - I know I look like I just sat on a drawing pin in the picture but seriously I was having the best time. Great to be able to bring bob the dog too, he was waiting expectantly under the table for any scraps - sorry Bob we ate the lot. So pleased to see you so busy - my advice to anyone - you need to book.

Fantastic food, service and location. We enjoyed a few dishes which were so flavoursome. The squid was amazing. Book in advance. We have been there 2 now and can’t find anywhere better.

Brilliant views and setting, we had an outdoor pod table which was such a nice experience, heaters and blankets needed but worth it. Staff were super friendly and the food was excellent - we had a mixture of tapas dishes and the kids had kids menu, all lovely and fresh, gorgeously presented and delicious. Well worth a visit to this lovely beach cafe.

Excellent food and service overlooking the beautiful beach. The staff here are extremely friendly and very welcoming. The food was also great and for the location, very reasonably priced.

Brilliant place. Book ahead. Have the Sri Lanka chicken! Despite the weather, views of the beach were great. Didn't want to leave!

Had some tapas one night and went for breakfast the next morning, coffee food and drinks were all great! Would definitely visit again

good food, expensive, its like sitting in a conservatory served as a kindergarden due to plastic colourful chairs with an atmosphere for teenegers diskoteque as it was noisy here due to cooking, everybody including staff chatting and plus music. with view on the beach but the chairs directed sideways so you needed to turn your head to get that view. but the staff was attentive. the windows tables were reserved in advance all the time. the cafe has also something like seating cabins outside upstairs with the ocean view.

We have visited twice this week and the difference from other restaurants is clear the moment you are greeted and taken to your table. It has the same level of service and attention to detail as an international airline - business class. All we wanted was a sharing early afternoon cream tea - and some fries! We had witnessed other customers on the receiving end of this choice a couple of days before and it looked amazing. The whole Porthmeor Beach Cafe team are smartly dressed in the Brand and immaculately turned out. The restaurant was very busy, but there was no rushing around. The Maître d' ensured everything ran smoothly along the whole length of the beach-side establishment. It was clear that some tables would be spending considerably more than us on this occasion, but the respect, friendliness and good humour of each team member was extended to all. When the food arrived we asked if it was a strange to receive an order of fries and cream tea, to which the waitress leaned in and said, 'Not at all, chips with chocolate is even better!' Needless to say, the fries were amazing and the cream tea to die for - only to be upstaged by the quality of the team who were a credit to their managers and company. Fabulous. Thank you. We'll be back.

Food was amazing but our waiter was just outstanding. To the young fellow with curly brown hair and a beard, thank you for being so polite and friendly!

Amazing place fantastic views value for money world class service 👏

Tapas style dishes are good for 3:xx teatime, sharing with friends group.

Fabulous once again. This restaurant/beach cafe always delivers. We’ve been coming here since 2019 and it always delivers. Delicious fusion style food, great service, awesome views and great value. Our most recent visit was on Tuesday for lunch. A bottle of False Bay Chardonnay and 4 divine tapas that filled us up completely came to £75 including service charge. Brilliant! We’ll always come back here as it is outstanding value and a pleasure to be a customer.

Four of us for dinner, everything was gorgeous, well made cocktails, good service, delicious fish main courses and shared tapas. Beautiful location , highly recommend!

Right next to the beach, relax here in the evening and enjoy the delicious food while watching the sunset.

Good food, very expensive. Tapas menu, £116. One bottle of wine, which was awful. Children running back and forth, making a noise, not what was expected. Will not go there aga

This is a great place to eat. The standard of cooking & service is high, with friendly & capable servers & very good cooks. We've eaten here many times over a number of years and in that time the Cafe has maintained it's high standards. The menu is compact but offers an excellent range of dishes, many of which we've enjoyed during the past week. It's a pleasure to eat there and of course the location on Porthmeor beach is second to none. Prices reflect that but quality costs. No hesitation in recommending highly. Only one negative: the wine list is expensive, nothing under £20.

I’ve been to this restaurant on numerous occasions during my stay at St.Ives The food is always top notch, well done to the chef’s A dissatisfaction this visit was the service. Not sure of the name of the lady, I would name her as the head waitress/ maitre-d’ She spent more time and personal focus on her personal mobile phone, continually picking it up reading its contents and giggling to herself, obviously more important than serving the customers, my glass was empty I had to become someone over for another drink, the said lady asked if we would like to see the desert menu, I didn’t receive another waitress asked if we would like a menu. I wish I’d taken a photo of the said lady on her mobile Would I employ her? No i I wouldn’t, if the said lady owns the Restaurant I would be ashamed of your service that you provide It was terrible.

Super breakfast with amazing views.

Excellent restaurant on the beach front so lovely views when eating your lunch.

Beautiful view, great food and excellent service. The manager kindly squeezed us in for a 9pm booking and it was perfect timing to watch the sun set. We had a mix of tapas and every dish was delicious. Good variety of meat and vegetarian options. Best place we’ve eaten at in Cornwall so far!

Food was incredible. Can’t speak highly enough of the spicy aubergine, tenderstem broccoli and shrimp. The chicken thigh was also outstanding. Beautiful setting and solid service. Would highly recommend an evening here

Stumbled across this absolute gem, when me & my partner came to St Ives for a few days. The tapas selection was possibly the best I have had the pleasure to feast on, the baby carrots with marinated labna was divine & the St Ives bakery bread amazing. My partner had the hake which was also exceptional. After dinner we watched the most spectacular sunset, outside on the seated terrace. Would definitely recommend Porthmeor beach cafe and we will be coming back.

Had a delicious breakfast overlooking Porthmeor beach. Very helpful that we were able to take our two dogs onto the terrace cafe area.

Best breakfast in St Ives with the most amazing views. Book a heated outdoor pod for the best experience.

Beautiful food, lovely service and fantastic scenery!

Had a fantastic meal here. Good quality fresh ingredients. Good options for vegans. Grilled tenderstem was gorgeous. The pakora with homemade flat bread was delicious. My partner had the squid and then belly pork and he loved it. Great service and atmosphere.

Amazing breakfast spot but gets busy!

Everything was amazing! As clean and tidy as possible. Food was brilliant and lots of it

We had a truly perfect evening at Porthmeor Beach Cafe. The tapas was great as was the desert. Staff were very friendly and helpful. We had booked an outside table to watch the sunset and its an exceptional view.

Really excellent food with a view to match. Everything on the menu sounded amazing and all the dishes lived up to it. Service was really good too. Top stuff all round!

One of my favourite places to come and eat. Beautiful views and even better food. Sit and enjoy with a nice glass of something.

Amazing location and great pizza