Surfside Polzeath in Cornwall, Isles of Scilly

Where Street Food Soul Meets Coastal Calm – Heavenly Tandoori & Pineapple Perfection & Sunset Views Over Polzeath Beach After a full day paddling off Polzeath’s stunning coastline, I headed to Surfside (aka The Rum Bar) for a solo sunset wind-down and a well-earned dinner. As a working nomad and management consultant constantly on the move, it’s rare to find a spot that nails both the food and the vibe-this place does both effortlessly. I was warmly welcomed by Roxy, who seated me at a table with a perfect view of the sun dipping below the Atlantic. The evening kicked off with a couple of sundowners and a scan of the specials board, where the Street Food Tandoori Chicken Curry caught my eye. Let’s just say… OMG. A flavour-packed, generous portion of rich, succulent, aromatic heaven. Easily one of the best meals I’ve had on the Cornish coast (only made better as there are NO STREETS in sight!). When I asked Roxy to pass my compliments to the chef (Peter), he came over himself-friendly, humble, and passionate about the food. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), he then talked me into trying the “Pineapple Willian John Narbeth” dessert—a warm, caramelised pineapple masterpiece with a bitter cacao twist and blood orange sorbet. The pairing of spice and sweetness? Absolutely epic. This was more than a meal—it was a sun, surf, and flavour sensation. Surfside is an absolute gem, and I’ll be back every time I'm in North Cornwall. Highly recommend for solo travellers, foodies, and anyone craving something exceptional with sand between their toes.

Came here for the first time tonight at 9pm. The group I came with had ordered cocktails before me approx 3 minutes before I did. I ordered mine and got huffed at by one girl, the the guy on the bar, abruptly said ‘no more cocktails’ and walked off. This left a very bitter taste and ended up ordered something I didn’t even want as my friends already had ordered there’s. This is poor considering this is a bank holiday. More the fact of how I was spoken to. I understand if something needs to stop at a certain time, but there is a way to speak to people. Have to say, I will not be returning with the rest of my family, hate to think of my nan being spoken to the way I was. Please teach your staff some basic mannerism.

5 Stars – A Stunning Experience at Surfside Polzeath!!! I can't speak highly enough of Surfside Polzeath – what an incredible transformation! The quality of the food has improved so much; every dish we ordered was bursting with fresh, vibrant flavours and beautifully presented. You can really tell there's been a step up in the kitchen. The service was equally impressive – warm, attentive, and genuinely welcoming without being overbearing. It made the whole experience feel effortless and relaxed. As for the atmosphere, it’s unbeatable. There was a live DJ when we visited :-). The beach views, the laid-back yet refined vibe, and the stylish interiors all come together to create the perfect setting for a memorable meal. A must-visit if you're in the area – they've truly elevated the whole experience!

Stopped here for a post-beach afternoon drink and snack. Great vibes and good beer but the food was overly salty and overcooked .

What a great position on the beach, and our table was in a great place at front overlooking beach, service hit & miss, no greeting when arrived but young waitress nice once seated, food is the same average fayre all these places do, should be offering fresh crab, BBQ mackerel etc but it's always average pub grub really, curry was a rip off £24 for 6 tiny prawns with a burnt tortilla 😂 on the side lamentable really, burger was ok but £15 no chips, cocktails all tasted the same as the mai Thai strangely, so I would go back for a beer but swerve the food , polzeath needs a good place to eat as all the food offerings were the same.

They were very busy but the service was still great and the food was amazing....it helps that we had a window table and had the Amazing sunset to eat with. Great place, if you're in Cornwall, you should Def go there.

Bar on the beach. Right on the beach... What's not to like.

Have been to Surfside 3 times now, it’s definitely our favourite place when visiting Polzeath. Food is consistently good and so delicious. I had the fish and chips this time and I must say it’s some of the best I’ve ever eaten and I’ve had a fair few. Great atmosphere and service. Look forward to visiting in the warmer weather so we can sit outside. Keep up the good work guys ☺️☀️☀️ Went to Surfside this evening for a family dinner, what a great place. Chilled friendly vibe with superb food. My husband had the ribs which looked amazing and he said they were delicious, my daughter and I went for the Surfside Fries also very tasty and a huge portion plenty enough for a main course, we accompanied them with the squid which was also great. The kids went for the burgers and they enjoyed them very much. All the portion sizes were very generous. Price wise it is very reasonable.

Best ever restraunt really delicious food great vibes in the rum bar recommend for anyone from the age 1-99

Brilliant view over Polzeath Beach and I can say quite honestly that Pete the Chef cooked one of the best roasts I've had in a long while ! Good service , great all round :)

After so many great experiences this one was disappointing. The team put it down to being short-staffed but I'm not sure. The normal roast with loads of extra gravy and a generou⁷s cauliflower cheese was just average. Anyway we will be back to support our local business in the hope normal service and delicious food return.

My father James played there and it was an amazing vibe and defo a hidden gem

Lush location to look out over the beach with a drink 🍸

Just popped in for a drink, great atmosphere, friendly staff, good selection on games to play. Need a torch to negotiate the beach and steps if there is no moon.

The cocktails, the food and Pete’s hot sauce will all knock your socks off! What a line up, highly addictive and will be back again and again and again

Best place to go in Polzeath, in my opinion. The staff here are fantastic and friendly. The cocktails are excellent. The food is always very good and plentiful. Service is great. The location couldn't be better.

One of the best burgers I've eaten with a beautiful view of the sea. Great cocktails too and friendly service

A fantastic example of an independent restaurant done right—everything was tip top, the service was impeccable, fantastic setting and decor. Great food, worth the time and money.

This place is such an asset to Polzeath. You can't beat a pint or two here on the beach.

The nicest view of Polzeath, live music and excellent food. The service is friendly and dedicated too! Dogs treated wonderfully.

Super nice beach bar with surprisingly delicious food.

What a brilliant place. Had some lovely burgers and really great staff 4/9/24 who were very helpful and great musician on too! Wish we could’ve stayed longer.

Super delicious food, nice ambience, possibility to sit outside on the beach, really nice service.

Fab food, lovely staff, good vibes❤️

bartenders and staff rude. Sarcastic - ruined a night and maybe even the holiday in general. Waited 30 minutes for my drink and food then treated with a half hearted reply and no compensation. Disappointed to say the least.

The environment of the bar is absolutely great with brilliant music and a good ambience. The location is perfect, situated on the beach, surf side has a strong competitive stance against their rivals.However, there was an abundant and obvious sense of lackadaisical and carelessness to the bartenders who would have surprisingly open conversations in front of, what seemed to be, the unwanted burden of customers. There was an interesting heavy reluctance to serve the people at the bar as if they were second priority to the ‘friends’ of the bartenders. They came across as pompous and ‘up-themselves’. Would recommend for a cheeky few drinks on your holiday if it weren’t for this major error in hiring.

Great beach bar . Great food . Most enjoyable.

The Rum Bar at the back is _the_ destination for the bright and the beautiful of Polzeath. Good food and drinks but popularity means that it is a slow process.

Unprofessional! Staff doesn’t seem to know what they doing…. Waited 30 minutes in a queue to order food for the table outside as i was told to do so by member of staff, after queuing for 30 minutes i was told that they stopped serving food! Hungry daughter was not impressed!

Surfside has changed, and not for the better. The door person wasn’t the usual friendly type, the music finished early - the DJ was great! And then it all finished around 10pm. It was a real anti-climax. Such a shame

Staff really friendly and great food try the rum bar awesome place brilliant atmosphere and dj sets with jimmy 2 shoes old time sailors skarknado always music on

Great location, fun vibe - we’ll definitely be back. Food & service very good. Whole team friendly, but Oscar & Hannah stood out for being super helpful, brilliant hosting from them

The biggest and best burger ever. Proper fries with skin on. Wonderful service for and conversation with Lydia. Loved the 'Forged' Stout. Table looking out over the beach. Nice jangly, sunny rock music not too loud. In short, perfect'!

Great vibe at their Rum Bar ...

Arrived at Surfside and not one member of staff acknowledged us, just looked away. I had to go upstairs to speak to a Member of staff who told me that they are not serving food to an anyone without a reservation!! Which I think is ridiculous!! How to lose customer quickly and make little money over the holiday season!! Terrible service, not child friendly and badly organised!!

We had such a memorable night here - both food and atmosphere! The view of the sunset from the top is stunning. The burgers are amazing (although it would’ve been even better if they came with chips included). Highly recommend!

Only went for a drink but it coincided with a live band Old Time Sailors. They were absolutely brilliant and the atmosphere fantastic.

Something really different, great atmosphere

Friendly staff, good atmosphere, great portion sizes and tasty food

Delicious food and fabulous views. Decent drinks and fun atmosphere. Service cancelled be a bit hit and miss but generally good. Kids menu cancelled be tricky with fussy eaters - it's a shame the fish and chips wasn't on the menu for kids - but overall it's great.

Our burgers were £16 each and hotdogs £14 each. Unfortunately didn't realise that they didn't come with chips/fries, so paid an extra £6.50 for a bowl of chips. For those kind of prices, you'd expect chips as well. If each of us had chips with our burgers, it would have cost £22.50!!! 😮 The food was nice, but we were waiting a long time to get served. Probably should have looked around a bit first, before heading to the first place we saw on the beach.

Delicious Beef Brisket Roast with a view. What Sundays are all about. Seriously great food and service. Highly recommend 👌🏻

What an awesome place to visit! Situated on Polzeath beach it was full of vibrance, soul and spirit in its atmosphere and food! We popped in late afternoon to see if we needed to book and evening table and the lovely lady sold us on the delicious sounding food selection and great choice of drinks. Our food was amazing we went for the half a chicken with lemon, salad and chips. Not disappointed at all. The choice of drinks on offer were amazing and the toe rag cider was a highlight. Certainly will come back again and recommend to all who fancy a beach inspired menu.

We enjoyed some very good cocktails, great atmosphere, followed by very good food. The mussels and Caribbean chicken breast curry were fantastic. Photo's don't do the food justice. We only intended to stay for one drink but left several hours later! Thankyou 🤗

Great food. Great location. Love the interior and vibe. Would recommend! Boat at the back is cool touch!

Absolutely amazing place. Great portions sizes of great food. Been coming to Polzeath for close to 40 years and this was by far the best eatery/bar I've been to.

The Surf Side is a lot of fun! Great rum cocktails (which is hard to find in the UK). Staff is young, but attentive. We came here 2 of our 4 nights in town (would have been 3 nighs, but they were closed for a staff event one night). We had burgers and a LOT of cocktails!

Jen made me a delicious cocktail and rosa and Josie were so helpful! Great place I’ll be back!

Surfside is such a fun place to spend an evening! You can enjoy dinner in the stylishly decorated restaurant overlooking Polzeath beach (go at sunset if you can, it’s spectacular!) and then enjoy delicious rum cocktails from the groovy outdoor bar while watching the live entertainment, which can be anything from raucous sea shanties to smooth acoustic covers! 🫧 The main reason for the four-star review is that the menu is incredibly limited for dinner options. I chose the vegan chilli, and while the portion was good for the money, I’d have liked a little more flavour and spice in the chilli itself. The small plates are good though, particularly the padron peppers, and I cannot fault the cocktails - they are awesome!!! 🍹

The mussels were great, and good service 👍🍻

Beautiful location, often great atmosphere but it’s so often difficult to buy a drink with the small bar six people deep and the back bar closed, we’ve gone elsewhere so many times, another outside bar downstairs maybe or keep both bars open so customers can actually buy a drink, especially when it’s seasonal, rethink your interior design and bar service.

Rum Bar, amazing place, spent lots of time there, recomend the golden 🔫

Disappointed ☹️ staff were very unwelcoming when we arrived, ordered a round of coffees that eventually arrived cold. Had some small plates; fries were super greasy and not crisp, sausage and chorizo bits over charred, padrons and whitebait were nice but very difficult to get these wrong.

A really cool spot right on the beach with amazing views and atmosphere. Totally worth a stop if you’re in Polzeath.

Awesome bar, good atmosphere, freindly helpful staff

Very busy when we went with a long queue. Some people came upstairs and pushed in thinking they owned the place. I got my drinks and was happy with service from bar staff but when I pointed out what was happening got the reply of nobody else was complaining. Would happily go again but would make sure no live music was on

Not enough places like this offering this level of holiday evening beach vibes

Had Tori as waitress - she was so helpful and attentive. Best service I’ve had. Great atmosphere.

Amazing rum bar. Touch of the Goonies about it

If I could give more stars I would. We went to Surfside on monday evening and our Daughter has mobility problems so when saw that the restaurant was on the beach we thought that we couldn't eat in the pub but the brilliant Tom came and collected us from the carpark on the beach in his beach buggy and delivered us to the pub door . The menu isn't huge but the food is amazing (possibly the best we had eaten in the 5 days we were in Cornwall) so it was well worth the treck. When we had finished our meal Ben took us in the buggy back to our car. What a great bunch of staff at this brilliant pub 👏 we wish you all the best Ben and Tom in your new venture. 😊

Superb all the way...offering a unique experience and place to relax. Feet in the sand and sipping a cold brew made for a lovely life moment.

Great food, great views from the upper balcony. Good beer & range of spirits.

Live music on the beach from James Dixon whilst watching sunset and tucking in to chicken wings and burgers on the beach from the open BBQ. Couldn’t ask for a nicer evening. Burgers were pricey (£17.50) but worth it given the setting and came with a great watermelon and potato salad .

First time visiting and it's a great place... sit on the beach and watch the sunset... see spectacular scenery in my photo

What a cool place for eats, drinks and fun. This is a must for anyone who knows their rums.

Only had a drink but loved the cider. Friendly staff. Lovely place on the beach.

Visited the Rum Bar! Great atmosphere! Good beer! I've been told the rum cocktails are great too! Nice and relaxed....

Amazing atmosphere can't wait to come back

Lovely place to stop for a drink or two on the beach. Outside seating is perfect to admire the views

Friendly & welcoming staff - service was great despite it being really busy. Rustic interior but great food and a wonderful spot at sunset. Very dog friendly too. We will be back!

If not for the price I would have given it a higher rating. Warning lots of steps and no disabled access. As they say in the response below, there is nothing they can do about the access.

The spicy rum b*stard is really delicious

Great food and warm welcome in a relaxing environment. Bring your dogs and babies in beautiful surrendings.

Such a lovely welcoming laid back place, great staff, incredible views and has a cool Thailand bar vibe! Yummy roast potatoes too! 😋😄

Amazing location - Friendly staff Went on Sunday for a roast. They have a vegan option for the main roast, but no vegan option for pudding. Roast was, umm, well, 3 out of 5. Meat nice, gravy tasty, potatoes average and lots of diced roast vegetables. Yorkie puds arrived after the meal as chef had forgotten them, but when they did they were very good. All puds (apple crumble, creme brulee and sticky toffee pudding) were tried and all hit the spot. £18 for the roast, £7.50 for the pudding.

Fantastic pub! Friendliest staff ever, delicious food selection and great drinks. Best part is that it's on the beach with the most incredible view!

Lovely walk along the beach, & popped into Surf Side for a very tasty steak baggett & tea for two. Warm welcome, great food with stunning views.

Excellent food, lovely staff and outstanding service. Beautiful view onto Polzeath beach! If you haven't been to Surfside already, I recommend going!

Enjoyed a very nice Sunday roast here. I don't usually do 'Sunday roast '

If you've spent all day in the surf you might appreciate the carby fried food - pasta served with a side of bread? If you haven't you might not. Decent range of beers, and I'd plug their rum cocktails if they hadn't run out of ingredients for the one we wanted. A fantastic location and maybe next year they'll get a menu to match. Expensive for what it isn't.

Great food, service and atmosphere. The view was amazing.

Had such a lovely lunch here, the oysters were beautiful, so fresh. We were lucky with a lovely sunny day and you can't beat the surroundings. Lovely experience

Buffalo wings are to die for. Yum yum. Lovely rum too. Highly recommended.

Fantastic beach side location, decently priced drinks.

Incredible bar on the beach dog friendly and we watched the surfers while enjoying a beer with the dogs. It's perfect here

Fun bar with outdoor area. Failed to book on the ring ting game

Restaurant: Fantastic setting and decor, however they had run out of all desserts when we went on a Friday night and some of the mains which was a real shame. Service was very slow but I get the impression that was due to the kitchen. Rum Bar: fantastic. No other words needed.

There’s always such an amazing atmosphere here, all the staff are so friendly, you can’t beat the food and drink! Simply can’t stay away from this place!

Genuine beach bar built on a steel frame hugging rocks overlooking the bay with terrific views. Serves Spanish Cruzcampo beer on tap (yay!) but the focus is the rum bar. Serves hearty portions of snack foods but the draw is the beach view and the surfer vibe. Highly recommended.

We were here in July this year, 6 adults. Fantastic food and atmosphere, all served by a lovely young lady named Emily, who could not do enough to accommodate us. Also great barstaff and a very smiley young lady who greeted os on arrival. Thank you.

Great location .. beach bar being a cool thing but dead expensive.. £17 for a beer and a wine.. the most expensive 2 drinks I have ever bought in the whole of Cornwall .. I will come back to polzeath but not to this bar..

Bloody class mate. Beers are top knotch. Staff even better 🫡😍. So many characters here. Very very liberal

Best food, drink and atmosphere in Polzeath. Just what it area needs! Family of 4 with baby (access tough but worth it) service amazing everyone friendly 3 different staff check on us. Steak and fish both awesome…..the rum punch…..wow! Also a great area outside the back

Amazing location Fabulous food Friendly and lovely staff (shout out to Lewis!) Great vibe and music - who cares if you have to wait a few minutes at the bar for your drink - personally I can’t think of a better queue to be in Simply the best! Thank you for a few great evenings this summer - we’ll be back next week!

Called in this weekend and absolutely love this place, lovely food, great beer and fab vibe.

Good beach for surfing not very sandy great bars and eating places

Right I’ve been staying in Polzeath all week and Ellie and Tasha have been the most brilliant Bar tenders I could have hoped for, not only are they brilliant at their job they’re also very friendly and polite, they have offered the best service in Polzeath and I can’t wait to come back and have the best holiday of my life (part 2), woahhhh.

Disabled info: no wheelchair access. Has a disabled toilet but does not use a radar key, had to go up all the stairs to ask the bar staff. Showed my radar key but they didn’t know what it was. Once they realised I needed the disabled loo they acted fast and got the combination lock off. staff very sweet. Disabled loo had no loo roll and flush not working but these are simple things to fix. Other than that, v nice experience. Cocktails tasty but expensive, similar to london pricing.

The refit/renovation is simply stunning. A winning combination of great staff, delicious food, music, & that very special Surfside/Rumbar vibe. Hats off to the whole team 👏 👏👏

Great food, great service. Loved it! Don’t know why it’s not some not great reviews.