The Coachman's

Thanks to all staff for great food and excellent service on Sunday 28th Jan 2024. Superb value all round and highly recommended.

We have been going to to the 'Falcon ' now for a number of years for a meal out, but we were not very happy here with our last visit. My wife made a booking by phone for a meal with a friend, but this time instead of just asking for a phone number as confirmation, she was asked to leave her email address and card number. My wife said that she was not comfortable in leaving our card details, but she was told that some people had made block bookings and not turned up, which I can understand would cause problems, but we pointed out that this was just a simple booking for a table for two, which we had made on several other occasions in the past without problems. This produced the reply 'Well I suppose it will be OK ' then! When it came to the day of the booking, it so happened that I had booked a table for two with a friend at the 'Brendon ' next door, where we found the place to be humming with activity, and Christmas cheer! All the tables were taken! When I came to pick up my wife afterwards in the 'Falcon ' I was surprised to find there was a mere handful of people there. The place was uninviting, cold and devoid of any Christmas atmosphere. I asked one of the staff whether there was any heating on, to which he replied, 'I can turn the fire on if you want ' I resisted the temptation to say, perhaps you should have done that when you opened up! The only thing worth praising was the quality of the food, which my wife praised (hence my giving this review 3 stars). The bad news is that prices were far more expensive than on previous visits. My understanding was that both the 'Brendon ' and the 'Falcon ' were under the same ownership, so my making comparisons between the two places would not be inappropriate, for surely if the situation I have described here is typical, it should be of some concern to the owners! I would also mention as an aside, that one of the Christmas attractions in past years has been the Christmas Carols. This has always taken place in the Coachman 's Bar on Christmas Eve. Not this year though, it was changed to an outdoor event prior to Christmas Eve, in the so called 'Secret Garden ' which of course is a stupid name, because it is no secret to anybody! Anyway, even more stupid, was the idea to hold it outdoors when the weather is either cold or wet or even both, rather than in the warmth of the Bar, with full blown audience participation. When I queried why things had been altered, I was told that because Christmas Eve fell on Sunday, there were Sunday Lunches to be served. I would have thought though, there would have been adequate time after lunch to straighten up the Bar for another event that evening! Ah well! I don 't know whether any changes in the management have taken place at the 'Falcon ' but suffice to say, my wife and I are going to think long and hard before we ever consider going here again!

We enjoyed two relaxing, fun evening meals at the Falcon. The staff were welcoming, friendly, and attentive during both visits. It was a pleasure to see Alan again - a long-time friend and valuable member of the team. The food was excellent, with generous portion sizes and reasonable prices. Live musicians added a special ambiance to the evening. The restaurant is also dog-friendly in certain areas. Definitely worth a visit!

We decided to try this restaurant during our weekend trip to Bude. Despite pre-booking and pre-ordering our meals, we had to wait an hour for our food to arrive. Unfortunately, out of the three steak dishes we ordered, two were not up to standard. One steak was extremely chewy and the other consisted of very small pieces, clearly cut from the end of a steak. The peas were also undercooked. After finishing our meal, we waited for thirty minutes and our table still hadn't been cleared. The waitress did not ask if we wanted any more drinks either. When we expressed our dissatisfaction to a young waitress, she informed us that the restaurant had recently changed suppliers. This was a very disappointing experience and we will not be returning.

Pre booked for dinner on Sunday night and were sat in the Brasserie next door. Never have I had such a disappointing meal. After eating fresh, locally sourced fish and meat for the last 2 days, this was just horrible. My partner had fish and chips, which was the kind of quality you would find in any low-rate pub. Fish tasted like it had been brought in frozen. the batter was thick and smooth rather than light and fluffy. He ate his because he was hungry. I ordered ribs- bug mistake. Firstly, they came out and it was clear they hadn 't been cooked in the marinade, as the end ribs on both sides were bare, the underside was bare and the sauce barely covered the meat. The meat was grey and broiled to death to get the fall off the bone consistency. There was a weird thick spice rub that had been smeared on top but not cooked out, so all I got was oily powdery cumin in my mouth. The bbq marinade was weak and also not cooked out, so sat on top of the meat with no char or caremalisation. The waitress was kind enough to be embarrassed, suggested they weren 't normally like that (doubtful) and offered something else, however the menu is so pub basic, I didn 't actually want anything else. Given this place is in the middle of some beautiful farms and local fishing villages, I don 't understand why there isn 't more seafood or fish on the menu. We didn 't come all the way to Cornwall to eat what was essentially pub-chain quality grub. Also, 2 waitresses and a chef came out to present our dinner when the plates came out? That was weirdly formal, uncomfortable and reminded me of an old 70 's cheesy restaurant. Yes we had the ribs taken off the bill, yes the waitress apologised. Doesn 't make up for the terribly disappointing meal