Resaurant Review - The Norway Inn, Perranarworthal

The Norway Inn - Perranarworthal 01872 864241

So, the Norway Inn. It has had a reputation as one of the best gastropubs in Cornwall for as long as anyone can remember, and has long been one of THE places to eat.One of those places where you always have to book, despite the fact that the place is huge, and has tables packed in so tightly that you are practically sitting on your neighbouring diner's lap as you eat. Which is the first problem. I could hear every word uttered at the table next to me, which meant they could most likely do the same, and every time I glanced to my right I got the distinct impression that one of those ladies was actually eating with us, she was so close! This was after the shambles of actually finding our own seats (since there was nobody on hand to ask and the bar staff were distinctly surly) and then watching a group of around twenty campanologists shuffle around re-arranging chairs around us and attempting to fit themselves around far too few tables.

After all the initial chaos, we realised that there was no waiter service forthcoming so it's off to the bar for drinks (from the surly staff) then back again to order the food. Now I don't mind this arrangement at all - except when you have no idea that this is what you're supposed to do. After observing other diners and finding no instructions on the menu, we figured out that it was the most likely plan and finally got some food ordered! At this point the campanologists started up. Before you start sending me hate mail for being rude about bell ringers, I have to point out that at the time I booked this meal I had no idea that it would be accompanied by an orchestra (I have no idea of the correct term for this!) of bells playing cheesy Christmas tunes - it's just not really what I signed up for. We were out to celebrate a birthday, a nice quiet meal and a chance for some good conversation, but could barely hear each other speak over the din! Slightly annoying, to be fair. But to make matters worse, as our starters arrived one of the bell ringers came round the tables asking if we'd heard the bells (had we HEARD the bells? We were ten feet away!) and would be like to donate some money? Now call me Scrooge (I'm not) but the last thing I want in the middle of a nice meal is somebody coming round and asking me for money, after driving me bonkers with bells! Ok so I know this doesn't have a lot to do with the restaurant itself, but it certainly had an effect on our experience, therefore I feel it's important to mention!

So, onto the food. For starters I plumped for the Jumbo Prawn Cocktail whilst my partner had the Scallops. The portions were really quite generous, I did look at the pile of prawns and wonder how I would get through them all. The scallops were nice and large - my partner really enjoyed them although they weren't cooked quite to my personal taste if I'm honest - and came with generous slices of black pudding and a salad, all pleasing enough. The prawn cocktail was served on a bed of rather sad looking lettuce, but the sauce itself was pretty good, even if the prawns tasted fairly low quality. Overall it was fine, BUT vastly over-priced; £7.50 for the prawn cocktail (pretty shocking) and £9.00 for the scallops! And I'm afraid they definitely weren't worth that sort of price tag!

Main courses were a difficult one for me, the menu wasn't particularly inspiring, pretty much your standard foody pub fare and nothing that excited me. In the end I plumped for the sirloin steak, being something that's easy to compare with other places, and my partner had the sea bass. Now I'm a big fan of steaks - you could say I'm a connoisseur in fact - so I was really looking forward to it. Well, the actual steak was quite good! A fairly big slab cooked just right with lots of nice flavour, no worries there! But as for the trimmings... well I at least expect the sides to be home-made, the chips and the onion rings, But both were clearly of the frozen variety, no better than any of us could make ourselves at home with a deep fat frier! Plus the mushrooms were grey and depressing, like they'd just been wilted in a microwave. Sadly my partner's bass wasn't much better - a fillet of the type you buy in bulk frozen from the local fish van and about as flavoursome. Whatever happened to local produce? I found all this rather mystifying, as I could have easily cooked up the entire meal myself to as good a standard and for far less money! At £16.00 for a sirloin I expect a high quality meal of a better quality than I am capable of producing myself! But unfortunately that is nowhere near what I got.

Overall the entire experience was disappointing and made us wish we'd stuck with what we knew - The Golden Lion at Stithians Reservoir. Cheaper, friendlier, and on a different scale completely in terms of choice and quality of food. To cheer myself up - a full review of that establishment coming soon!

Rating:

Atmosphere: 4/10 Not friendly, cosy, or welcoming, sadly.

Service: 6/10 The waiters were fine, but the bar staff were miserable.

Price: 4/10 Very high and you get far less than you pay for.

Menu: 5/10 Not a lot of choice, and nothing different or exciting.

Food: 6/10 Not bad food, but nothing special either.

OVERALL: 5/10

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