St Kew Inn

Oh dear. The setting was lovely, the menu was limited and the prices high, but this just reassured us that the food would be of a high quality and prepared with care. What a shame that this was so far from the case.
Fish was mushy, previously frozen perhaps? The chips were good but very over-​salted, a mediocre meal for £13.50. Steak and chips priced at £19.95 should have been pretty incredible, but the steak was small and nothing to write home about. The beef bourginone for £11.50 was gristly and fatty, and the crushed potato accompaniment was again very over-​salted. ‘Glazed’ carrots at an extra £2.55 were simply microwaved with a little butter and parsley by the taste of them, and the £3.00 onion rings were flavourless and greasy (how you can strip the flavour out of an onion I’m not sure!).
The barman was disinterested, when we asked for a table he said he would set one up for us and then disappeared. When he reappeared behind the bar to continue serving drinks we asked if our table was ready — he seemed surprised that we had asked, perhaps assuming that we would know when it was ready by some kind of knowledge osmosis as he didn’t bother to let us know.
The coke on draft started coming through clear — presumably the syrup had run out, so when we asked for a coke he told us ‘look, it’s coming out clear.’ and left it at that — no suggestions for other options, or apologies for the inconvenience. When we asked what he could do about this he simply said ‘oh, well you can have a bottle, that’s an extra 70p’ So we paid the extra 70p for a 200ml bottle of coke, served without a smile…
We had such high hopes, but if I were allowed to sewar in this review, I would resort to some choice language to describe our experience. We will not be going back, and we will be telling our friends and colleagues not to go either. Save your money, and your tastebuds and eat elsewhere.

St Kew Inn is an extremely popular place, it took us five days to book a table! Without doing so, you just won’t get a table. Set in the picturesque village of St Kew, it has a large off street car park, adjacent to the beer garden which has a great setting, shaded by mature trees. The Inn has a cosy country pub feel about it, with a compact bar, a lounge area and a restaurant area that overlooks the beer garden.
It has a decent menu showcasing many local produce, with additional daily specials. Plumping for the St Kew Burger, it was pretty standard fare, but tasty nonetheless. However, my wife ordered the salmon — pan fried, with a crisp salted skin, roast tomato sauce and fresh seasonal vegetables, she said it was one of the best meals she had ever eaten. As usual I had made the wrong choice! This should have ensured a definite five stars, however, because the staff were rushed off their feet, the tone of some of them, was a little abrupt. Still St Kew Inn is a fine restaurant, echoed by its difficulty in booking in a table.