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<jack black>I own everything!</jack black>

On our recent jaunt down to Cornwall we decided it we should treat ourselves to a decent meal. One quick phonecall to the Rick Stein empire and we managed to secure a table at The Seafood Restaurant for the four of us, at a last-table-available 9.30pm on Friday night. Now this place has a lot to live up to. Not just in the fact that it has an excellent reputation and is extortionately expensive but also because me and Emma had a most wonderful meal there a few years ago and the memories of the night, and indeed the fish soup, have stayed with us ever since.

Fast forward a couple of years from this delightful experience to one which was rather disappointing. We arrived on-time, by this point starving, the Cornish Cyder (The Rattler) was kicking in nicely and we we were in high spirits expecting to have another superb dining experience. It didn't help that we'd been bigging Mr Stein's restaurant up to our dining friends all week and so they were also expecting great things. We were seated in the lobby area and there we waited for the next 30 minutes. Now if I book a table for 9.30 I dont expect to be sitting in the lobby half an hour later still waiting for a glass of wine. Add to this the lack of attention from any of the staff and we were already left feeling a bit miffed. Anyway we sat down at about 10:15 having ordered in the lobby earlier and with a lovely bottle of the house white (yes I know they make the biggest mark up but they have a extremely nice French Sauvignon at a reasonable price for the house white) it wasn't too long for the starters to arrive. The fish soup, which Emma had this time, was again superb. The Linguine with Crabmeat and Chilli was also excellent - things were going well. The maincourses arrived I'd chosen the Skate with Black Butter and Capers which was nice but not a great deal more. The black butter source tasted burnt to me. Emma's Dover Sole was markedly better but what of the accompanying vegetables? Some soggy to the point of chewy Pak Choi drowned in butter and a meagre few Jersey Royals (nothing wrong with them but not enough of them for four people).

So we sat discussing the meal and agreed it had been good but is it really worth the money you have to pay? The jury is still out on that one. We ordered coffees and called a cab to take us back round to Polzeath. We then waited for half an hour for our coffees! Eventually we complained at which point they were promptly delivered and removed from our bill. Our taxi was waiting so we rushed through them, paid the bill and left. All in all not a satisfactory end to the evening. Luckily "Tracy The Taxi Driver" livened our homeward journey up with tales of weeing into wet-wipe containers whilst stuck in traffic jams - all this whilst hurtling down the tiniest lanes of Cornwall at break neck speeds with the stereo at ear splitting levels. What was it that made the evening such a disappointment? The food was still very good (apart from the soggy pak-choi, yuk), but for me it was the lack of attention from the staff and then amount of time we were left hanging around waiting at the prices they charge and the difficulty of getting a table you'd think they'd make more of an effort. Emma is in the process of writing to Rick on the subject - here's hoping for a positive response.