Eating out with children in Penzance

I love being on holiday because we get to eat out. All the time generally. Which means I don’t have to cook! But eating out with children isn’t always easy especially in places you’re less familiar with. But eating out in Penzance provided quite a bit of choice and we had 3 really good meals out while we were staying there.

Like most seaside towns during school holidays, you’re better off booking if possible. Especially if you don’t want to risk eating at 8pm, rather than a more reasonable 5-6pm. With only 2 of us, we are generally able to just fit in on a spare table. But when with our friends, there were 8 of us. So we made sure we booked – even if only a couple of hours beforehand.

We also often struggle over weekends. Saturdays are obviously busier evenings. But often places don’t open on Sundays or Mondays (even on bank holidays). We did luck out and managed to find places that ended up serving food for longer than stated on their websites. So it’s often worth ringing around rather than just relying on what it says online.

Here’s where we ate out with children in Penzance.

Eating out with kids in Penzance

Dolphin Tavern

The Dolphin Tavern was just up the road from our hotel, right by the harbour (and road).  It always looked busy with people sitting outside drinking or eating whenever we went past. A friend recommended trying there for food, so we hedged our bets. We were lucky to get one of the last tables inside at around 5.15pm on a Saturday, although there were a couple of tables free outside by the road when we arrived too. The joys of being only a 2 for food.

The Dolphin has traditional pub fare, and we found the options enough even with my pickiness. The food portions were huge, but also tasty. N had rump steak will all the extras and said it was a decent, cooked as he asked.  My 3 cheese macaroni with salad and garlic bread was delicious. It was a massive portion, but I managed to eat it. Before having to sit a while to let it all settle!

The service was good too, and it nice to have table service in a pub rather than having to go up to order and pay. 

The pub itself is quite dark with lots of different inside areas tucked away. But it was a good recommendation and we would have been happy to eat there again on our break if we’d needed to.

Turk’s Head

The Turk’s Head is a nice old pub (supposedly the oldest in the town), and is tucked away in the famous Chapel Street. It’s next to the Admiral Benbow which another friend had recommended. Unfortunately they weren’t serving food at the days or times we wanted so we didn’t get chance to try it out.

The Turk’s Head had Sunday food times advertised til 5, but on the door it mentioned food til 6. Maybe this was due to the bank holiday/half term.

This is a darker, ‘locals’ style pub rather which seemed to be the norm in Penzance, compared to pubs back home which have mostly become modern gastro pubs.  There was also a beer garden out the back although we had an inside table reserved. 

The food had a good mix on the menu.  I thought it was pricy for the size of the portions, but they were just the right size for all of us.  N said his fish and chips was really tasty. My Korean chicken burger with Asian slaw and skin on fries was nice enough, but I expected more flavour. The fries were just normal chips, without skin like the menu had stated.  

One of the children had a kids meal – chicken breast and chips. It was missing the veg we thought came with it, and the chicken breast was the half with the bone which was strange for a kids meal. She didn’t like whatever coating was on it, so struggled to eat anything more than the chips. A shame given the other meals we all had were reasonable.

The desserts were impressive looking, and better portion sizes – mine was a rhubarb frangipane tart. Tasty, but I couldn’t taste any almond flavour, and I wasn’t keen on creme fraiche with it. I’d rather have had normal cream. The other desserts all looked really good and went down well.

The Lugger Inn

The Lugger Inn looks a bit run down from the outside area. They have bands playing on bank holidays and some weekends so it can look overly busy. A band were playing outside when we arrived and I’d thought it would be too loud to chat. But we were inside far enough that we could still talk with no problems, although they didn’t play for long after we arrived anyway. 

We booked with no trouble for 8 people, only an hour or so ahead on a bank holiday Monday.  I was pleasantly surprised on arrival to see how nice it was inside with touches of the sea, but keeping clean and fairly minimal. The young waitress and waiter were attentive and knowledgeable. 

There was a huge wide-ranging menu, which included pastas, pizzas, burgers, fish, grills, chicken dishes and a vegan menu. They also had gluten free pizzas. 

Our drinks were fast to arrive, although we did have to wait for nearly an hour for our food. Apart from one portion of dough balls that we had to remind them about (huge apology from the waitress), it all went smoothly, and all of our meals were good.

N and I stuck to pizzas which were handstretched and rustic, with plenty of toppings. They were well cooked but still retaining the drooping middle if picked up as a slice. The dough balls were more like mini dinner rolls so very filling, and the garlic butter was runny. It was a good meal. Others in our group said their meals were good too. The roasted veg sides looked nice.

The dessert menu was prolific – gorgeous looking, with huge cake slices and cookies. Unfortunately we were all too full to partake. A shame as I’m definitely a dessert person.

The prices weren’t too bad, and it was a good meal and service. With such a wide choice on the menu, if we’d been staying longer we would definitely have eaten there again.

A bonus for us was that it was only a short walk home (with no hilly street walking required!)

All restaurants we ate at catered for children, although it was largely basic ‘kids meals’, not smaller portions of the adult meals. I had worried that it would be a lot of fish on menus and not much choice for those of us who aren’t fish or seafood eaters. But I needn’t have worried.

The only downside in a coastal tourist resort, is getting tables.  If there’s any more than 2 of you wanting to eat, then definitely book a table in advance. And remember Mondays are often closed for food (especially in pubs).

If you’re looking to eat out in Penzance, there’s definitely some good places to eat with children. And there’s also others we were unable to try due to them being closed or not being able to fit more than 6 in their seating set up.

Where would you recommend eating in Penzance and surround areas?