Rick Stein, Sandbanks

The restaurant itself is smart, well-designed, and offers stunning views. Most of the staff were well-trained, friendly, and genuinely eager to please. However, my main gripe is that it did not live up to the standard of Rick Stein’s Padstow restaurant, particularly when it came to the seafood platter. Priced at £90 for one person, the platter I received felt underwhelming: it included only 2 prawns, 3 oysters, some empty or closed cockle and clam shells, a single crab claw, and an empty crab body with no brown meat. The crab tasted dry and appeared to have been defrosted rather than served fresh. The aioli was split and oily, the half lobster tail was tiny and missing most of the claw, and the platter lacked the clams promised on the menu, offering just one chopped razor clam. The majority of the dish was ice and cheap mussels in shells. By contrast, the same platter in Padstow was a completely different experience: I got almost a whole crab with some picked white + brown meat, half a large lobster with a sizeable claw to crack, whelks, about eight larger prawns, six oysters, loads of scallops, cockles, clams, mussels, smaller prawns, winkles, and a selection of dips. The difference was night and day. That said, the manager handled the situation well, and my partner’s dish from the special menu was well-cooked and worth the price. Dessert, however, was another slight disappointment: they had run out of clotted cream and substituted it with orange crème fraîche. While it was acceptable, the change should have been communicated upfront. It’s also worth noting that our waiter accidentally dropped the entire seafood platter before it reached the table. It’s possible some of the seafood was lost in the mishap, which might explain why the platter was so small and disappointing. Overall, while the setting and service were commendable, the food—particularly the seafood platter—fell short of expectations, especially compared to the Padstow experience. Thanks to the manager on the evening for stepping in.