Name: Restaurant James Sommerin
Address: The Esplanade, Penarth, Penarth, Penarth, CF64 3AU, United Kingdom
Rating: 9

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Restaurant James Sommerin

Penarth

To celebrate mine and a friends big birthday we booked for four of us to have the 14 course tasting menu at the chefs table. The whole experience of the chefs table was fabulous - being in the kitchen (very calm environment) the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff - all fabulous and worth every penny. We also had the option of 6 course wine painting - very good value and I would definitely recommend. The let down was undoubtedly how overpriced and underwhelming the rooms were. Curtains hanging off, grubby instead of sparkling clean - add to this a less than impressive breakfast and you get my point of the whole experience being a dichotomy. Either charge less to stay or they need to seriously upgrade the rooms to be worthy of the high price tag.

A real dichotomy

Was looking forward to experiencing the delights of JS and staying onsite. This review will be in two parts 1. The room 2. The restaurant. 
1. The room - very spacious and clean. Lovely comfy bed and on a sunny day a great view but that’s where it ends. It’s overpriced with no iron/board, only gave 1 Nescafé coffee although there was two of us. The TV was very small in comparison to the room and it was so far away from the bed it made watching it problematic. 
Definitely not worth the price. 
2. The restaurant - we went for the 9 course taster with wine... some of the dishes were large and definitely not tasters. The wine for some of the dishes was not matched that well but others totally complemented the food. The food itself was tasty and aspects weren’t very skilled. Front of house staff need to become more refined harmonious and dress sharper. 

Lacking the wow factor.

We have been to the restaurant a few times since it opened and have enjoyed it but sadly the menu does not change much. I want to be telling people how much I loved the food and how different it was but not this time.The service is excellent. We stayed overnight and felt that the room was overpriced. The tiles in the bathroom need cleaning, and numerous cobwebs need to be removed. I found the bed too firm for my liking, but it may suit others. The room was a good size, the ones at the front have the best view. Parking could be difficult at certain times during the day.

Disappointed

We had the 6 course taster menu. The amuse bouche were ok apart from the taramasalata which was really quite unpleasant. The meal was nice but we weren’t wowed by it and there was a lack of seasoning on a couple of courses and one of the desserts lacked sweetness. Service was very good and the wine recommendation was excellent. The room was nice but both the shower and bathroom tap were broken. There is no WiFi which is surprising and also there is no air conditioning which I would expect in a room that is £190 a night; consequently the room was very hot which made it difficult to sleep. Breakfast was a real disappointment; we were given Bircher muesli (overnight oats) which we both disliked and would have preferred granola or fresh fruit. Haddock with poached egg was nice but the cooked breakfast was poor  - scrambled eggs were cooked with butter & cream so too rich & runny and unpalatable. The streaky bacon was awful because it had no colour, the fat was unrendered and it’s pretty difficult to dissect to get the small cooked pieces. There was no water on the table and we weren’t offered fresh pots of tea or more toast. I have genuinely had a nicer breakfast at a Harvester. Overall the accommodation & breakfast is not worth the price and I wouldn’t stay again.

Nice meal but overpriced accommodation & underwhelming breakfast

My husband and I had the 6 course dinner with wine pairing and stayed the night in a room with see view. We make  comments on the food, wine, service and accommodation:

Food
- dinner missed the wow factor. All courses were nice but non were memorable. The balance of flavours on a couple of courses weren’t exciting 
- breakfast was very nice. You had the  choice of one cooked dish and this was accompanied with toast, juice and  pot of tea or cafetière coffee. I had haddock and poached eggs which was lovely and my husband had a welsh breakfast 

Wine
- we felt the servings were very small. It’s hard to judge but it looked no more than  6 glasses of 100ml. It didn’t feel good value at £45 a head and we certainly didn’t feel like we had drunk much at the end of the meal
- wines were pleasant but not wow

Service
- not consistently high. I give 2 specific  examples. (1) I have an intolerance and asked for any desserts to be substituted with cheese. It wasn’t explained to me that the last 2 courses were desserts. On the 5th course I got cheese but received nothing on the 6th. I would have probably been fine with this had been explained to me. It also caused confusion with the sommelier who wasn’t going to give me my 6th glass of wine as he saw only 1 spoon on the table at the 6th course. (2) on one occasion I was asked on clearing my plate whether I enjoyed the course. It was actually my least favourite and I decided to be honest and say so.  I assume in life that if someone asks for feedback they genuinely want it as they seeking to improve. However, there was no acknowledgment of my feedback other than a nod. A high level of  service would have followed my feedback up with a question like ‘what was it about the dish you didn’t like’, and ‘I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it, I will feed your comments back to the chef’ 

Rooms
- no wifi 
- beds were comfortable. I thought the pillows were hard 
- view was beautiful from the sea facing rooms



Missing wow factor

This is our second visit to James Sommerin, we enjoyed our first visit so much we took friends along.  On arrival we were greeted with warm welsh cakes and a warm welcome. Our room, overlooking the sea was everything you could wish for . We opted for the 6 course tasting menu which really took our breath away; presentation, taste, textures all married together perfectly.  Small touches took it above the ordinary.
Our one slight criticism was that the wine was expensive. Possibly to be expected.
Breakfast was also a special occasion.

Exceptional food and service

I can’t believe how amazing James Sommerin restaurant is!
He is literally a genius with food and it’s a lovely experience staying over in the rooms above the restaurant 
We had a six course tasting menu and stayed in a room with a view of the sea 

Michele 

We stayed here as part of a wedding party in Penarth and this establishment was convenient for the reception as it was within walking distance.

We had two rooms at the front of the building with a sea view. The room was very large with everything you needed ie tea/coffee facilities, hairdryer, TV, fan, bottle of tap water and plenty of sockets. Room was very nicely decorated and bed was comfortable. Despite being at front of the building and near to the lift, it was very quiet.

The negatives:

Impossible to fill the kettle under the bathroom tap!

Handle broken to wardrobe/cupboard.

Only 4 milk pots provided for hot drinks so afternoon cuppa and morning coffee. I presume they would provide more on request .

No wifi.

I had a suspicion room had not been hovered as there were crumbs on carpet which were not ours as we did not eat anything in the room.

Breakfast is not included.

Overall we had a good stay and none of the above impacted our stay in any way. However I felt this was was over-priced in comparison to other places we stayed at, especially as there was no breakfast or wifi. We chose this hotel for convenience.

Two night stop for a wedding

We stayed for two nights in a lovely sea view room for our wedding anniversary. A comfortable bed and relaxing room with  contemporary decor. We were offered fresh milk and warm Welsh cakes as we settled in. 
Over two days we received excellent service from all the staff, breakfast is casual and good quality. The six course tasting menu was sublime with great interaction with chefs/sommelier/waiting staff. Nicely paced service and great choice of courses for us with some lovely extra surprises. 
Thank you to James and all the staff 

Wedding Anniversary treat

Tasters were delicious, probably the best food we had. Starters and main courses were tasty, however the pudding of poached pear with flap jack was ice cold. When I suggested to the waiter that I thought something poached was warm, he argued  I should have asked more questions about the dessert before ordering and would report my thoughts to the kitchen.
A disappointing ending to a lovely evening

Restaurant James Sommerin

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