Alba Restaurant

wow, a place that seemed nice at a glance but turned out to be far from that. the service was slow, waiting staff were grouchy/​unexperienced, food very unstable verging on bad. however, the worst part about it was that I got the most severe food poisoning of my entire life. it made the following night a living hell. the ironic thing is that they very proudly display a review of their food/​health safety standards the very first thing when you enter through the front door. When I went the toilet you could easily see that the kitchen and the adjacent area were a mess, easily not deserving of the highest grade in food/​safety standard. do not suffer the same fate as I did, go someplace else.

alba’s location and its relatively reasonable pricing for the quality of the food make it one of my favourite eateries in st ives. the frisky bison cocktail, a sort of apple martini is one of the best i have tried and at GBP4.50 good value. the early seating menu is a great way to experience alba on a tighter budget. the cauliflower and blue cheese soup is delicious as is the home made bread. i actually found the service most friendly and timely so perhaps it depends on your attitude and rapport with the waiters. the view from the tables upstairs is beautiful if a little distracting. check it out!

The only thing stopping me from giving me this place a 4 star is that we got stuck with a grouchy waitress. The only thing stopping me from giving me this place a 2 star because of the grouchy waitress is that the food was wonderful.
We came upon Alba when we were vacationing in Cornwall. The menu said they were on the Michelin guide, so we ventured in. The hostess at the entrance did not seem amused when we said we’d like to sit upstairs (the view from the top is beautiful). When we got upstairs the waitress we were assigned to was pretty short & said we’d have to sit where she said because all the good seats were reserved.
The soup, mains & desert were exceptionally good. No surprises here since I imagine being on the Michelin guide isn’t easy. The desert was served by a much nicer waitress & I was happy to let her have all the tip.
Please note that food takes a while to arrive here. If you’d like seats by the window upstairs be sure to call well in advance to reserve them. And don’t take any sh*t from the staff. A restaurant is a restaurant is a restaurant. And the Michelin is just a guide at the end of the day.

We’ve never been disappointed here, on the occasions when we could get in at all. It’s in the GFG, and you can taste why. A recent lunch of chicken for her and mackerel for me was pretty much perfect. The generous heap of totally bone free mackerel fillets was cooked to perfection — crispy salty skin, creamy moist flesh. The puds are pretty good too. Lunch for two with puds, booze and coffee was £36. In keeping with St Ives, the paintings on the walls are high quality too.

On the seafront overlooking the harbour, on two levels. Both spacious and light.
The food was excellent, with careful preparation and clear intense flavours, particularly the chuney. Fish as expected was first class, mussels excellent and the terrine & vegetarian dish simple but tasty.
Wine list was not overly ambitious and showed very careful selection and included a couple of bargains such as a Calif. central coast Cab Sav with a little age.
A very cost effective 3 course lunch offer with several choices at each course was what our group settled for. It would seem a booking in high season is essential.
Highly recommended.

Very good for lunch, good value menu, sharp Bistro presentation.
Book early for best tables, never as busy as it should be IMHO.