Pucellis

Italian restaurant in the Padstow waterfront. The restaurant is on the first floor with a nice view. We ordered the mussels cooked with bacon and pancetta, spaghetti vongole and salad. The vongole was very good. The mussels tasted ok but quite a few were not very fresh.

Pucelli’s benefits from a great view over the harbour and a lovely décor. The menu has a good range and fills a good niche in Padstow with its prices, as it is neither horrendously overpriced (in the vein of Rick Stein’s restaurant) nor cheap and greasy like the famous traditions of pasties and chips.
The salmon pasta dish I had was nice although much too buttery for my taste, but my boyfriend’s prawn pizza was delicious and very good value for money — they also have two size options for pizzas which is very welcome!

Just had the pleasure of dining at Pucellis in Padstow. There were 8 of us altogether and we all thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The location of the restaurant is wonderful, with lovely views of the harbour. The restaurant is light and airy with a good choice of music.
The staff were very friendly and helpful. The meals all came out at the same time, so none of us had to wait!
The food was of a very high standard at a very reasonable price.
We would all recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Padstow. Wish we lived nearer and we would go to this place again and again!

In Padstow you are spoilt for choice for eateries, and, if one is honest, in such a vibrant fishing community you’re doing the place a bit of a disservice to select an Italian restaurant but, if there’s one reason to select Pucellis then it’s for the views that you can get across the harbour if you ask for a window seat. Upstairs, for that is where you’ll dine, it should be noted that the windows are not large and they’re shuttered so not only do you need a window seat, you need the right window seat if you get it then you’ll have a great view, if not, then content yourself with the fact that you’re not about to pay Rick Stein prices!
Views aside, Pucellis is not somewhere that you’d pick for gastronomic reasons. It’s a fairly standard Italian offering with good, but not exceptional food geared more towards the UK market than authenticity.
Portion sizes are good and the food tastes fresh (although certain items have clearly come from the freezer cabinet rather than the sea/​market etc) — but, for me, I couldn’t help but detect the smell of fine dining from the many and varied establishments down the road where I’d rather have been.
If I’m honest, when you think about what you could be eating in Padstow, the prices are a little on the steep side for what you get but then Padstow itself is expensive in general — it can afford to be!
Grab an ice-​cream from the gellateria below but give this place a miss — the pub on the adjacent corner would be a better bet!