I took out the family for dinner on Saturday night. We decided to revisit the Regent Meadery, Chapel Street, Penzance.

In the first week of April 1982, a friend and I walked a segment of the South Cornwall Coast Path from the Lizard peninsular to Penzance. We had started from Falmouth in great weather, but the final segment was in incessant rain. Having found a cheap B&B for the night we then went out for dinner and ended up at the Regent Meadery. It is in a basement and I recall eating 'chicken in the rough'. The reason I recall the date so well was that we found out that the Falkland Islands had been invaded and that Britain was going to war with Argentina - it seemed so unreal.

I went there again in 1999 this time with my family and found that it served well-priced straightforward food. The kids liked the dungeon-like atmosphere of the basement. The food was simple, well-prepared and reasonably priced. A year ago we went with another family there. The place was completely packed out but we were not disappointed. Service was friendly and the food was worth waiting for. I recall a really good rack of ribs and some of us liked the fish very much.

On Saturday everything looked the same when we went in although the restaurant was surprisingly half empty. The menu appeared to be the same although I was conscious of piped music. Perhaps this was to drown out the noisy bar above, but I only recalled hearing other voices last year. The waitress was chaotic - said that it was her second night - and appeared not to have been trained.

Food was disappointing. Starters were not bad - deep fried prawns seemed tasty and the garlic bread was fine (though the waitress apologised it was burnt!). The salad bar was dark and most of the bowls were empty; it's fine to have a dark restaurant but you need to see what is going on your plate! The fish bites were undercooked - the breadcrumbs not attaining a golden colour - and the chips were similarly pale. The racks of ribs were tender but while a year ago the marinade was glazed on, they seemed to be served with what was more like a gravy.

Overall, disappointing especially given value for money the previous year. I did not think it was worth £15/head. We were puzzled. Was there a change of owner? Didn't seem like it given that the menu and decor were unchanged. New manager or chef? Maybe. Shame that the standards have dropped and it seems to be reflected in the number of diners too.