Food review: Mickey's Beach Bar & Restaurant, Exmouth | Opinion

Mickey's Beach Bar & Restaurant is easily the most publicised and eagerly anticipated premises that Exmouth has seen for some time.

Amid all the worries and excitement, I wanted to know exactly what kind of restaurant it was, and whether celebrity chef Michael Caines' food was any good.

So, how was it?

The atmosphere

When I first sat down in the restaurant area on the top floor, I was genuinely stunned.

The interior design was a mix of steampunk, fisherman's hut, and beach house, and its large, floor-to-ceiling windows offered a beautiful view of the sea, visible even from where I was at the rear of the restaurant.

To have yachts drifting past on a calm, blue sea, with the green coastline visible in the distance, made it almost feel as if I'd been plucked from Devon and dropped into California.

In keeping with this, I think the waiting staff had been told to act like American waiters and waitresses. For example, the man who served me gave his first name and said 'I'll be your server today' - which should sound very familiar to you if you've ever watched American TV.

This is not a bad thing, and in fact I think it probably works - it is a beach restaurant, after all, where you can wear a t-shirt and not be tutted at as you might be in a formal European-style restaurant.

However, the menus were laminated - very tacky, in my opinion. The music was also slightly too loud to hear people speak (but maybe that's just me).

These were my only criticisms, though, and on the whole the atmosphere, design, and service was outstanding.

The food

I'm struggling to find the right words to describe the food.

I ordered a medium-rare rump steak with Argentinian chimichurri, and it was by far the single best steak I have ever had.

The beef was so tender that I didn't even need a steak knife - it cut like butter, and actually melted in my mouth.

If you're still thinking about a meal several weeks after the fact, chances are the chefs are among the best in the world.

For dessert, I had the Mickey's Ice Cream Sundae - a surprisingly light, fresh combination of milk-flavoured ice cream, strawberries, and mint sprigs.

The food was absolutely perfect, and so good that I'm struggling not to book another table to go and eat there again.

The verdict

Mickey's Restaurant had quite a difficult problem on its hands - it had to bring high quality, expensive food to an informal setting.

I think it's been a resounding success. It's the kind of place where you can go for an inexpensive pizza, burger, or hot dog with a friend while wearing a t-shirt, or enjoy quite a high-end three-course meal just as if you were in London.

If it could iron out the wrinkle with the menu's presentation, it'd be the perfect dining experience - the kind of thing where if someone mentions they've been to Exmouth, the next question will be 'Did you go to Mickey's?'

You can book online via the website if you'd like to try it out for yourself.