If you find yourself wandering the Barbican on a hungry afternoon, Platters is the kind of place that asks for very little and gives a lot in return. It is a family-run fish and seafood restaurant sitting right on the waterfront at 12 The Barbican, and it has been doing exactly that for thirty years. The history is built into the address: for three decades it has sourced its fish from the Plymouth Fish Market, which used to stand directly in front of the restaurant before moving about 200 yards along the quay. That short distance is the only thing that has really changed.
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The menu leans hard into the local catch. There is lemon sole, garlic prawns, lobster, clam soup, octopus, seafood trays, fish soup, a trio of small sole, sea bass fillet, mackerel fillet, paella and mushroom garlic. The dish everyone points to, though, is the fried cod served with thick chips and mashed peas, which has become the place's signature. If you have room left, there is chocolate cake and crème brûlée to round things off. It is the sort of straightforward, honest cooking that lets the ingredients do the talking, and the ingredients happen to come from the market just down the quay.
On the practical side, it is an easy place to slot into a day. It is licensed, serves both lunch and dinner, takes children (with a minimum age), accommodates groups and runs all year round, so it works whether you are out for a quick bite or a proper sit-down meal. There is indoor and outdoor seating, and it stays open Monday to Sunday from 11:30am to 9:00pm, which is handy if your plans shift. The staff lean on local products and suppliers, which is no surprise given where the place is.
The reviews tell you what to expect. It holds 4.5 stars across 800 Google reviews and 938 on Tripadvisor, and it sits at number four in the 'Where to eat: the 50 best restaurants in Plymouth' list. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber once described his meal here as 'the finest fish I have tasted', which is about as high a compliment as a seafood place can get. More recent feedback points to the fish soup, the sole, the seafood soup, the trio of small sole, the sea bass fillet and the mackerel fillet as the ones to order. A few people have noted that the tables sit very close together because the venue is small, so it is not the place for a quiet, secluded corner, but it is the place for good fish.
Price-wise, it stays reasonable. One diner mentioned a dinner for two with soft drinks coming to £46, while the lunch menu runs roughly between £6 and £10, and a monkfish dish was listed at £18. It is the sort of pricing that makes it as suitable for a casual lunch as for a proper dinner. With the Barbican Theatre, the Mayflower Museum, the Elizabethan House and gardens, the Royal Citadel and the National Marine Aquarium all within easy reach, it is a natural stop on a day spent taking in the old part of town. For thirty years it has stayed true to its fish-market roots, and that is really all you need to know before you walk in.
