Bill's Chichester Restaurant — Restaurant in Chichester

I've eaten here a number of times, and this has been the exception, hence the three stars, down from five.

We were told it was understaffed and food would take about twenty minutes, which is fine. As we began, the restaurant did seem to be clearing quickly, and there did seem to be more staff running in and out.

Half-an-hour in and we were worried since we hadn't received even our drinks when a larger group which arrived after us received their food. Forty minutes pass and we're asked if we'd like to order, to which we respond we already have. Something clicked then and we were apologised to frequently, and I understand that these things can happen. However, our food did not arrive until fifty minutes into our booking, along with another drink which we ordered fifteen minutes prior. Considering the simplicity of the meal, that being Scrambled Egg on Toast, I was astonished that it took so long. Considering the quality too, I was somewhat disappointed: the egg was hastily cooked, under-seasoned, and quite thick as though microwaved quickly.

Our waiter was very apologetic, even though it wasn't their fault and they were not our original waiter. For our trouble we did receive a very substantial discount, and for that I am grateful. However, it did certainly put a downer on our brunch, and may have caused issues for my friend. They needed to take stomach drugs twenty minutes before food, and if you follow, since we expected food about twenty minutes after being seated, the drugs had worn off by the time food arrived, coupled with the fact they had to shovel it down to get to work on time.

All-in-all, normally, Bill's is a pretty, quaint place to eat brunch or dinner, and in Eat-out to Help-out, it's great value. I feel that this was an exception, and the waiter handled it well, but I think it's important to share these issues...

It was a very wonderful experience. Me and my friend were greeted by a lady who was at the host reception and we’re given a big table next to the door. The lady who served us was great ( I forgot her name) and had a little chat about the company as I used to work for bills 2016-2018. So much has changed but I saw some of the dishes and drinks I served to the guests were still on the menu. The tortilla chips are my favourite. I ordered steak and eggs for my mains and it was delicious and my friend ordered chicken broccoli with mash potato I forgot the dishes name. Her chicken was pink at the bottom and wasn’t cooked properly so the lady who served us consulted something with the manager and gave us drinks on the house. When I had a sip of pink lemonade it reminded me of those days I worked in bills and immediately felt nostalgic. I remember the busy days running around in the restaurant. We wanted to have puddings but decided we were late for our show so we asked for the bill. It seems like the service charge situation still continues the service charge needs to go to the server not the company! . I asked the lady who served us to remove the service charge so she would get it and tipped her as we had a wonderful experience. Unfortunately I had no cash on me so I tipped her on card and gave her a chocolate hopefully she isn’t allergic otherwise I would be scandalised. We will be coming for breakfast soon...

We came to Bill’s in Chichester to celebrate our mother’s birthday, but what we experienced was nothing short of discriminatory and appalling.

We arrived at 11am and were immediately turned away by the manager, who claimed every table was fully booked and there was absolutely nothing available until 1pm- she extremely dismissive as well. As we walked out, we tried to book a table ourselves online just out of curiosity and within seconds, we got a confirmed reservation for 11:45am.

We returned to show the booking, and instead of apologising or acknowledging the mistake, the manager gave excuses and treated us with clear hostility. After I walked away, she even rolled her eyes at me—something both of my parents witnessed. This was supposed to be a joyful family outing, and instead we were made to feel small, unwelcome, and blatantly disrespected.

During our entire hour there, many tables remained visibly empty, proving that the excuse we were given at the start was clearly false. The fact that Bill’s charges for no-shows yet manipulates their own system to turn people away without reason is outrageous.

Given the other racist encounters we experienced in Chichester that day, we strongly suspect this was not a coincidence. It is incredibly disheartening that in 2025, people are still being treated...