Potager Restaurant — Restaurant in Chichester

Totally disappointing, we went for my Mothers Birthday meal, 5 people in total, table booked for 7pm on a Monday night.

My first time eating here I had high expectations given The price point which is inline with that of Farmer butcher chef at Goodwood, so you would expect the similar service and quality, well it was well below par, bread board arrived arrived and just placon the table, no communication made with us, “is there anything I can get you, do you need any drinks etc.” despite there being multiple empty glasses on the table.

Mains arrive but steaks were mixed up and on the wrong plates with the wrong sauces to accommodate, again not asked at the time is everything okay can we get you anything, plates served but the the waiters just retreated without a word, My steak was without exaggeration the worst cut of meat I’ve been served at this level, the fat and sinew made it a chore to eat, cooked perfectly however but cheap meat is cheap meat, Pork belly was quite frankly a laughable portion size, it was circa 60 x 40 x 10mm in size. The Salmon was overdone, The vegetables were good and the flavours were good but unfortunately the main item of the main meals let it down.

At the point of orders being taken I made a point to say what would the birthday girl like, on the off chance this might prompt a nice gesture from the restaurant but I think that fell on deaf ears, nothing wrong with that but those are the elements that separate the wheat from the chaff, whilst at the kennels last year we hadn’t even mentioned it to the waiters there however they had overheard conversation and had bought out a whole array of goodies FOC which for a Goodwood was a pleasant surprise.

When we refused the service charge and explained why we were told it was due to them being short staffed, being short staffed is no excuse for not engaging with you table, noticing empty glasses and providing good service. But if that was their excuse then they should make it know from the outset that things might not be up to standard.

All in all I think vast improvement is required Before I would...

It is good. It’s alright. On the face of it, it appears to be fine dining, then you arrive and realise a lot of the furniture appears to be IKEA billy bookcases and the carpet is from the 90s. The staff are lovely.. but they are very young. They have a sommelier but that surprised me as the red wine is served too warm and they didn’t have some wines showing on the menu. I asked what champagne they had and was told Tinwood… this is not champagne.

When I ordered a Bordeaux it couldn’t be found in the wine store, so was given a suggestion of a Chateauneuf Du Pape as an alternative even though there were other Bordeaux blends on the menu, slightly odd choice to recommend.. completely different wine style.

The food was lovely but not fine dining, more like playing at fine dining. It’s hard to explain. But we were well looked after. I’d go again to try a roast dinner but probably not a four course meal...

We chose Crouchers Hotel as the venue for our Wedding Reception for a variety of reasons. It is a lovely setting by Chichester Canal, easy to get to from Chichester Station by taxi or bus, has beautiful gardens, and we knew the food was exceptional. But most of all because Catherine was very open to our ideas and nothing was too much trouble. She instinctively knew what was needed to make the day go smoothly and happily. And so we had the most wonderful day – the food was excellent, the venue beautifully decorated, the service impeccable, the staff friendly, and everyone had the best time, including us. Catherine took all the stress away from our big day and even took photographs to share. We were allowed to have our own music and to set up a croquet set. It is now somewhere we will go to regularly to remember our...