La Locanda Del Duca — Restaurant in Eastbourne

While in Eastbourne craving for some seafood, luckily after a search online La Locanda Del Duca was discovered; an Italian restaurant on the Eastbourne coast, which served a selection of mouthwatering dishes.

This restaurant has that classic English seaside Italian restaurant feel. The restaurant is big with a high ceiling feeling airy and spacious; containing classy decor, with artwork of beautiful places in Italy found on every wall. We were welcomed by the friendly staff that are dressed to impress, who delivered great service.

Deciding on our dishes from the impressive menu, for the starter we opted for 2 oysters, and Capesante con pancetta e spinaci (Scallops wrapped in Italian Bacon, with spinach). Surprisingly the scallops were complimented extremely well, with the slight salt taste of the Italian Bacon eliminating the need for added salt. One thing I loved was the waiter providing us with a lemon sorbet to cleans our palette, before our mains arrived. This showed they wanted us to have a great dining experience, and this is also typical of Italian dining culture too.

For the main courses 2 dishes were ordered. 'Spaghetti allo scoglio' which came with various seafood in a lovely tomato sauce, and 'Tagliatelle ai gamberoni, zafferano e limone (tagliatelle with prawns, saffron, and lemon). However the standout main was the 'Tagliatelle ai gamberoni...', this was beyond amazing with the subtle yet rich taste of saffron, prawns, and lemon; in a cream sauce that coates the tagliatelle so well, reminding you you're living your best life. This is one of the best dishes ever eaten, something even my Southern Italian partner stated (she let me try)! 😋

Visiting La Locanda Del Duca was a fantastic choice, and a reason to revisit the coastal town again for the food, atmosphere and cultural experience; of a lovely Italian restaurant. If in the area do book, as on the Sunday it got quiet busy and now we know why. Buon...

Absolutely horrified by this, what looks like a lovely Italian restaurant, delivering below par service and quality food. Was really looking forward to eating here, we live in Pevensey and wanted to try an Italian nearby! Am Italian myself, so was hoping for a lovely meal and unfortunately I have never eaten so badly in my life!! We had to send back the Calamari Fritti starter because I have never been served Calamari so small in my life! The waiter said they are ‘baby squid’ on the menu! Fine, why bother even putting baby squid on the menu! Calamari should be proper fresh calamari not half a portion of fried/burnt nothing! Then my Fegato alla Griglia con Pancetta arrived 🤦🏻‍♀️! See from the pictures… £20 of nothing! I personally think because we had sent back the squid we got penalised with the Fegato (liver) & got served a portion of toddler food!! If it wasn’t because I was hungry I would have sent this back too! I told the waiter as much who then offered to give me a bigger portion 🤦🏻‍♀️… really, damage done!!! Rude service, below par food for a ‘coperto’ Italian restaurant!! Very disappointed. The Fish & Chip shop in Pevensey Bay does better than here! Italians & others, who know their food, just don’t bother. I’d have to hope Pomodoro & Mozzarella 🇮🇹 next door...

La Locanda Del Duca was recommended by one of our taxi drivers on our first day in Eastbourne and we left it for the last night. It turned out to be an absolutely lovely way to top off a weekend. The ambience invited you to slow down, the music reminded you of Italy and times gone by, the table setting, the service - everything prepared you for a fantastic meal! We opted for the set menu, one of us being vegetarian. The veggie options were well rounded with a Vegan menu available. The prosciutto and melon could have been my entire meal it was so good. The tomatoes on the Tricolore salad were delicious. My Penne della festa with strips of beef had the most tender strips and a flavorful sauce. The Cannelloni spinaci e ricotta looked amazing!! And he loved every bite. If you go for the ice cream try the coffee. The tiramisu looked delicious and my partner ate every last bit. I finished my meal with a macchiato that was so good I wish I had asked what coffee they were using. My partner quite liked the Chianti. The service was friendly and fast moving without rushing. They matched their pace to ours. And to finish the evening they offered us a limoncello. It was nice to be surrounded by a mature mix of people, it made for a lovely date with fabulous food....