The Beachy Head — Restaurant in Eastbourne

Location is great and food was amazing, however unfortunately we had the truly baffling experience of a manager, Callum, telling bizzare lies instead of admitting he made a simple mistake. Long review incoming- hoping the owners will see so they can address this with the staff member.

One of our party is coeliac, so when ordering with Callum at the bar we spent a good few minutes discussing allergens in the roast dinner she was ordering. He confirmed yorkshire pudding was the only item with gluten as an ingredient, and had my friend read and sign the waiver outlining allergen handling in their kitchen. We asked if the yorkshire pudding could be served on a seperate plate for another member of our party to eat- he explained this would not be possible due to cross contamination policies for meals flagged as allergens. This was not a problem, we ordered the roast along with three fish and chip meals. He asked if they had coeliac requirements aswell, we told him no.

When our food was delivered, our waitress was suprised to be delivering only three fish and chips to a party of four. We advised we were still waiting on a gluten free roast. She went to check and upon return advised us her manager, Callum, told her it was never ordered.

It's obvious he forgot to put it through, which is fine as mistakes happen. However what followed was the bizzare experience of him insiting to both his colleague, and us, that we never ordered it and he was not at fault.

We explained to our waitress we definitely ordered it, and spoke with Callum at length about allergens when we did. He told her we definitely did not- putting her in an exceptionally awkward position as she could only pass on what he told her. She was very polite and professional, and arranged for the kitchen to rush the order for us.

My friend went to speak to Callum, who point blank refused to acknowledge he had forgotten to put the order through. He told her 'your friend (me) only ordered the three fish and chips, I thought it was weird she didn't order for you'. We were quite literally together at the bar at point of ordering.

At this point I went to speak to him. I told him i understand errors happen, however it was wildly innapropriate he was choosing to lie about us rather than simply apologise. He told me to my face he 'confirmed twice' we did not want it. I told him we both knew what wasn't the truth, and he clearly made a simply mistake- all he could say was 'I am sorry you feel that way' - it was like talking to a smug brick wall.

Overall a lovely place with lovely servers, let down by an aloof manager who cannot accept he is capable of error. I feel very sorry for the staff working with him, and advise any patrons to steer clear of him when dining there.

To clarify, a simple 'sorry' was all that was...

Despite the large number of positive reviews about The Beachy Head, we had a rather negative experience dining at the restaurant yesterday.

We had made a lunch reservation but arrived 20 minutes prior to our slot. We asked if there was any possibility to be seated early and, thankfully, this was possible, despite people in the queue in front of us being told that the dining area was fully booked and only places in a different area were available. Once we were sat down in what we assumed to be the dining area, it was very quiet, with only a few tables being occupied.

It took the waitress a good 5-10 minutes to come over to our table and give us the menus. We then waited perhaps another 10 minutes for our waitress to come and take our food order. In the meantime, we noticed another table having a small argument with the waitress over the service and food that they were not satisfied with.

My partner and I both ordered from the lunch set menu (which we found to be good value). For our initial order, we ordered a starter and main as weren’t sure about dessert at that point.

We must have waited 40 minutes for our starters with no updates during the wait. Given the restaurant was not busy, we were quite shocked just how slow the service was. Upon receiving the dishes, we were given no apology for the delay. My partner enjoyed her starter but mine was only luke warm.

Thankfully, our mains came quite quickly following the starters. However, my salad was covered in bacon, despite me explicitly asking to have it without. Upon flagging it up, the salad was remade (with apologies and with extra avocado to make up for the bacon) but there was no tomato in the salad, despite it being listed on the menu.

My partner also had a mouldy tomato in her salad that accompanied her main meal. Fuzzy, green mould was on the underside. Again, the waitress apologised and had the salad re-made. My partner enjoyed her main meal (lasagne) but I found my salad to be very underwhelming.

Upon taking our plates, the waitress did not ask how the food was, otherwise I would have mentioned the lack of tomatoes in the salad.

We decided to share a dessert to take advantage of the £22.50 three-course menu. The chocolate brownie was very nice, despite, again, having to wait a while for it.

All in all, we were pretty disappointed with The Beachy Head. There was no offering for any money off the bill, despite the multiple mistakes, mouldy food and very slow service. It is very unlikely we will return here in the future and will not recommend it to...

We visited on a Sunday around 12.30. They only had a table (101) near to the bar. The entrance door does not close correctly, so there is constant breeze blowing through to the table, this isn't helped by the fact that they wedge the second internal doors open. We proceeded to order 3 Sundays roasts and. Chicken schnitzel at around 12.40. My friend arrived 10 minutes later and ordered the same sunday lunch. At 14.10 one of the meals was served (by a young male of teenage years)- no cutlery was provided and we waiting expecting them to bring some. 10 minutes later the dish was cold due to the breeze and we gave up waiting and asked a member of staff for some cutlery. They begrudgingly gave us one knife and fork. At 14.30 the other 4 meals still hadn't arrived, so i asked what I assume is the manager (older gentleman with grey hair) and he went away to the kitchen then came back to say they were plating it up. At 14.40 we finally had all of the dished served and before the server could run away we asked for some cutlery. To be fair the food was ok. A general pub Sunday lunch. The only comment of the food was that the side salad came with just plain salad leaves, no olive oil or other dressing. I can understand that it's a busy location on a Sunday. But that shouldn't mean that service should be so bad - the bare minimum of cutlery to eat with shouldn't need to be asked for. A little bit of staff training would probably solve the issue. Placing a dish on a table and immediately running away without giving the customer a chance to ask for cutlery or even looking g on the table to see if they have cutlery isn't a big ask. The next issue may be the location we were seated (near the bar). There is a constant sound of smashing glasses as they throw empty bottles into a bin under the bar. Maybe try to get seated well away.

Would I visit again if I was in the area? At a push, if I had no other option. I would more likely drive to somewhere else to see if i could get better service though. I've left a photo attached that I took while my friends were waiting for their meal, as you can see I had finished and theirs...