The Pilot Inn — Restaurant in Eastbourne

I arrived at The Pilot Inn yesterday evening, after a hike across The Seven Sister Cliffs with some friends. It appeared to be the closest pub off of the hiking trail and our friends leg was in pain so we were relieved to have a sit down and a drink. I have to say the bar staff were lovely and drinks were refreshing and beautifully garnished.

We sat in the beer garden for about an hour before we started feeling a little cold and hungry and decided we would go inside to order some food. Three of us sat at a table and was waiting for our fourth friend to return from the bar before ordering. During this time the manager came over to our table and asked if we wanted to order food because we would need to order it right now if we do. We were about to say that our friend is coming back shortly so we’d like to order together but she cut us off abruptly and then went on to say that the table was actually reserved and we couldn’t sit there after all so we would need to move into the bar area if we’d like to eat. (There was no reservation sign on the table or clear indication that we couldn’t sit there) If she had been polite about us making an innocent mistake then it would have been forgotten but her manner was so rude and unsettling it made us want to leave immediately.

I approached my friend at the bar who had just purchased a new pint and told her briefly what had happened without wanting to draw attention, that we didn’t want to eat here but she should finish her drink and then we can leave. My friend was concerned and calmly mentioned to one of the young girls on the bar that the staff had been rude to us, causing us to leave. The girl was curious about this and was asking what had happened. In this time the manager bulldozed over to us and accused us of shouting at her bar staff, which was simply not true. She was visibly shaking with anger and defensiveness and she was actually the one shouting at us in front of all her other punters and barred us on the spot. I wish my first time getting barred from anywhere in 38years was for a good reason but unfortunately not.

As someone who has worked in a lot of pubs and dealt with all kinds of characters over the years, I was completely shocked that this woman is a manager as her hospitality is appalling and she cannot handle herself neither calmly or professionally, let alone correctly. She has zero clue on how to defuse an altercation and actually appears to be the kind of person who would rather throw petrol on flames. Even the local cab driver who gave us a lift to the train station told us the pub had a reputation over the years as being mean spirited and disrespectful.

You might be tempted to go here as it’s the first pub off of the Seven Sisters trail but maybe give it a swerve if you can. There are much more friendly places...

Today we visited the charming Pilot Inn, which we have been to previously, a few weeks ago. On that occasion it was pleasant and great service, and lovely food, in fact we liked it so much that we decided to come again. Today however, we had a totally different experience, we were over charged for swapping sourdough for a wrap, an extra £3, but we accepted it and carried on. We decided to have pudding today, service was slow but it was busy so we understood. When it came to paying the bill, we were accidently overcharged,  we understand that mistakes can happen especially when you're busy. We wanted to double check the refund has gone through before paying again as understandably we did not want to pay twice, the waitress Chloe said she would call the manager over. We understand this as she wanted to make sure everything was correct, The manager, Emma, came over to our table with what you would say 'an attitude because we had an issue with the refund. We settled the bill and said we would sort it between us once the refund had gone back into the accounts. Because of this incident we had rudeness from the staff, they were complaining about us and the lady on the door, when we left had the worst attitude, yet we had not had any dealings with her throughout this trip. She was the worst one of all by saying "Bye" in a sarcastic manner, and made me make the decision to do this complaint. This was completely disgusting to be treated like this, as anyone in our situation would have wanted to make sure the refund had gone through and not have to pay twice. The staff clearly need customer service training. If one person makes a complaint and you deal with it, it is settled, but if it is not dealt with, in order words, made worse by the attitude from the others in the team, that person will then tell others and those others will spread the word too. If it was my company, I would immediately ensure those staff on duty today receive adequate customer service training before you lose more customers. I would like to empathise, that Chloe made an innocent mistake and we do not blame her in any way, what we were appalled with is the disgusting attitude from others in the team including the...

Absolutely shocking customer service! Rude manager! No manners! I booked a table between 4pm/7pm as I was taking part in a Macmillan charity walk and finishing just by the pub. I booked for those times as I was a little unsure of my exact finishing Time. I arrived at the pub at 5:45, still wearing medal ,full hiking gear. I walked in said my name, the manager replied ", your a no show" explaining what I had just taken part in, she replied " well you can have the table, but don't expect to eat as you have to be off the table by 7" completely and utterly taken aback by comments. I just replied okay. We were led to our table by a young girl who asked to take our food order. I explained we was ' not allowed to eat due to time " we ordered a drink, they took nearly 20 minutes to come. I sat with my son in law , daughter and son. We dismissed what had happened and continued to discuss the days events. Realising it was almost 7pm and not wanting to cause an issue running over the time. We asked for the bill. Funny enough we were still waiting for it at 7:30 after asking more than once. Whilst leaving I asked the manager where the people were for the 7pm booking and looking around I could still see many empty tables did she have to be so rude. Her reply, well you should of been here at 4pm. I have no doubt the food is nice, good offering of drinks but with disgusting rude service like that I would...