Crown and Anchor — Restaurant in England

I booked a table for Sunday the 5th December, a week in advance for 4 people at 6pm for roast dinner at The Crown and Anchor inn Preston Road Brighton. As the kitchen was stated as open till 6pm we thought that we would be ok. We pre ordered via our online booking. The late booking was due to a member of the party working. On Saturday the 4th a member of staff called to ask if we were still coming. We said we were and that we had pre ordered roast dinners. The member of staff stated that this was ok and gave no indication that our booking would be a problem. On Sunday the day of our booking the manager Hugo contacted us to say he was cancelling our booking as the kitchen would be closed. This was 2 hours before our booking. I explained that the website said the kitchen shut at 6pm so what was the issue and that we had spoken to staff the previous day and confirmed our booking. The manager would not apologies even when I asked him to, he could only argue and say that the kitchen wouldn't be open but they could microwave the dinners. Unfortunately I was not willing to pay £13 to £15 for a microwave dinner. I am not sure what part of cancelling 2 hours before does the manager feel is acceptable. To prove that I could book a table a friend of mine rebooked for the following week at 6pm. We had every intention of turning up. But once again the booking was cancelled. I sent an email to Hugo the manager showing him images of his website showing the kitchen shut at 6pm. He responded with the following e mail.

"Dear Leigh

Thank you for your email

Clearly you have way too much time on your hands to let tiny things like this go. You felt the need to book under a fake name for this Sunday.

May I suggest, actually advise that you find a different venue for your future use.

Kindest regards

Hugo"

The meal the previous week had been with friends we hadn't seen for nearly a year due to the pandemic. Obviously this is a "tiny thing" and there is no respect or consideration for the inconvenience that was caused.

I'm half expecting this review may get a response from Hugo again questioning my integrity, however unless it gets changed ( may I suggest Hugo that you do change it) the evidence is in black and white on your website.

I see now that after I have written the above , you have updated your website. I hope this saves any future customer the disappointment we...

We went for a more or less unplanned meal as access to our kitchen was temporarily closed off by soft tile adhesive! Anyway, we hadn't been to the Crown and Anchor for a while so gave it a go. For a Friday night it wasn't full but had a reasonable number. The pub is large and airy and has clearly been opened out in the recent past.

It served good clear ale from the Long Man brewery. I had the Blonde, clear like lager but hoppy and tasty. Stuart had the equally good bitter. The menu had quite a number of vegetarian choices so good for Stuart. His starter was vegetable soup which had plenty of cheese. For main, he picked the Halloumi "fish" and chips, which was huge and certainly didn't leave room for dessert.

My bruschetta starter was delicious with lots of garlicky tomatoes on ciabatta and varied salad. It was followed by skate with capers and crushed potatoes, all very good and again no room for afters! The only disappointment were the sadly overcooked side vegetables, which went back almost untouched. In retrospect perhaps I should have sent them back as everything else was nice.

The staff were friendly and attentive. There is a garden which we didn't explore although I seem to remember is very small and on the road side.

We will...

Had Sunday roast here and very disappointed considering some of the favourable reviews. We had 3 vegan wellingtons and one pork belly. The wellingtons were very poor. They took a long time to come and when they did arrive they were tepid. Two plates were missing some veg and the cauli cheese was forgotten. When the cauli cheese did eventually turn up it was overcooked. The roasties were black on outside and cold in the middle. Rest of the veg was just mush. We told our waitress how bad it was and she said she would speak to the chef. We heard no more after that, just presented with the bill and waitress suddenly seemed very embarrassed. Sunday roasts are a big thing in Brighton and you will find much better than this elsewhere. The beer was good and we had a couple of bottles of wine between us. One of us had a Bloody Mary which appeared to be pre mixed and very average. Considering the cost I would expect much better. Our bill including drinks came to almost £160 so not an insignificant amount. Despite our protestations there was no apology or offer...