Palm Court Restaurant — Restaurant in England

This place was always a ‘must visit’ venue for my friends and family on trips to Brighton which we do often. So, can’t tell you how disappointed we were when we visited on a lovely sunny lunch time last week. This restaurant was always busy, rain or shine, summer or winter. The city was very busy on this day and restaurants overflowing except this one and it’s not difficult to work out why. Firstly the lovely old style decor used to suit what was basically a ‘slightly up market’ fish and chip shop. Good service, a lovely predictable menu, reasonable prices and delicious fish and chips. Why or why then have they put in a flash bar taking up half the restaurant space and found it necessary to bombard our ear drums with loud undistinguished Euro beat music? Also this is not the place I think many people would go for for mussels and fries!

We got asked three times had we ordered by three different staff and then had to wait ages and ages for our haddock and chips to arrive. (They did eventually arrive when I got up and tracked down a staff member and enquired when we were being fed .) Oh, what a disappointment. The chips were warm at best and the fried fish so overcooked inside the greasy batter it was chewy and unpleasant. We also ordered tea for two but asked if it could be served after or with the meal, not ten minutes before. This request caused real problems but we were eventually told this would be ok so were surprised when it arrived almost immediately! The manager did come and apologise which was nice and we assured him it was all fine. Btw we were going to have a beer but on seeing the price decided against it. On the subject of price it has gone up by a very large amount. We are totally aware of the cost to this industry of Covid and expect some increase and would have been happy to pay for a decent meal. Presumably this extra cost is to cover the huge bar and staff which had no customers whilst we were there.

Well, I’m very sad to say that we will not be visiting this favourite haunt again any time soon. ...

Credit where credit is due this place is amazing! 7 of us dined in, 6 having food from the adult menu & 1 from the kids menu. We were expecting standard food, smallish portions. There were 2 scampi baskets ordered, 3 chicken burgers, a caeser salad & a kids nugget meal & I couldn't believe the size of the portions. We also had 3 sides of mozzarella dippers & a side of giant onion rings.

I have never seen so many scampi arrive with a meal before, talk about value for money! There was the equivalent of an entire bag of scampi in a basket with a huge portion of freshly cut & cooked chips. The scampi has to be the best I have ever eaten out. Crisp on the outside but not greasy & so juicy when you bite into them...be warned they are like little balls of lava & I burnt my mouth in my haste to try them!

The onions rings were fresh thick cut onion rings in an absolute divine crisp batter...again not greasy but delicious & hot. The mozzarella sticks came with a side salad & a sweet chilli dip, my daughter & her friend said they were the most perfectly cooked mozzarella dippers they had ever eaten. The chicken burger comes in a huge brioche bun & is served with a massive portion of chips. The kids meal is more like a small adult portions, again everything perfect & the salad was amazing. Now caesar salads vary between places, we've had nice ones & we've had terrible ones. This one was deemed as...again...the best eaten in a restaurant!

All in all we were hugely impressed with the service & the food & have found our go to spot forever when we go to Brighton! 8 hours on we are still raving about the food we had.

The prices are very reasonable for the quality & quantity of food & also for the fact it is a seaside eatery so you would expect it to be expensive...it really isn't. I cant wait for our next visit. From the moment we walked in it really was a positive experience right...

I told the manager that I would write a review.. with my glasses on ..and here I am, fresh back from Brighton.

I will start by saying, these people are no different to most of the places over Pride weekend in Brighton, charging top dollar, to the point of rip off (yes you can almost feel your arm being ripped out of it's socket for as much of your cash as possible in one savage bite) and yet offering the most basic in return.

Outside the venue, the same people are offering fish and chips to take away.. basic medium sized portions for £10.50. If you want a drink they say, you'll have to purchase inside and sit. So in we went.

Now I will say this is my own fault.. but I didn't have my glasses with me and was difficult to study the menu, and so I was ordering blindly, so to speak.

Cutting to the chase.. We had fish and chips no trimmings for 3 people and a drink each. 2 pints of their own lager an d a gin and lemonade.. this was roughly £72! After a second drink each at the bar after, which was closing by 6pm.. the spend was over 85 quid!

I felt so annoyed and ripped off, that I couldnt help telling the Manager how I felt.. which frankly was ripped off.

The food itself was bog standard, as I say no trimmings for fish and chips at £14.75 small to medium portions.. ok I accepted a bit extra than the outside price to sit down, but an extra £4.75 extra? They could have thrown in a free pint with that and that would have at least been flowers before getting f#cked!

I have to say the Manager was polite. The staff were friendly. It's not them doing it it or getting the money is it, after all.

They also put a 10 percent service charge on, which is enforced.

That was the most offensive part of the experience for me and because I walked away having spent almost £90 on a very very basic bit of fish and chips and poor quality lager. I...