The West Hill Tavern — Restaurant in England

Joined as a party of 18 for the bottomless brunch with pizza. Visit was for a hen do, and the waitress was lovely and very attentive. She made sure the group was looked after. Issue came with the food, which took 1 hour 20 minutes between the first person getting their food to the last. The majority of the group were left hungry waiting for food, only to be told after ordering the kitchen could only serve 3 pizzas every 15 minutes. The pizzas themselves were good when they arrived, but not acceptable to serve in such a manner. The waitress initially removed the service charge, only to be followed by a rude and irrational manager who should know better working in this industry. Don’t accept bookings if you are unable to serve them as a group, and be considerate when speaking to your customers. Telling your customer your staff won’t get paid because the service wasn’t paid is ethically questionable. Lovely food and location, marred by the rude management so disappointing overall which is the driver for the rating.

[Update to owner response]: There are no reviews of similar sized groups with the pizza brunch offer so could not compare to understand if this was a one off experience. Previous reviews do mention rude staff, which is always disappointing. This review is being shared to allow other large groups to consider information we were unable to at the time of booking as, by your own admission, you are unable to serve large groups the pizza menu.

You hurriedly explained the small kitchen only AFTER the booking had been made, the group seated and food ordered, AND the initial food was slow to the table. Previous reviews also mention you are able to serve roasts for groups of 20 with little delay, so you ought to consider your ability to serve large groups when it is you who offers a pizza only menu. It is your responsibility as a restaurant to inform that prior to any booking is made, or even before ordering so the group could have ordered pizzas to share. That way the delay in pizzas would not have left the majority of the group without food. Nearly an hour wait for food (even by your questionable timings) is excessive and not justifiable.

You accepted a group booking for a large number of pizzas, and were unable to deliver. The initial delay in ordering (c. 20 minutes) was driven by your staff who explained they would set up drinks first, and only then would take our orders. Had you known you would struggle with this at the time of booking (presumably your kitchen has not drastically reduced in sized overnight) you could have had the foresight to take a pre-order. In addition, consider taking the food order first to make head way on those ahead of the drinks on arrival.

You ought to speak to your staff before posting as the group did query the delay with the food throughout the service. Your staff member also printed a new receipt with no service charge upon the final query which was handed to our party, which is when they proceeded to pay. There was no issue with the food itself when it finally arrived and so the service was queried in the first instance. Had you been available to discuss an alternative there could have been another option, but your staff member made the decision without you to remove it.

Service charge is not enforceable (even on large groups) when it is not at an acceptable level. You simply served the equivalent of 5-6 small tables. In this instance the full bill was paid as your updated receipt would show.

Agreed on the server’s attentiveness at the onset of the booking, which I called out in the review and the lead guest was arranging a cash tip to reflect this after the delay of food was identified. This was retracted after her attitude changed upon your arrival and became rude to the group.

Considering the above, you should stick to groups and offers you are able to service if you are able to do these well. For larger groups this evidently is not an area you can cater to as well and the review...

One of the best (if not the best) roasts I've ever had. Extremely generous portion of chicken with a good mixture of meat on and off the bone (they provide such different textures and flavours, the contrast of having both really adds to the meal in my humble opinion), brilliantly 'fluffy on the inside/ crispy on the outside yorkie', the BEST leeks I've ever had, stuffing made out of SAUSAGE MEAT and even the cabbage tasted a bit different and special. Am looking forward to trying out the other roasts they have on offer now. Just a shame they no longer have bar billiards although, to be fair, if they had I probably wouldn't have been able to get a seat, as it's so popular now! Unfortunately, my photos in no way do this meal justice at all. Don't take my word for it though.... Treat yerselves you lucky,...

Mind blowing Sunday roast!! We tried the pork belly with the crackling skin, the dry aged beef, and the slow roasted lamb. The pork belly was my absolute favorite! The beef was my husband and my cousin's favorite. Perfectly cooked, seasoned exceptionally, and just the best roast I've had in Brighton so far. We were worried about the lack of flavor, but was worried for nothing. The flavor hit hard from the meats, to the gravy, to the potatoes! 9/10 The only thing I didn't like was their Yorkshire pudding. I normally enjoy it, but this place it was kind of dry and bland. I hope they work on it because I will definitely give...