HarBAR + Kitchen — Restaurant in Great Britain

didn't book a pre show meal , we had stayed at the hotel before so took a chance. They kindly fitted us in first in a bar seating area , then when we asked again , at a table but only for 1Hr 15 mins but that was fine. We only wanted 1 course and we had time limitations ourselves. My partner is pescatarian so the choice was limited but she settled on the Fish and Chips , I had a burger. Both seemed pricey but not extortionate for Brighton and our own fault for not pre booking somewhere. When the food arrived my partners battered fish was liberally covered in sea salt? Which to her palette rendered it uneatable. She persevered by taking the batter off but it was ruined. The chef by chance was doing the rounds and we informed him about the fish. he did to his credit offer to cook us another piece of fish, but we had no time for this, and no one wants to eat alone. So we declined but did say, an explanation in the menu or from the servers maybe would be an advantage. A lot of people like to season their own food. The main server then came to clear our plates he saw my partners plate and asked if the meal was ok. We explained again and that's when the conversation took a turn for the worse. His attitude was not conciliary, we weren't asking for anything just making observations and suggestions. but he was trying to convince us not every ingredient could be listed , if we had a problem with added salt we should have said. it was an essential part of the meal , just like the oil for frying? Now we did want something, we wanted the cost of the meal taken off of the bill, he assured us there was nothing he could do, and we assured him there was but he was refusing to do so. The bill was paid in full and we left.

1. maybe in future let people season their own food, or if you insist on doing it make sure they know beforehand, even your local chippy has the curtesy to ask do you want salt and vinegar on that.
2. we know there is a staff shortage for everyone but if your new staff do make mistakes , don't let your customers suffer. We heard your senior server tell the waitress as we were leaving , to tell the customers in future about the salt on the fish, too little too late!
3. We also heard the senior server , tell the table next to us about the specials, one of which was a Fish pie. Our new inexperienced server did not tell us this. So we had to pay for your staffs lack of training.
4. we did not ask for the service charge to be removed as we felt as appalling as the senior servers service to your customers was, it was by no means the inexperienced...

We booked for the swim and dine deal. The swim and use of the spa was amazing, beautiful and clean. Unfortunately the restaurant was a huge disappointment. It was very quiet, being one of 3 tables at the beginning so we had some expectation that service would be timely. The waitress was not welcoming at all. Didn’t take note of our orders, which I know is standard in some restaurants, but when you have to come back and check the order, and need correcting, it’s not the best start. We ordered 2 pints of lager, a wine and a Malibu and coke, which took around 20 mins to arrive. Our starters arrive 10 mins after the drinks and were good . However, it started going down from here when we then waiting around an hour for our main, with no apologies for the wait. We were spoken to once in this time and offered a drink as they took our dishes away from the starter, and then ignored for the following hour. When the food arrived, it was tasty but cold. We were all so hungry and tired we didn’t bother complaining. It then took th a further 20 mins to clear our plates. We were then pretty much forgotten about. No offer of a dessert menu, which we did want, no offer of drinks or the bill. After a further 20 mins we decided to go to the bar to pay. They initially ignored us for 5 mins whilst they focused on cleaning trays. They had double charged us for food. We informed them we would not be paying the tip, and there was no question from them as to why this was. Staff were rude and dismissive and it very much felt like we were treated as if we did not belong there as most other tables were served well before we were despite arriving significantly later than us. Despite wanting dessert, we were so fed up, we chose to stop for McFlurrys on the way home… I must say it was incredibly disappointing and put a real dampener on a lovely spa experience for our final part...

Stayed at the Harbour hotel ( more about that in a separate review) so had use of the Diner and bar. Arrived on Monday, and popped in for a cocktail. Lovely, lovely day staff. The young barman was friendly and very good with the cocktail shaker. Dinner that evening was a different affair. The barman was arrogant and not very good. The diner managers first words to us when we were seated was to list all the things they didn't have. Considering their limited menu that was a bit of a blow. I had ordered the chicken burger which came with fries and also a side of dirty fries. Dirty...they were revolting. Part way through I realised that the burger was missing it's fries. When I queried this the manager told me she had substituted them for the dirty fries. I said I wanted both to share the plain fries with my friend. I then found myself embroiled in an unwanted debate with the manager about the cost. I just wanted my fries. She was quite condisending and rude. The food was poorly presented and pretty tasteless. Breakfast the next morning was lovely, again different staff. Eggs Benedict were very nice. We did not eat there that night instead going to the Harvester. Much nicer. Breakfast number 2 . Oh dear. Ordered the vegetarian breakfast without the spinach and tomatoes. No milk on the table for the tea, no butter for the toast. Breakfast arrived and no mushrooms. Why? Apparently not wanting the other bits meant they assumed I didn't want them. While waiting for the shrooms I tried the scrambled egg, yum. Tried the halumi over done burnt charcoal. Sad to say I would not recommend Harbys. As a guest in the attached hotel I found their overall attitude and attention to...