Lazy Fin — Restaurant in Great Britain

The wife, daughter and I were on a Saturday afternoon/evening out in what is usually the otherwise friendly town of Brighton (24/6/2023). We stopped in at around 18:15 at what looked deceivingly like a pleasant place to have an £11 cocktail (as advertised on the board outside the premises on the beachfront). We were due to attend a gig at Brighton chalk that evening. Sadly our daughter has been suffering with an eating disorder for some time we have had to learn to cope and adjust to make “a safe meal” to take when going out. Our daughter’s homemade pizza was in foil and my wife and I had picked up Franco Manco pizza, both of which we intended to enjoy on the beach with our daughter before the gig. Living with an eating disorder is hard. Walking in to sit at one of several empty tables at Lazy Fin, we were initially asked if we were there for drinks, which we confirmed we were. As we were about to sit, another unfriendly/confrontational (senior?) employee called out at us (in front of other patrons) to ask if it was just drinks, to which we answered yes (as with several other patrons who did not appear to have food on their tables). She informed that we were not allowed to attend their premises with our own food (noticing unconcealed foil wrapped pizza and a pizza box), stating they served food as to why we couldn’t sit and have a cocktail. We tried to reassure that we were only there to have a cocktail and had no intention of eating our food there (as we were going to take our cold pizza to enjoy on the beach at 7pm with our daughter, after a cocktail). Our attempt at reassurance was rebuffed and the tone of voice from the staff member concerned indicated that we were not welcome (assuming perhaps we were ‘cheapskates’ and of a sort that might be ‘undesirable’ in attending a cocktail bar/restaurant with our own food). Several patrons looked at us, with one that I noticed smiling awkwardly up at me from her drink as I commented: “well that’s us told off”. In the time before the eating disorder took hold (after the pandemic) we would often eat out, being fortunate enough to afford to do so. Now we try do the best we can as we tackle this scary and diabolical illness. We have eaten out with our daughter at venues such as: Wildwood, Kitch, Wagamama etc. where we would ask if our daughter could eat her ‘safe meal’ while we ordered something off the menu (on those occasions where we did wish to eat at a venue). On each occasion the staff at those restaurants were kind, understanding and accommodating. On this occasion the wife and I simply wanted to enjoy a cocktail before the gig- not eat our pizza there. The whole experience at the Lazy Fin (albeit short lived) left us with a distinctly unpleasant taste in our mouths and our daughter distressed. We can’t rate the food or drinks (and don’t intend to return to spend money there), but service was so spectacularly poor that I felt a review was needed. The moral here is twofold: “be kind” - you don’t know what others are going through; Treat others with courtesy, respect and sensitivity- there may be more to their story. I will certainly let those I know (who live in the area) know of our experience. Hopefully Lazy Fin will work on their service. Right now, in my estimation, the Lazy Fin is only fit for the bin. *Since having recently reviewed, the review above disappeared from Google reviews without explanation or assurance that efforts will be made to improve customer service. *Update to owner’s reply: 1.Explicitly said wouldn’t eat: cocktails only. One pizza box + 1x foil wrapped pizza 3.Not rude - a shame you stoop to dishonesty in response No offer of take away (your loss of income) No bad language used- had saved and simply copy pasted after removal Well done, rather than admit errors made in treatment of customers, you defend by seeking to discredit, motivating one to share further on other...

So, yesterday, my two friends and I, buzzing with excitement and a glorious 50% discount, ventured out to try a new spot, only to realise why not a single soul bothered to ask if everything was okay during our visit – because it absolutely wasn't! Despite asking for dishes to come out as ready, everything arrived cold and all at once after a 30-minute wait, forcing us to beg for plates, and they even managed to bring us items we hadn't ordered, twice, despite the place being practically empty. Our burrata was lovely, bless its simple, uncooked heart, but then came the burnt extra toast, the £10.50 "mussels" that were tragically tiny and not the fresh, shelled beauties we'd hoped for, and the truly questionable £9.50 "peppered prawns" that tasted so awfully I genuinely thought they were off (good news: none of us got sick, so there's that!). The tacos were a whole other level of disappointment: £13 for three mini crayfish ones with no discernible mango, and £12 for dry, tasteless pulled pork, both served on tortillas so incredibly dry they could've cut your tongue. I'm not picky, so for me to say something is bad, it's truly horrible; we ate it all to avoid waste, but honestly, given the prices and the quality, I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone, as getting this disappointed when you go out to enjoy yourself just makes you want to stay...

Not a good experience at all.

Very expensive menu and the staff charged £5 for service fee before we even received the drinks and got to judge the service. This was only for 3 drinks may I add which ended up costing nearly £30, ridiculous.

The staff outside were also very rude. No one wore a mask either despite close contact and when asked questions and to receive the receipt, god a lot of judgemental looks and responses. Definitely did not deserve the tip!

Will never come again.

EDIT after response: The price of the cocktails isn't an issue, it was clear on the menu - just extremely pricey - don't think I'd pay that much to have a drink filled with at least 1.5 of a lime - anyway, it's a heads-up to those that can't afford it.

And I don't appreciate being called a liar - I have attached a picture of the receipt which clearly shows we were charged an extra £4.49 - and when I asked one of the servers what this was for, they called it the service charge.

I appreciate this is a hard time for everyone but if you want to support your workers more - why not pay extra yourself instead of hiding extra fines in the receipt: before even receiving a service to deem a tip earned at such an insane cost for a couple of drinks to people who may not have budgeted that in - please make this clearer when charging...