Riddle & Finns The Beach — Restaurant in Great Britain

My partner looked this restaurant up on Foursquare on our spontaneous trip to Brighton and we loved the menu and their reviews. First we went past the sister restaurant in the Lanes but thought it was too sunny to sit inside. When we arrived at the seaside one, we were standing outside for a while before the lovely manager came to greet us and offered us a table outside straightaway which was very nice because we thought we couldn’t get a table as it was busy that day due to the nice weather. We were asked to wait for a bit on the sofa by the exit and were given a menu. When our table was ready, we were escorted to it and told that a waiter would come shortly. We brought the menus, which were given to us when we arrived, to the table ourselves. No one came for ages! There was a waitress serving a table opposite who went past us 3 times and didn’t even look at us. When I asked her if we could order, she said a waiter will come shortly. This was about 10mins, if not more!, after we sat down. Finally a waiter comes asking if we’d like some tap water to start with! We were ready to order everything half an hour ago!!! We said yes to tap water and also ordered some wine and patiently waited for him to come back to order our food. He came back with water and was about to walk off before I asked if we can order please!? He said sure… So we ordered oysters, starters and mains. The service was so slow it was very frustrating. We waited for so long to be served all the time! When a waitress walked past our table, I asked her about the wine and she said it’s on its way-how would she even know we ordered it? At one point we looked inside the restaurant and the staff were just chatting having hands in their pockets!!! I did 4 years of hotel school and this was a shock to see in a place where they charge a lot of money for their food and SERVICE. I ordered a dish which was described as with a ‘touch of chilli’. I don’t mind spicy food but this was so very hot it burnt my throat and stomach! When I told the waiter, he said: “oh..” and that was it! He came back with dessert menus and never came back. We were wondering if anyone will ever come and ask us if we’d like a dessert or to pay until we stood up and went inside. As we went inside we saw 9 staff having a break or chat or just coffees and refreshments looking at us as if we were some strangers walking into the restaurant?! I said I’d like to pay. The guy who served us was having a drink behind the bar and when he saw us he stopped drinking and left the bar. Another waitress was just chilling by the bar while someone asked me which table we had. Ehmm the one outside that no one was attending!! We paid over £70 each and left appalled. Food was great apart from the chilli situation but the service, sadly, was very very very...

Food 8/10 Value for money 7.5/10 Atmosphere 7/10

I have been to Riddle & Finns many times but at the lanes not the seaside one. Got to admit, the design and the view is amazing. However with such a beautiful design and view, I personally prefer a 1:1 table setting, rather than having to share with 3, 4 different parties on the same long marble table just like The Lanes one.

However its safe to say, food wise, its the same quality as the Lanes one. I've ordered the below:

Bread basket (free) - Riddle has one of the best bread basket I've tried, they are the best not because of the bread, it's because of the spreads that come with. I mean free salmon tartare, what else you want?

Tune tartare (Seasonal dish) - Very creamy tasty tuna tartare with fried Nori (seaweed). The battered/tempaura Seaweed its a tad oily but it's hard to get it right.

Brighton seared scallops - they were really fresh and cooked in perfection; medium rare, golden brown on the outside, white to slight transparent inside. The sauce and pork crackling harmonized the scallops really well, not over powering and gives an extra layer of texture.

Catch of the Mackerel - The fish is tasty, pack with meat (also a lot of little bones), pretty juicy and seasoned very well, the only down side is not the whole fish is enjoyable, some part of the fish are extremely bitter and fill with bones. I think it can be prevented with some type of preparations.

Fish soup - pack with FLAVOURS. The fish has pretty much most of the seafood, from mackerel to mussels to prawns. The ingredients are fresh and the taste it's tasty but I think it's just a tad too strong, soup its a bit thic, a bit "in your face" type of vibe, if it can be slighly runnier, soupy, that would be my perfence. It's like having Beyonce singing for you, like her voice is great but if she sing right infront of ur face, you wouldn't enjoy as much(at least i wouldn't lol). The soup is so thick, almost like a sauce. I rekon it will go well with pasta. But the toasted sourdough was pretty good also.

Ordered 1 cocktail, 1 mocktail.

Total was around £120 all together. I wouldn't say is a cheap casual dinner, but 60 pound per head for a seafood meal with an impeccable sea view, I'm...

Well here we go again… Local resident who has dined regularly at Riddle & Finns for many years. Visited 3 times in the last few weeks and had such varied experience on every visit. Yes the location is fabulous on a sunny day overlooking the sea. Yes the food can be good, yes the service can be good. However it’s like visiting a different restaurant each time. The most recent visit on Wednesday 31st July was the most rude experience to receive yet. Two of us arrived as a walk in at 4pm (advertised opening hours 12:00/midday to 10pm) virtually empty restaurant inside 5 of the main tables empty, bar area empty and counted 7 available tables outside empty/available. Was told they are fully booked as expecting some “large” parties (4pm in the afternoon on a Wednesday). Was told no can do and to book and try later/come back after 6pm??!! The manager/waiter who informed us of this was abrupt and of a no can do attitude. Decided not to question the infinite wisdom that actually it was empty and went for a coffee downstairs on seafront. When walking past an hour later same tables empty and more tables empty? No large parties to be seen! Clearly the chap who told us the info earlier was maybe not telling the truth?! We took ourselves off to Englishes Fish restaurant 5 min walk away and spent our hard earned £200 with them. Now bear this in mind , arrived same time same restaurant twice earlier in the week before at similar times met by different waiter/manager who couldn’t have been more helpful. However on the two previous visits other diners were complaining on very slow service inconsistency of orders/forgotten orders and also speed of food from order. Not the best environment to be sat as a fellow diner hearing all this. Also previously bread would be served at the start of every meal with fresh dips of horseradish, mackerel etc, on our last visits these were nowhere to be seen and one diner who requested bread was told the restaurant didn’t serve bread? Will be taking Riddle & Finns off our places to dine. Sort it out guys as yet another local customer (who pays on average £250 per sitting) lost to other establishments who actually know how to look after a long term...