Barnaby's Lounge — Restaurant in Hastings

So much promise, but needs a little refinement. A busy Friday night, but the operation struggles when busy so a bit of muddling through. But that's the business and you can't muddle through every week, so some bumps need to be ironed out otherwise customers will walk. Cocktails are expensive, but every one has a bit of flourish, with dry ice, smoke, or other unexpected touches. Get a cocktail and bring your camera. You'll love it, and won't regret the price. This is who they are, and this is what they excell at. But, they are also a restaurant, and serving food seems to be an afterthought. The menu is good - lots of locally sourced ingredients, and certainly better than traditional Hastings fare. There's cod, pork belly, mussels. A good mix. The cod and pork were good, but both slightly over done and under seasoned. But just on the edge of forgivably so. But service and food prep are sloooooooow. There is no reason a 2 course dinner should take 4 hours. None. Whatsoever. Under any circumstances. And it's not because we were having fun and lingering. It's because it took forever to have the order taken. Forever to receive the mains, forever to receive the desserts (35 minutes from ordering dessert to receiving it). And while the kitchen was busy, it's an open kitchen and we could see the crew were not rushing. Rather, there was a somewhat inordinate degree of standing about, leaving food on the pass under heat lamps, and an overall lack of urgency (watched a burger stand on the pass for 15 minutes waiting for its fries, then onion rings, and then another 10 minutes before its accompanying plates were put up and the food taken to the table.25 minutes to fill one order?? No wonder the kitchen was backed up!) A restaurant shouldn't be taken by surprise on a Friday night. That's when you make your money. But if you don't iron out those bugs sharpish, then pretty soon your Friday nights won't be so busy. And that's in nobody's interests. Will I give it another go? Definitely! It stands a chance of being a real gem in Hastings. If everything was just that bit smoother, then it's potentially the best restaurant in town. The decor is fab. The servers are friendly although somewhat inexperienced. The concept is great, and the food prices are very reasonable. It should be excellent, and I hope it will be very soon. But it's just not quite there yet. Promises much, just doesn't quite deliver, and at £40 per head needs to be a little bit...

Being a coeliac and allergies to dairy and oats, we phoned ahead to let them know. When we arrived they were so prepped and ready for myself and dietary requirements. The chef came to meet me and we talked about what he could do for Me, I had quite a few choices. They even went as far as double washing my cutlery. Extremely friendly caring staff, very welcoming and the food was absolutely amazing lots of lovely flavours. Service was Impeccable. Great evening of a jazz jam too to enjoy whilst eating. Highly recommend this lovely friendly welcoming place especially to those fellow coeliacs of Mine that at times we worry about where we eat out. Will definitely be returning Thanks guys for all your attentive...

We are regular visitors to Barnaby’s for various different events. We have previously had the cheese board which was excellent, large portions plenty of cheese/bread/crackers. There were olives/walnuts and pickles.

However on Thursday along with relatives we booked a table for drinks and cheese. Having spoken about the cheese board to friends and relatives and we were really looking forward to our cheese board. We were extremely disappointed to find it had halved in size and portions with a little bit of bread and small amount of crackers resulting in us asking for more. The cost was £15 each board and was not worth the £30 we spent.

We always enjoy Barnaby’s but will not be ordering a cheese...