Boatyard — Restaurant in Hastings

I have eaten here twice, the second time reluctantly, but my son wanted to try it. I had eaten at their previous location and was served warm white wine - we returned the wine, the waitress told us she had only recently put it in the fridge - and yet she served it!

I tried them again with hope, unfortunately the experience was worse than the first visit. We waited 30 minutes for room temperature oysters to be served. After eating them and after another fifteen minute wait for our starters, I politely requested the food without further delay, five minutes later we were offered bread, we refused the bread, asking for what we had ordered. At this point, the owner/senior staff member intervened, asked what time we had arrived and what time we ordered, she claimed it had been 22 minutes from arrival to our order being taken, that they were busy - it is a small restaurant, restaurants serve food, it is what they do. It is 100% their fault they took 22 minutes to take our order, not ours. To then take nearly an hour to get to any substantive food is extremely poor and came with some of the worst attitude I have ever experienced at a restaurant.

The food is good, but it depends on what you like as a dining experience...if you like a ridiculous argument with a side order of unwanted bread and a reasonably big bill, this is the place for you.

They have a sister restaurant, Farm Yard, I went there once for Sunday lunch, I had very poor service there as well, two tables were served before our table of three diners; the waitress blamed the kitchen, I swiftly discovered it was untrue when I spoke to the chef, the waitress didn't put the order through to the kitchen. All this points to bad management, sloppy training and a disdain for ones own customers...never again will I waste my money...

We enjoyed such a delicious dinner at Boatyard. I could not fault the food, the service nor the style of the place. It was such a refreshing dining experience - generous portions of lip-smackingly delicious and fresh small plates we shared to start. We ate juicy panfried king prawns, scallops with creamy cabbage, a potato salad fresh and crunchy, we shared a coconut dahl with red onion and prawns.

I loved the simplicity of the main fish menu, all locally sourced: we chose monkfish, tender and juicy, and a perfectly panfried flaky piece of cod. My absolute favourite part of the menu was the side dish combinations that come with the fish, you can choose from options such as Jersey royals, asparagus and salsa verde. Or tenderstem brocoli, with peanuts Asian style. Or héritage tomato salad- a panzanella with chunks of tasty sourdough.

The service was friendly and personal- we felt looked after. We were allowed to try some wine before choosing. The chefs pass is right there infront of you - fabulous. Great to be able to have a chat with the delightful talent that cooked our dinner. I just loved everything...

We visited Hastings yesterday, and popped into Heist to grab a bite to eat. The place was really busy with a great vibe, but we struggled to find a table. I noticed the boatyard area had some free tables so asked if we could sit and eat. We were told that all the tables were booked, but we could sit at the bar. We feel very lucky to have done so, as we could watch the team of 3 chefs prepare the food. Immediately on sitting down we knew we in for a treat. We ordered mussels and crispy Panchetta from the specials board, fillet steak tataki, crispy hispe cabbage and some parmesan truffle fries. Even though we ordered 4 courses together, as we were sat at the bar, each course was delivered individually, and we realised the chef was curating our dining experience by choosing which courses to send in which order. Every course we ordered was amazing, lovingly prepared in front of us, with amazing flavours... All washed down with a lovely sancerre. We will definitely...