Petit Fi — Restaurant in Hastings

I’m writing this review out of sheer disgust at the owner of this business.

We have visited Petit Fi quite regularly for some time, and have enjoyed it. We also used to visit the owner’s other business, Petit Balcon. We liked it so much that we booked to have our wedding reception there soon after it opened. Invites were sent to around 60 guests at the time.

Last week we noticed that Petit Balcon looked closed for several days and so we visited Petit Fi to double check that everything was ok as we had become concerned.

A very friendly staff member there, who we’ve come to know, advised us that it had almost certainly closed. We explained that we had a wedding reception booked there for three months time and had not even been contacted about this. She looked horrified and called the owner to double check for us.

She returned and said the owner could not talk to us but would call us back soon. I gave my number just in case the owner did not have it to hand. I felt incredibly sorry for this staff member, she is a lovely lady and clearly found herself in a horrible situation as my partner began to become tearful at this news - she had been really excited and spent a lot of time deciding on a Reception venue.

We were both disappointed that our venue had closed, but more upset that there had not been the decency to contact us to let us know this - and left us to find out by effectively ‘seeing the shutters go up.’

It’s a pretty rotten way to treat anyone who has supported and regularly spent money at both of your businesses and who has chosen to have one of the most special celebrations of their lives at one of them.

We waited, and waited. No call came. It’s now five days on and the owner still hasn’t bothered to contact us…

This is an utterly disdainful way to treat loyal customers. I understand mistakes and oversights sometimes happen - but when a significant one is brought to your attention and you still do nothing, that’s pretty unforgivable not to follow up and try to make good - a simple apology and human decency costs nothing.

We have now been looking for a new venue to hold our celebration, at relative short notice, (not to mention having to send out 60 new invites at significant cost). On speaking to potential new venues we have been telling them about the experience we have had with the the owner of Petit Fi / Balcon. All have been shocked. We have also been telling friends too.

The Old Town is a small place and bad reputations travel fast when you don’t make any attempt to ‘do the...

Lovely café serving lunch and fab looking cakes in the heart of Hastings Old Town.

Excellent sandwiches and toasties. Waitress offered to toast the bread rather than the whole sandwich when I ordered the hummus, carrot and pepper sandwich, which turned out to be a perfect combo. Came with a small tasty salad on the side. My husband had the Brie & Chorizo sandwich and my friend the Cheddar & Chutney (she’d sampled the chutney here before and wanted it again). Bread was very fresh and all were great sandwich combos. Gluten free bread is also available if needed. They also do a Soup of the Day and Dhal of the Day which looked good (we saw on the next table). Lunch is served between 12-4pm.

There was a good selection of cakes on show to choose from by the counter (choice of cakes that day on my photos). Between us we had the Banana Loaf, Lemon Meringue cake and Lemon vegan cake. The table next to us were praising their Carrot and Walnut cakes. Cakes are all home-made on the premises with generous slices.

Café was clean, as were toilets. The service was efficient and staff very friendly. It was busy when we visited mid-week which is a good sign as there are a number of independent cafes alongside it. Lovely to find an independent café serving such lovely lunchtime...

Very happy to have stumbled across this little gem today. We were desperate for some indoor seating to get the kids out of the heat and take a break with a nice drink. The layout was well designed and inviting, there was hand sanitizer readily available as we walked in and at our table. The staff member was very polite and welcoming.

We didn't purchase any food, however, the display of cakes and pastries was incredibly tempting! There was a menu of cooked items to order, I would describe the prices as moderate but couldn't comment on value for quality/quantity as we didn't see anyone else order food.

We were served quickly, I ordered a latte, not too hot, which was served at a perfect temperature. My only critique would be that the kids drink options were limited, maybe they're not the targeted audience for this cafe. But kids will never finish a drink, so paying £2.50 for an Orange Juice isn't the greatest option. That being said, there was good availability of drinks for adults. I was able to pay via debit card, contactless which was very useful.

Overall, we were really happy with the experience and will definitely return on future visits to...