Undercliffe House — Restaurant in Hastings

Undercliffe House - a completely first class establishment, a rarity offering the most delicious dishes, the very freshest fish and seafood, in a cool and airy yet intimate and comfortable contemporary setting. Dine at Undercliffe House if you truly value excellent service, excellent chefs, and food that is a delight to the palate. My parents, fiance, and I dined here for lunch on a Thursday afternoon and were wowed and stunned. The menu on the wall outside is exciting but, come inside and look at the Dishes of the Day and prepare to be dazzled! My smoked haddock with poached egg was served on a bed of beautifully cooked spinach in a light delicate lemon and cream sauce with a parsley garnish, it was sublime! This dish is king! My fiance loved it too, the smoked haddock had been beautifully steamed and melted on the tongue in large meaty white flakes with a delicate smokey hint that was addictive. My parents had delicately cooked breaded Plaice with vegetables, and lightly battered Cod which they pronounced perfect! Accompanying the meal, we chose a beautiful bottle of South African wine which could not have been more perfect. We ended the meal with Pistachio cake - such a light sponge, and with a truly beautiful hint of nuts and cream, we also had the softly steamed piping hot chocolate pudding with toffee, this was truly delicious, a creamy rich dark chocolate ice cream, and a perfect slice of Vanilla cheesecake that was unique - it tasted like adult cheesecake with the minimum of sugar and a perfect texture. Did I mention we started our meal with olives in a rich olive oil dressing, and two dishes of fresh lemony smoked fish pate and cool creamy red pepper humous served with fresh French bread and rich yellow butter. Our waiter - tall slim and handsome - had the most perfect manners and helpfully advised us on the dishes while guiding us through the wine and champagne menu. The two chefs who prepared our meals and who created - between them - the smoked haddock and the utterly perfect poached eggs with rich orangey creamy yolks - are chefs of excellence, their high abilities, skills, and delicacy make them superstars! The bill came to, well, who cares what the bill came to when the food is this good? And when the fish is this fresh, and when the service and attention to detail is this perfect. I've dined all around the world but can honestly say the food at Undercliffe House beats them all, try the smoked haddock and poached egg and you'll see what I mean, this should be their signature dish, it...

The attitude of the owner really ruined the experience for me.

The starters (rye scallops) were fantastic (albeit small). But of the three of us, none were happy with our mains, which took an hour and a half to arrive.

The fish and chips were extremely small, and the batter to fish ratio was well off because of the way they cut it. The quantity of chips was meagre at best - a clear rip off for £18. When told that that was all he'd get, our companion was rightly upset and walked out.

When we asked to have the fish taken away, the owner brought it back and angrily insisted that it would be on the bill. Seeing as they provided food that wasn't up to expectations, we asked that it be taken off the bill.

This made the owner very angry, and while he agreed to take it off the bill, he told us not to come back, and even walked back to our table to insult us, claiming he was older and more experienced than both of us put together. Really not how I'd like to be treated when paying over £120 for a meal.

Of the other mains: Overpriced, poorly presented, and not cooked well.

I'm sure the owner has their own side to this, and they might point out that they later offered to remake the fish and chips (after our companion had already left), but ultimately, if a meal doesn't meet expectations, you hope the restaurant will handle the situation with grace, and not shout at you or demean you. That's the main reason for my review.

Edit in response to owner: I think your decision to insult your customers' intelligence in response to honest criticism speaks for itself. Quality was precisely what we were hoping for in our mains. I found it a real shame you weren't prepared to receive criticism on this front. I don't recall any table voicing their support of you loudly claiming to be older & more experienced than us. Perhaps these mysterious tables did so after we left. (and congratulations on reaching the age of 90+) To address your confusion on batter to fish ratio: Battered cod & chips is typically cut thinner than you had done for the reason that it provides a higher surface area for the batter, providing greater balance between batter and fish. By the way, I hope you provided your waiter with the entirety of the tip - it was intended for him, though your behaviour makes me concerned that you might have...

Maybe I was unlucky. Went in mid September when there was nobody else in here except the owner, the cook and a waiter. The plaice fillets were small and too heavily laden with a coating while the chips were on the soggy side. Not sure about the tatare sauce being served in a reused mini tub. If the food had been better the price would have been reasonable but I'm not sure if others would have found the constant changing of music a good background sound especially on a place with no windows

• Edit in answer to a response by the owner to the above review - I visited about 2.15 pm on Wednesday 19th September. I was certainly in the right restaurant. The ??owner?? was sitting at the first table on the right listening to music being played from kit in a cupboard behind him. No one else was there apart from the cook who took my order and then disappeared to the cooking area A little later a younger man wandered in and stood behind the bar. These three were the only staff there during my 30-40 minute stay. The fish coating on my visit is compared to that used by Waitrose and M&S on their "lightly dusted" fish. I believe my review is a fair comment on my visit to...