The Cuckmere Inn — Restaurant in Lewes

I was really disappointed, we booked to celebrate my birthday with my family and put a request on the booking to have the celebratory menu which is advertised on your website and also asked to sit outside. When we arrived we used the ramp access to the accessible doors which were both locked, so we could not even get in with our double pram. I knocked for a staff member but nobody bothered to come and help us, even though they'd seen us knocking. We then had to carry the double pram up the stairs to get into the pub.

When we got inside we were told it was policy not to be allowed to sit outside when it may rain, and they had no idea about a celebratory menu either. We did ask a couple of times about sitting outside in case our twins started causing noise and annoying others in the restaurant, but they said no. They said we could have a drink outside then come in for food.

They let us sit outside for our drink and then order our food. A server came out and said "are you coming?" as the food was ready, instead of giving us some notice so that we could get settled at our table inside before the food came. When we did go in she said the food was ready and they just left it on the table for us before we even got the babies in the highchairs. We were given one broken highchair for our twins so we had to ask for another one, meanwhile our food was getting cold.

I wasn't impressed at all with the food, the portions were absolutely tiny compared to what they were a few months ago, and the food was stone cold. We were still hungry after our meals and the whole visit left a real bitter taste in the mouth, given that I am a busy mum of 3 and never usually get to get out for meals! I was really looking forward to the Cuckmere as we've been before and had a lovely time, but unfortunately the staff really disappointed us and ruined the whole experience. We found them to be quite unwelcoming, unaccommodating and we couldn't believe how expensive the food was for the size of the tiny little portion we were given.

The only positive was the free bottle of prosecco I got for my birthday which I was emailed a voucher for.

I'm so disappointed and upset that we wasted our time and my birthday meal on the...

We came to the cuckmere inn on Saturday night to celebrate my mums birthday, we have always had great meals in the past here and she was really looking forward to it, Upon arrival she asked if she could sit in the snug area but was told this was closed (6 o clock on a Saturday night?) so we’re directed to the back of the restaurant next to the fire, which was ok, the fire was bearly a light, so my sister asked if they could put some more wood on it, they said ok, but never did, and then told her off for putting the last log on, the staff then refused to get anymore wood to refill the baskets and it promptly went out, a far cry from the advisement of roaring log fires on the website, it didn’t help either that the pub was very cold, with my mother having to wear her coat inside. Drinks orders were taken at the bar, and when delivered to the table all the glasses were really water stained and one was covered in lipstick, the food took a while to arrive, which is not unusual for the cuckmere, but when it got there all of the meals were stone cold, making the fries almost in edible, on a par with McDonalds, the burgers were very overcooked and tough and none of them had cheese, only some sort of rancid synthetic cheese sauce, the lettuce was unwashed and had visible dirt on it, my mothers pizza was clearly burned on the bottom, with hardly any cheese, and resembled more of a frisbee than the lovely pizzas she is used to, my sister had the kids pizza, which actually wasn’t too bad, but ordered a side of hummus and veg sticks, where the hummus was forgotten, and when it did eventually come out was really dry. We then had chocolate brownie for dessert with the smallest ball of ice cream known to man sliding all over the plate, my mum had the sticky toffee pudding which was cold as well. We have always had our family gatherings at the cuckmere and have always been well looked after in the past, so it made the experience even more disappointing this time. We didn’t complain at the time as my mum was already upset and didn’t want to ruin the...

45+ minutes in a queue outside without being told anything unless I proactively chased a waiter to get an update. Many empty tables just waiting to be cleaned up yet the stuff seems more preoccupied with placing glasses in the cabinets.

When we eventually got a table it was with no table service (we could only order through an app) and the table was full of trash from previous customers. We asked for it to be cleaned which happened only in part (some empty bottles were left on the table - picture attached)

Ordering through the app was particularly painful. The app is geo-locked to the UK (your payment profile country) which means that many of our phones could not download it and does not support 'back' action, meaning if you try to go back to a previous screen you lose your entire order. Most of the tap beers and all non-vegan burgers were not available. Some screens never loaded showing a blank page instead. Other times, dishes failed to be added to the order with no notice, leading to confusion and mismatches between our expectations and what the restaurant received as orders. My last order contained eggs. After one hour waiting for the food and 2 requests for updates, I was told eggs were not available. I was refunded the order in cash and coins (which I had paid for via card).

Service was unreliable at best. Some dishes were served quickly, others were very slow and cold. Some beers were cold, others warm. Water was served with no glasses. One beer was missing entirely, though the staff did bring it once we flagged it to them and apologised. The table was hardly ever cleared of empty glasses and requests for updates on missing dishes and drinks received generic replies like "let me check on that" with no...