Dorset Arms — Restaurant in Mid Sussex

I’ve been a customer of the Dorset Arms for many, many years. Although I only visit once or twice a year my association with the pub goes back decades. A couple of times a year I like to walk from Horsham to East Grinstead. I usually go to the Dorset for drinks and a pub lunch. The food has always been at worst OK and at best very good. The service we enjoyed during the pandemic (2020 / 2021) was really quite remarkable. The waitresses / bar staff did their very best under difficult conditions and were duly rewarded by me with generous gratuities.

Sadly, standards appear to have plummeted.

After the departure of a pre-wedding party this large pub was virtually empty. No wonder, given the standard of food on offer these days. Our order today was very simple – scampi and chips, fish finger sandwich and a couple of “vegetarian chicken wings”. This took an age to arrive. (Why? The pub was virtually empty). When the food finally turned up it soon wore out its welcome. Scampi – not actual scampi according to the dictionary definition but a cheap substitute consisting of anonymous white fish in an unappealing and soggy batter. The “scampi” were few in number, which was just as well. I doubt whether the whole lot contained as much as a tablespoon of actual fish. The peas were wrinkled, dry and gritty. Each one seemed to need a white flag of submission to wave. The chips were acceptable. Acceptable chips were the highlight of this pub lunch.

The other dishes were no better. The non-chicken “wings” were tasteless and indigestible. The fish finger sandwich was dry, tasteless and lukewarm. We asked for tartare sauce, which was unavailable – not good, given that fish and chips, scampi and chips and fish finger sandwiches are on the menu. Admittedly the food was inexpensive (hardly surprising, given the quality) but I would happily have paid more for higher quality. Is price really such an issue in such an affluent town as East Grinstead? As said above, I have been coming to the Dorset for years, Fridays and Saturdays, and I have never seen so few customers. But if this is the standard on offer then that’s hardly surprising.

So, sadly, I won’t be returning to this place. So, reader, if you want a pub lunch in or near East Grinstead then I urge you to avoid the Dorset Arms unless you want a thoroughly...

I visited the Dorset Arms in East Grinstead last week and was incredibly disapointed by the general service we received when we attended a local comedy night held in the function room there.

We arrived at 7:25pm, ordered our drinks at the bar and were given some menus. Our friends arrived shortly after us and had to wait for 20minutes at the bar for service as the bar staff appeared understaffed and disorganised. We then chose our food and went to the bar to order at 8:05pm. Once at the bar, we were then told that there was no food available other than Hunters Chicken, Scampi and Chips and Fishcakes as apparently the kitchen was too short staffed to offer anything else with only 1 chef?! So why give out full menus, not have any warning signs or not get enough staff in to cover a busy monthly event?! To our disapointment we ordered from this incredibly limited menu and waited for our food.

When the food was ready, we complained as the quality of it was very poor being only luke warm, the mushy peas were like a solid block that didnt even fall out of the pot when turned upside down, chips were burnt, some food was undercooked, bacon was burnt to a crisp, etc, etc. The manager was very rude and refused to refund any of this even though we said we did not want this food as the amount/quality of food we got for the money we paid was quite frankly insulting. Much of the food was left and there were 5 very unhappy diners.

During the evening, we arrived at the pub at 7:25pm and left at 10:50pm and in this whole time not once did we see a member of staff collecting glasses, etc. By the time we left we had over 20 empty glasses and 4 plates of leftover food on our table which had been sitting there for...

I have been here a few times now mainly in the earlier part of the year, The staff are nice and friendly the decor is as most pubs now a days fairly plain and open plan, However when we visited earlier in the year the food was fantastic a friend and I had the Tikka Massala which looked and tasted fantastic and 1 friend had the sizzling chicken fajita.. when it was served it looked and even sounded amazing, a damn good reason to go back we thought and I promised to take my friends back soon.. and left looking forward to our return... However when we visited in October 2 of us popped in for a quick lunch and after looking at the menu decided that we wasn't that hungry but we would share the Chicken fajita as it looked amazing the last time we came ... well when it was served the amazement was definitly gone the Fajita had lost its sizzle... completely, it looked like something you would buy from supermarket ( the cheep option ) it was flat and lifeless.. it was warm and not hot at all hence the soundless sizle as it came to the table.. all in all a complete let down, we found out that the previous chef had left due to travelling expense to work... what a shame.. Also we wernt the only ones to complain as a couple of ladies on another table were complaining about the wait they had and when they were drinking thier cappachino and hot chocolate they were saying it was luke warm... as they left a few moments later making another comment about the hot chocolate being more a milkshake... we wont be going there again to be honest, as there are a lot better places and better food... if only i could find out where that...