The Compass — Restaurant in Rother

Have been into this reboot twice recently. Formerly Rocksalt, my earlier review is below.

So. Calver's. Nice shabby chic environment, right next to the Pavilion and the seafront. Drinks good. Staff good (except at 4pm where they change shift and customers are forgotten about. Me included.). Food good, especially the bagels. Prices are toppish.

The pricing is made worse because of portion size. They are barely there. The two mains I have ordered arrive alone on the plate, like an island in the Pacific. Not even a single extra pea. Fries, excellent, but an easily countable number in a tiny pot. Needs work.

Finally, a general complaint. There are three taco dishes. Two of these are clearly spicy hot. So I choose the third because I don't do spice. After two bites my lips are.numb and my mouth is on fire. I know why big chains have little icons next to the menu item.

Sadly, dogs still allowed. It is an odd choice with people eating. Music is a little loud.

Overall? One would go in for a snack rather than a meal, credit card at the ready. But much better than it was. They need to buy some bigger plates and fill them.

Review of Rocksalt, as was.

Third recent visit. First time was okay. Second time was not, so I left a note for the manager. Today was poor and I have now given up.

The problems are food, animals and clientele.

The food is average because it is poorly cooked. Today my burger bun was untoasted on the top and burned on the bottom. I left it to make the point, not that I would have eaten it. Dishes are barely warm. Desserts are tiny but £6, although this is not unusual.

The clientele are basically people who are using it as an office or have come in with their dogs for a coffee. They don't control the dogs and assume everybody loves them. Not me, and definitely not with food. Absolutely, definitely not on chairs and tables.

Others are chatting on their phones loudly. One call lasted twenty minutes after which we were all certain he was very important indeed. And that without the louder wonkers who arrive in the evening.

Not good. Kills the ambience.

Staff are excellent as is usually the case. Owner, chef and manager...

Me and three friends just popped in for a few drinks. Went in, found a table for 4, whilst I sat at the table with all the bags (!) the other 3 ladies went to the bar. A waitress, called Bobbie, came over and said, ‘this table is booked, I didn’t see you sit down’, I replied, ‘oh, sorry, but there was nothing on the table to say it was reserved’. I started to gather the other bags to join the others at the bar and she replied, ‘yeah, well it’s booked’. I joined my friends at the bar and another lady come over and said, ‘Sorry, we had booked that table (and pointed to a different table) but people are still sitting there’. Bobbie the waitress come over whilst the couple sat at the table told the other lady, ‘It’s ok, we are just leaving’, she repeated it to the waitress and she said, ‘NO!, those people are relaxing, you can have this table and they (indicating us) will have to find somewhere else to sit’. Whilst this conversation was taking place my friend was ordering our drinks with another girl serving behind the bar. Bobbie, the same waitress went behind the bar and said to her colleague, despite my friend talking to her to place our the order, ‘Sorry to interrupt’. I didn’t wait to allow her to interrupt and said, ‘don’t worry, we will go somewhere else. Bobbie, replied, extremely rudely, ‘ok! Bye!’. I am so shocked by her unprofessionalism and rudeness. Do not recommend and will definitely not...

Fabulous food. Terrible service.

Friday lunchtime. Having phoned about 45 mins prior to arrival to check availability and book a table, I was rather dissapointed to find they had no record of the booking. However, we were seated on a dirty table (during a pandemic) at the back of the restaurant by the toilets. We were not asked if we required any drinks. After about 5 minutes we were given some menus. We were not asked if we would like a drink. Approx 5 mins later drink orders were taken, and promptly delivered. We were not asked if we we like to order any food. Another 5 mins and our food order is taken. After waiting about half an hour, and now requiring another drink, our main courses arrive. We had ordered starters, which arrived a minute later, after we had complained, accompanied by a mumbled apology. The food was lovely. But I was not impressed with feeling I now had to rush my lunch. Half way through the meal we were offered free drinks or dessert by way of apology. These were refused, and I asked for a suitable discount on the bill. When the bill arrived, no discount had been applied, and the young lady seemed confused when I refused to pay the full amount. Food is lovely, my compliments to the chef. Employ different...