The Ship Inn — Restaurant in Rother

We’ve stayed at The Ship Inn numerous times over the last almost-17 years and enjoyed the stay. The rooms are lovely - compact but clean with toiletries that don’t annoy my allergies (maybe a strange thing to highlight but when you look like a strawberry about to explode if you apply to the wrong thing to your skin then it’s useful to note!) and the breakfast is lovely - you can have a continental, full English or lighter options.

Today (27th December ‘24) I booked for a table of 9 (at very short notice after another venue let us down) for a meal and they were able to accommodate us. The gentleman who took our booking even apologized for not having our required time but offered us an earlier slot which we snapped up. Although it seems it was meant to be as our son with ARFID has recently become enamored with hotdogs and The Ship offered whereas the other venue didn’t! 🥰

I’ve never eaten at the Ship outside of breakfast because they didn’t have veggie/vegan options on their main menu but that has now been rectified! There was a choice on the starter, main AND dessert! I chose the vegan curry - very flavoursome but had a slightly bitter tang to it. The vegan raita was delicious!

Others had: the steak pie, fish and chips, chicken skewers, burger with an upgrade to truffle fries (the truffle fries were still being discussed an hour later so if that’s your thing they’re recommended by my friend), mozzarella sticks for the kids to munch on whilst the mains came and three four of the kids had the ‘Pirate’ hot dog (which was like a smoked sausage but they all inhaled them!)

They were very accommodating when I asked for my son’s hotdog to be separate from his chips and didn’t eye-roll once. I appreciate sometimes the kitchen can be overwhelmed by special requests but being able to go to a “s as e restaurant” that honours accommodation requests is such a wondeful thing, thank you.

There was a 10% service charge included and they definitely deserved it. They were all lovely and service was just perfect - the right level of being attentive and checking in on us. There were a number of other tables eating and they seemed to get the balance right - having worked in customer service that can be a hard struggle so I always appreciate those in customer facing roles.

Would definitely recommend and the Ship is now on our places we know we can get a good meal that offers something each for our family (PLEASE DON’T TAKE THE HOTDOGS OFF THE KID’S MENU!)

Happy New Year and...

Dire dining. I agree with Elliott. We went in shortly before 9 o'clock. Most people clearly disagree with us or maybe the ordering was as bad as everything else, because much of the menu was unavailable. It's a boozer-friendly menu - fatty, salty, proteiny - and boozers aplenty there were in the bar, which merges all too much with the eating areas. In fact the bar and its shouty boys are planked right in the middle of the tables. In addition to this a man at the next table broke wind with appalling effect whilst they were waiting (and waiting) for their bill: the smell went on and on but consistent to their plan of taking absolutely no notice the staff let us sit it out. One of the run-outs was a soup made of pearl barley, chorizo and some other ingredients, none of which would have mattered with lashings of red pork and garlic in the brew. This is about the size of the menu. We had salt prawns delivered in an enamel mug. These were nice but the mug is not a charming touch, and nor was a chilly puddle of water with a thin slice of lemon in it adequate to the task of cleaning one's fingers of roe, scaly integument, and smoky stickiness. Next thin slice of pork for me allegedly served with pea hummus, shaved fennel, and purple sprouting in a dressing for me. Pleasant enough taste, but not much on it. Fennel barely discernible. I love fennel and was disappointed. Sundry strands lying about may have been fennel, but nothing to taste. Broccoli didn't arrive. Hummus was a thick raw slurry of it, garlicky and lemony as eaten in a thousand sarnies, with a few boiled green frozen peas amongst it. Taste-buds thoroughly clagged by this. Plate boiling hot, pork warm, hummus cold. Studiously ignored by the staff, two young men rushing about as if demented although not many people in - felt it was a show of manic committed energy designed to demonstrate their importance and our relative lack of it, together with being called "Guys" repeatedly. Later when I went to the bar to ask for the bill - if people don't bring the bill when they're asked I always do this - it was "Luv", and my friend became "Boss". Feminism lives. Men include/delete women if both sexes present; men are in charge as neatly demonstrated here. Companion's fishcake mash with bits in. Enough...

Had a really bad experience here. Unfortunately. It was during 'eat out to help out', if that has a bearing on our experience. We were 'greeted' in a fashion that acted more to put us off than invite us in. I'm sorry to pick people out, but the tattooed blonde lady (seemingly in charge) really needs some better manners. "if you find a table you can eat, but I doubt you will".

Needless to say we found one right away. So we ordered our food and sat with our 2yo at our table outside.. The food was taking a very long time. (I don't know how long we waited for the food, but we were there for 2.5 hours in total. I did have desert, but the rest was waiting on food. Baby was hour and half late for bed, so that tells you how long we expected to be) So we enquired, and eventually it turned up. We ordered chicken Goujons for our baby and if you look at the picture you can see how they arrived. Without much apology! As you can see, the white section is what is left of the chicken, and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that it was like a cross between a stone and some glass! Dangerous to serve to an adult, let alone a baby!

It was replaced for us, but please bear in mind. We have been waiting a long time already..

The girls serving at the bar and waiting were nice, it isn't their fault. But the pub really wasn't at max capacity, and we were offered nothing in the way of compensation for the wait, or the state of the kids' food! (ours was OK. By that point we really weren't in the mood to enjoy it!) Even to the point that when I ordered my desert the tattooed lady asked for full price, only to apply the 50% government discount when I asked about it.

Really disappointing as the place looks lovely and...