English's of Brighton Reviews

My favourite restaurant in Brighton is a little on the crowded-side - can be difficult to get out to use the facilities, which are up two flights of stairs but, if you can get an end table, it's a superb experience. The freshly-caught fish is beautifully cooked and the staff friendly and knowledgeable. The free crab pâté is superb and the shellfish platter worth the price. A true experience and the perfect place for a treat.

We recently stopped over at The Grand and decided to eat at English's of Brighton as it had great reviews. We were certainly not disappointed - great service from the time we entered and brilliant food. The cost of wine was slightly naughty but we did enjoy everything single thing.

We went there for lunch, and the weather was fantastic and so was the food. We had the fabulous oysters from Mersea, with cold champagne. Then I had scallops coated in sesame seeds and my husband had stuffed fish. The service was great, friendly and helpful. I love this place and look forward to going back.

Saturday 2nd April was a great disappointment. Usually my favourite place to eat but the whole experience was poor. Service very bad, food only just passable and they tried to overcharge for the wine. Could someone please tell me what the point of bringing round some dried up desserts was, apparently I could then see what a crème brûlée looked like?! Seemed like a change in Chef. Let me know when the old one is back.

After trudging round a rather windy, but nevertheless warm Brighton in search of a decent looking restaurant, rather than the usual seafront pub type grub, we stumbled across English's.

My Father and I are big fish eaters and so decided to opt for the Deluxe platter for two, I enquired as to its constitution, being £38 for the standard, and £48 for the deluxe (Lobster replaced one of the fishes), we ordered the deluxe. My Mother is not such a fish lover and so opted for a Fillet steak with chips as a side order. My wife went for the Plaice with seasonal vegetables and I also opted for chips. The waiter was extremely helpful, moving two rather small tables together to add some room (I am never too happy to try and sit too many people around a small table, I like my space!).

The menu suggests 30 minutes should be allowed for the platter, which is usually a good sign meaning food is cooked fresh. After around 15 minutes, the waiter returned a little apologetic to say that the 500gr Lobster was finished, but if we wanted 700gr on the platter it would be an extra £10. I decided that the additional money was not worth it and so we downgraded to the standard platter.

I'm not quite sure exactly how long the food did take to arrive, but it was around an hour, which wasn't the best, but nevertheless it looked superb. No chips were served and so we all tucked in expecting them to arrive presently. After around 10 minutes it became obvious that the chips had been forgotten, this was confirmed by a trip to see the waiter, who apologised and disappeared. The chips arrived in two batches.

All of the food was actually superb. The platter consisted of large prawns in shells, smaller shelled prawns, breaded King scallops, around 8 of which was pretty good, Red Snapper, Plaice and a whole Sea Bass apiece. Cooked superbly. The Fillet steak was also cooked to perfection, as was my wife's Plaice.

All in all I would say the place was excellent, although I would have perhaps