Esplanade Hotel

We had a nice dinner with the family, and the bar service was friendly. The food was lovely, though it took about half an hour to arrive on a reasonably busy Thursday, which wasn't too bad. One meal never came with the others. When we asked, we were told it was on its way, then waited another ten minutes while everyone else finished. There was no apology, just a further ten-minute wait for the missing dish. That spoiled things enough that we'll dine somewhere else next time.

We keep coming back every week, and all the staff are friendly and helpful. The beach views and atmosphere are lovely, and breakfast is always marvelous. Compliments to the chefs! A special thanks to Natalie, who took our complicated order on Wednesday, 19 August with such patience. Nothing seemed too hard, and ordering with her was a joy. Matt deserves a mention too. He always greets us warmly and goes out of his way to make sure our order is right. I assume he's a manager, and he represents the Espy Brighton wonderfully.

Three meals ordered at 6:30 on Sunday, 12 October, and they didn't reach our table until 7:20. The dining room was less than half full. The food was okay, but taking that long for a pub meal is too much. Put more staff on, and meals should be out within 30 minutes. We're not coming back.

We'd enjoyed coming here before, so our late breakfast for four yesterday, 2 October, was disappointing. We ordered three meals, but only two arrived. While we were partway through those, I spotted the third sitting on the warmer, where it had been for a good five minutes. I went to ask about it and found two staff chatting with someone who seemed to be a friend who'd come in off the street. They said they'd bring the meal, but their tone felt uncaring. The food was okay, if a bit cool.