The Chimney House

Came in search of Sunday roast. Bloody Marys seemed to be the special of the day and were fantastic. The roast dinner is massively overpriced and pretty ordinary: short on quantity and quality of meat for £14. Veggie option a bit meanly plated too. Good coffee and a warm welcome though.
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Olivia - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Visited here Sat 27th November for a friends birthday. Very disappointing. The food was actually very good - the three chefs were clearly good, however they were let down badly by the very poor management of the restaurant. The place was very, very cold - so much so that we had to wear scarves, hoods and coats. Plates cold so that food was instantly luke warm and the decor tired.

We asked about the temperature and were told that the heating was "on full", however on leaving we found the radiators barely warm. The place has open fireplaces, but no fires were lit.

The place was cold and uninviting. I will never go there again.

Management need to learn that customers have to be given a warm and welcoming environment when eating out. Decent food alone isn't enough.
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David
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Sunday, November 28, 2010

Visited here on Saturday with my wife and my brother. First time we have eaten here and we all agreed that it was well worth it. Our table was sat infront of the small open faces kitchen and found it fascinating to see the staff all attend to their different duties.

All our food was presented beautifully by attentive and friendly staff and tasted as good as it looked. We have goats cheese, duck terine and smoked trout as starters. All were devoured without any complaint! For mains we had Steak, Pork Tenderloin and Halloumi. My wife's steak was cooked as ordered and was full of flavour. My pork was cooked slightly rare (which surpriesed me) however it was incredible. My brother was very pleased with his Halloumi. Desserts consisted of a cheese board, ice cream and pistacio rice pudding. Again very difficult to fault - all the cheese were local and complimented by a small slice of quince. All their dishes seem to have a little twist here and there which made the meal all the more enjoyable.

Just to add they are currently serving Doom Bar on draft which is lovely and all their wines are available by the glass which gave my wife the chance to try a few different wines.

Certainly not your regular 'pub grub' in price nor presentation however you are paying for quality produce cooked well and with a load of effort and thought.
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James, Brighton
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, May 10, 2010

We've lived down the road from this pub since last summer. We visited early on and were so unimpressed with the food that we didn't ever go back. However, some friends went recently and were very effusive about the food, so we thought we'd give it another try.

I'm very glad we did, as the food this time was actually very good! So good in fact that we organised a big lunch there with lots of friends, after which several of us went back again in the evening for dinner.

The staff were very helpful and helped to rearrange the seating to accommodate us, the bouillabaisse was delicious and so was the lunchtime partridge.

I'd definitely go back there.
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Jim
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, January 19, 2010

We had high expectations of the Chimney House based on the difficulty of booking a table and the reviews we had read. This proved to be yet another salutory lesson that popularity is no guarantee of quality.

This is a pub crammed with small and uncomfortable tables serving very mediocre food from an open kitchen with mediocre service which does not warrant the prices charged. We were ignored when we arrived and then had an unsatisfactory table literally pointed out to us. We then had the hassle of negotiating a better table which was done after permission was sought up the line. A rather clueless young man hovered around us not sure what to do but eventually produced some flat Prosecco. A very unpromising and dispiriting start to the evening which proved a portent of the lacklustre experience to follow. To compensate we quickly ordered champagne which was at least freshly uncorked. A query about whether the prawns were unshelled met with an affirmative response but when they arrived they were in their shells and overcooked. And no finger bowl! The lambs kidneys with shallot tatin were fine except the tatin base was slightly burnt.

The mains were, however, below par. Uncooked chips, offputting fatty, undercooked meat, and dreary accompaniments. By then we had had enough and couldn't get away quickly enough. How to explain the popularity of this place? Could it be that there is such a dearth of any eateries in this area that the unfortunate residents simply make do with what is on offer? This place seriously needs to get its act together.
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Stephen
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Saturday, October 31, 2009

Ate here last night with three friends, what a disappointment. The portions where tiny and overpriced, just aswell though as the food was bland and quite tasteless. The service was reasonable but the whole place was really cold and drafty. We shall not be returning with our hard earned cash!!!!!!!
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wendella - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, March 04, 2009