The Meadow

Having heard mixed reviews of The Meadow I was uncertain about booking this restaurant for a Saturday night catch up with my foodie friends, so we decided to try the set menu which, at only £12 for 2 courses, sounded as if we couldn't lose! We booked for 7.30 which was the latest they offered this menu. When we arrived we were informed that they did not have our booking but that we were in luck as they had a spare table for us (the place was virtually empty) and we sat down. We had arrived a couple of minutes late and were presented with the a'la carte menu, asked if it might be possible to have the set menu which we had booked for and were told that we were too late. By this time is was about 7.45 but that had been mainly due to a lot of fuss in trying locate our booking. The waitress consulted the kitchen who refused to extend the strict timescale - I have since read reviews of other people arriving late and still being offered the set menu - but fair enough we were a couple of minutes late…so be it.

The menu wasn't as tempting to me as the samples I found online, but that’s just personal opinion, to start I had a duck egg with cured ham and a broadbean dressing. It was heavy on the salad, light on the ham, contained at least one broadbean and although the duck egg was cooked to perfection - the whole ensemble didn't quite gel. I had the T-Bone Steak for main, ordered it rare, it arrived medium and to be honest was tasteless.

It was around 11pm by the time we left, which is fine for girls enjoying a good evening of chat but seemed to render the whole '15mins to late for set-menu' palava, rather trivial. We agreed that my two friends meals were better than mine, but on no level felt compelled to order dessert.. The bill ended up costing around £30 per head plus a £30 bottle of warm chablis. I found the ambience sterile rather than elegant, the waitress friendly and the kitchen slow. For £12 a head I probably wouldn't have felt compelled to write a bad review but equally would not rushed to return.

Style? They didn't quite pull it off.
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Victoria
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Monday, July 20, 2009

Popped in for Sunday Lunch on the 7th June and decided on two savoury taster boards with wine. Everything was very well presented and delicious,the staff were very friendly and professional and the restaurant was clean spacious and airy.

Would certainly eat there again when in the area.
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Julie Vinsome
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I went to the Meadow last night for my birthday - a treat from my fiance and a suprise until we got in the taxi. He said he had booked with trepidation as we had heard mixed reviews but his first 2 options had been fully booked.

When we walked in we were greeted by friendly staff and the space was lovely and light and welcoming. We quickly were asked for our drinks order and thankfully that came efficiently, but from then on the service went downhill. We waited a long time for starters and were just trying to catch someone's eye when they eventually arrived. They were delicious, but we had to ask for bread we we hadn't been given any during our half hour wait.

We the had the same experience with the mains, which came 45 mins after the starters were cleared, just as we were looking for someone to ask and with no acknowledgement that we had been waiting a while. Again, the food was good but it was the little things, like asking if I wanted mustard, I said yes please but before I was able to specify which type, she'd gone. She came back with english which i'm not keen on (pardon the pun) but by then i couldn't be bothered to ask for something else.

We didn't bother with desserts, we had had enough by then.

The icing on the cake was when we asked for the bill it took forever to arrive and even when we were ready to pay they didn't want our money for another 15 minutes.

A real shame, the restaurant has a lot of potential but at that price (not too expensive but not too cheap either) I expect more. I don't want a rushed meal but there is such a thing as too long a wait. We won't be returning or recommending it to anyone.
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Claudine
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Sunday, June 07, 2009

Top marks for the Meadow, which after a recent visit ranks as one of my favourite restaurants in the UK. The emphasis on fresh, local ingredients came loduly through in the cooking. Pork from "head to tail" was a superb starter; slow cooked lamb was done to perfection though served in a strange ramakin-type of dish. Dishes typically had the origin of the produce, but I can't remember what was from where, but all delicious! A cook at another well regarded top restaurant said that the chef at Meadow is Brighton's top pudding maker (I am paraphrasing); I can't argue. Friendly service and cheery surrounds.
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Mike
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, May 11, 2009

The most recent review being poor I booked with some concern as wanted to treat my family and our favourite restaurant was full. We went on Sat 25th April and there was no need to worry. Lovely calm atmosphere with friendly, attentive staff. Really nice loos! The food was really tasty. my sister thought her seabass was on the small size but struggled to finish it as it was so filling. The haddock risotto was proclaimed outstanding, the steak was good and the lamb on a goats cheese pearl barley risotto was a revelation. Never had lamb as good as that. Puddings were a great success, the crumble was lovely, crunchy and nutty, the orange chiboust was amazing! The chocolate soup was more of a chocolate fondant so not as inventive as we had hoped. Our tap water carafe was continually replaced without having to ask and the bread and butter was really fab. The true bonus of the evening- value for money.

3 starters, 5 mains, 4 desserts, 3 coffees, a bottle of fizz, a bottle of red and 2 glasses of house white came to £33ph (exc service). Will go back for sure.
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charlie5 - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, April 26, 2009

After reading such fantastic reviews I was loking forward to my visit to The Meadow but was bitterly disappointed. We went early on Friday evening, and I ordered the vegetarian pasta dish for my main course, it was completely inedible. It was actually cold and looked like it had been made the day before and mushed together then served up again. I left it as I could not eat any of it, and I was not offered another alternative - just given the desert menu, when I said if that was all they would offer I would rather have the bill and leave (understandably I was hungry after a day at work) the staff were very rude. Yes they did not charge me for the dish (but they did charge my fiance for his meal) but no alternative were presented and my coat was literally shoved at my face and the waitress (who it turned out was also the evening manager) stormed off into the kitchen kicking the door open with her foot. I can't believe I received such poor quality and service and would never come back here to eat again.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, March 10, 2009