The Meadow

Went to the restaurant on Saturday the 13th February for their valentines menu and wished we hadn't! Service was terrible - we waited an hour for someone to take our food order (luckily we did have our drinks to keep us going). When the food came it was ok - though nothing special and not worth the prices they were charging. We found the staff unhelpful and patronising and they seemed to have an obsession with cleaning rather than serving their customers. We won't be going back.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Sunday, February 14, 2010

went there for sunday roast loverly restaurant but food not up to strach at 14.00 for a roast beef it has to be perfect. was very tough and could not even eat it with a steak knife service very slow too
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david
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Monday, January 18, 2010

Sunday lunch at the Meadow - Superb. This restaurant is for relaxed foodies who are guaranteed amazing food with a level of service that for me is spot on. See you all again soon and thanks for making Gary's birthday one to savour.
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Chris
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Ok, we went back for a second visit.

Again, 10/10, I love the laid back service from staff who know what they are talking about.

Looking forward to visit no 3. Keep it up guys.

If anyone thinks they should try The Meadow then YOU MUST.
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Gary Copleston
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 09, 2009

I like The Meadow because they searched their food source locally and the Rib eye steak is to die for. The only complain I had is the staff services, there is always no staff on the floor at the end of night as they all very busy to cleaning stuff in the bar which I think they should at least have a staff on the floor for the customers to ask for the bill or maybe extra milk for the coffee. Sometimes it can be very unfriendly when you complain about the food. for instance, I ordered well done steak (not because I like to have it well done but because I'm pregnant) but the steak turned out as medium. So, I tell the staff and said the steak is medium not well done, she just said NO!! It's well done without looking at my steak at the first place. That's not nice when they tried to justify themselves without actually checking on it. Their staff need to go for proper training then The Meadow will become a prefect upmarket restaurant in Hove.

Don't get me wrong, I will still introduce my friends to go there but just thinking it'll be nice if we can get the services that we have paid for.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Monday, September 28, 2009

My partner and I, both local, tried The Meadow for the first time last evening (Tuesday).

We were impressed by the content of both the menu and the wine list, it was clear that real attention had been paid to producing a well thought out eating experience.

We ordered the beef starter and the crab and prawn tian - both fantastic.

As creatures of habbit we both had the rib eye for our main. Quite possibly the juciest and tastiest steak we have had in ages.

The red wine, a 2004 Cotes Du Rhone rounded it all of perfectly.

We say well done Head Chef / Proprietor, you have certainly cracked it and we will be back again soon.
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Gary
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 05, 2009

I found the staff lovely and helpful, really liked the setting but did find the atmosphere a bit sterile. I was expecting the lack of choice on the menu and the lack of quantity on the plate to be offset by the quality of the food, but unfortunately was quite disappointed. As a vegetarian, I had the spatzle with tomatoes and parmesan, which, tomatoes aside, was very bland indeed and drowned in butter. My partner had the pork loin, belly and apple sauce with buble and squeak. Lovely presentation on the plate, and the 2 forkfull worth of veg nicely hidden, but the pork was a bit tasteless and the blunt knife made it really hard work. Wouldn't recommend this restaurant, although I'm a real fan of their efforts to only use locally sourced products.
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Frederica
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Thursday, July 30, 2009

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