The Regency Restaurant

We never missed a trip to Brighton without eating at The Regency. Good food, good service. However, after a while we stopped going because the service became moody. We have now moved to Brighton, so when friends came to visit and wanted fish and chips, we decided after many years absence, to take them to The Regency. We booked a table for ten people.

The table was sort of ready for us when we arrived at our appointed time, but almost immediately it was evident that the service was going to be bad tempered.

Our order was taken by a rude man who did not seem to be interested if we were there or not. When the food arrived it was slapped on the table, sometimes without attention to who ordered what.

Luckily my friends were happy enough with their food and the company round the table to ignore the rudeness of the waiter. My husband had particular praise for his crab salad. My plaice and chips were only OK.

As there are a number of restaurants in Brighton offering both good food and good service, I see no reason to go to The Regency again.
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viv-val - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Thursday, October 13, 2011

We have visited this restaurant many times (previously on visits to Brighton) and now we live here if we have people to stay, as everyone wants fish and chips at the seaside.

I wouldn't say it's the best fish and chips in Brighton but it is very good, the portions are ok sized (I would prefer to see different size options as you get in Bardsleys) but for the price you pay it's exceptionally good value.

It is very child-friendly which is handy if you have family/friends with children visiting.

Service tends to be fast but friendly - if you want an evening of fine dining over numerous courses this isn't for you, but if you want good fish and chips in an authentic restaurant in a great location, then you can't got wrong with The Regency.
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Sarah - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, October 04, 2011

If you have any respect for yourself and for food don't eat here. I am by no means a foodie but what I want from a restaurant that specialises in fish and seafood is excellent flavour and cooked with the fish and customer in mind. I ordered Calamari for starters and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of a plate of hot, sweet Calamari encased in salty, crispy batter, and what was put in front of me was a serious anti-climax. Cold, soggy, tasteless rings with an anaemic complexion were not what I'd have expected from "one of the oldest and most popular seafront restaurants offering its customers quality and value for money since the 1930's"(so their website claims). For mains myself and my friends ordered haddock, whitebait, scampi (which wasn't too bad) and a deep-fried seafood platter and to cut it short it was terrible.

Now onto the service! We were served by a moody waitress who had much better things to do than serve paying customers, we were quite an inconvenience for her. Plates plonked onto the table accompanied by scowls certainly didn't add to the already lacking ambience. There isn't much in life that makes my blood boil but The Regency was doing a fine job of it; the Pièce de résistance was when the waitress made a string of obscene gestures while stomping her way into the kitchen.

Overall a rather dreadful experience, and in the worst possible way, unforgettable.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Saturday, September 17, 2011

visited bank holiday with family.

excellent fish&chips coupled with great service. what more is there to say.
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paul
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lovely fish and chips, crab salad with two crabs is too much but really good value, unfortunately left us 30 mins despite two reminders for ice cream and expresso and bill
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jacque
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Is by far one of the best restaurants in Brighton.You have it all in one place.Quality and quantity,very good and fast service and a big variety of dishes in a reasonable prices. It is also children friendly. And if you are a person who likes sea views then this is the place to go.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, March 03, 2011

Great restaurant and does what it says - produces fantastic fish and chips. Lovely old English sea side atmosphere, good service, good food and good service. Would definitely over back and is well priced. A must for anyone visiting Brighton.
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Claire - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, February 25, 2011

Can't belive some of the reviews, we came down to brighton easter sunday and the weather was raining and very windy but as soon as we went into the regency the sun came out the waiters (greek or spanish) made a fuss of the children while we looked at the menu

we had the mussels to start and they did not dissapoint plump and very fresh, was a bit worried about ordering a main course as most things came with chips but im glad i didn't listen we had haddock and chips and the children shared a cod and chips the restaurant was fine about doing this and pointed out they had only charged for a childs portion as they are only 3 and the childs size was great for them, now back to the chips i think the problem is everyone is used to frozen chips that are treated to come out darker, BUT these are fresh and are lighter in colour and were really good as was the fish white and very firm, mushy peas came on the side and didnt dissapoint as it was still windy outside

we stayed long enough to have dessert husband had spotted richard (dick to the rest of us) and custard i had the crumble and could hardly move afterwards. We really enjoy our food and the only thing we ask for from food is that it has to be good food and the regency did not dissapoint.
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roxanne
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 07, 2010

We revisited on a cold and rainy Good Friday lunchtime, after reading the previous review, as one of the complaints on my former write-up was the fact that they were serving oven chips. It was only 12.00pm but there were already a good few diners. We had the king prawns in garlic starter between us with some nice crusty french bread. This was very very garlicky, but flavoursome, and the king prawns were of very good quality, although they seemed very reluctant to let go of their shells! After this we took a break, sipped some wine and people watched, especially the unfortunates passing by battling the wind and rain. We then ordered haddock & chips, one portion each of mushy peas and pickled onions. The fish was very nice, white moist flesh with crispy batter although we would have preferred it a bit deeper fleshed. Having ascertained that the chips were freshly prepared and chip shop chips we were looking forward to eating these too. Unfortunately, they were pale, uninteresting and had very little flavour. The onion vinegar (asked for and kindly supplied) and salt had to be used extensively to make them palatable. The only good thing we could say about them was that they were not greasy. The pickled onions were lovely, and tasted home-made and the mushy peas were fine. Over all, we had a very pleasant lunch, but really, there is still plenty of room for improvement.
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Anne Bond
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Saturday, April 03, 2010

I went to the Regency on Saturday night and had a delicious meal of halibut and chips. I am glad to report that the chips were proper chip shop chips, and the waiter confirmed that they had recently changed them. Last time I visited the served oven-type chips.

I think the menu has good choices and is reasonable value for money.

Now they've sorted out the chips, they just need to upgrade their tomato ketchup!
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Monday, March 29, 2010