La Fourchette

After being told there was a table ready for us upstairs we made our way through a packed restaurant. . . hardly being acknowledged by any staff member. We took our seats and were ignored for about the first fifteen minutes when a menu was eventually plonked on the table in front of us. The staff seemed disinterested, unable to cope and rather rude. We ordered our wine which arrived once we had ordered our food, not a great wine for the £25 price tag. The steaks were tasty but one was so fatty the 'empty' plate was a pile of fat. When mentioned to the waiter he just said 'oh, sorry about that'! We asked for the bill and were offered a complimentary drink but really we just wanted to get out of there and a better gesture would have been to remove the pile of fat from the bill. The main problem with this place was the attitude of the staff and with so many other decent places to now get a good meal and for a lesser price tag we will not be returning the La Fourchette. . .
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Friday, February 01, 2008

I hate to see a bad review of this restaraunt at the top of this page. I have visited La Fouchette many many times, for many different occasions and it has always exceeded my expectations, I can honestly say for the last 7 years I have not had a bad meal there. Even my well travelled food critic friend who I see once a year always insists when visiting me that it has to be La Fouchette.

I can't have been mistaken or lucky 22 times I think that says it all.
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Katie Stibbs
Friday, January 25, 2008

c'est midiocre. never come back again.
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christine
Thursday, December 27, 2007

It does seem as if most agree in these reviews that the food at least is good, though service experience is variable. But I just had to write to explain how wonderful this restaurant can be on its day, and why we have so far always chosen this as our very first choice of Brighton & Hove restaurant since the other good French restaurant changed hands and went italian.

Having spent a fair amount of time living in France I have to say that the authenticity of Southern and Central France dishes is striking, Their bouillebasse and in general their fish and meat dishes were immaculate on 4 of the 5 occasions we have visited, and if some of the dishes are strong tasting this is often nevertheless a good rendition of how Lamb, or Beef, say, are done in southern France..

One of our party ONCE had problems with the cooking of their dish - which was sorted out satisfactorily, and we also have had problems with the noise level late on a Friday night (doh). And yes, the restaurant sometimes has the occasional Parisian waiter with attitude, but there are probably less Poles posing as French than in most other 'French' restaurants in Brighton.

But I guess we have just got used to these (genuine) quirks and always ensure seating downstairs, and almost always enjoy splendid food and wines somewhat below the usual price for restaurants of this standard.
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Chris
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, April 28, 2007

Eating at La Fourchette makes for a wonderful evening. My boyfriend and I dined there last night and found the food delicious. The waiter maintained the right balance of attentiveness and leaving us be and it was a lovely, relaxing meal. The starters, although small, were filling and tasty and the fish plate we had for our main was sublime - and very generous. At £25 for two deliciously tasty courses I would definitely recommend La Fourchette.
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Jo Payne
Friday, February 09, 2007

We were bitterly disappointed with La Fourchette, after a glowing recommendation from a friend. We were asked to arrive early but waited over one hour twenty minutes for our starter (which incidently was cold). The main course arrived one hour later (looking rather wilted after too much time on the hot plate)! The service was absolutely terrible, all staff looked completely out of control, and the overall quality of food poor. A victim of its own hype I fear and for £60 per head there are other more favourable options available in Brighton.
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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

I suppose La Forchette must have two types of customers, locals and weekenders.

We're weekenders down from london in january and in need of a great meal to lift our spirits, we wern't dissapointed.

The food was delicious. The fish soup made it seem more like the south of france than a wet saturday in brighton.

For mains we had fillet steak and duck rolls which came with a lovely parsnip puree.

deserts were not spectacular [they didn't have my favorite!]

but perfectly ok for all that.
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P.F.
Sunday, January 28, 2007

Last saterday I went for a belated birthday meal- couldn't have been more impressed. The waiters were so accomodating as we turned up at 8.30 on a saterday night without a booking and they made the effort to squeeze us in (I didnt even say it was my birthday). Throughout the night the staff were great, so polite and friendly. The food (while admittedly a little slow- but as I said it was a saterday evening in the middle of service) was lovely, both myself and my boyfriend had delicious meals. The deserts were sooo fabulous, we tried the selection plate of all the sweet deserts and I would recommend this for those who can't choose between the deserts- it was too hard they all sounded (and looked) yummy! our choice of wine was at the cheaper end of the wine list, but it was one of the best bottles i've had at a resaurant for ages- again I was very impressed! overall a great night i would recommemd it to anyone. Thank you LF!
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Sophie
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Awful place - been there three times. It should just close itself down.
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richard w - View all reviews by this user
Monday, December 04, 2006

I used to visit LF regularly at the old venue and it used to be my favourite restaurant. The food was always good and the service attentive. Our visit to the current premises was a distaster. The restaurant was packed, the pace frenetic and the food average. We had a horrible table for two at the foot of the stairs which had a constant traffic of people passing as well as dashing waiters. The noise level was horrendous. The service very slow. We couldn't get out fast enough.
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saskia
Monday, October 23, 2006