Hotel du Vin & Bistro

Ate here as a treat in Feb 2010. Was very swanky indeed and full of ladies that lunch! Great to watch. We were given a menu with very highly priced food although we knew it wouldnt be cheap. I had duck which was outstanding. My partner ate the fish and was equally impressed. At only a main course each and two bottles of wine it came to about £90....shocking. It wasnt until afterwards we realised there was a set priced (much cheaper) lunch! The waitress should have offered us this!!!!!! Disappointing. However I will return for the set lunch as this is one of Brightons most stunning restaurants for decor and ambience.
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Rosie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 5
Saturday, March 27, 2010

We spent a wedding gift of Hotel du Vin vouchers dining in the Bistro last week and I'm sorry to say, it was something of a disappointment, especially as we are local to Brighton and always on the look out for good places to eat. Brighton is crying out for restaurants who can serve consistently good food at good value!!

The food was simply not worth the price we paid for it. My 'medium' steak was 'rare', and the accompanying chips were dry and cold. That's all I'll say on the food - suffice to say, its reasonable to expect more than that of an establishment such as this.

The Hotel du Vin bar is excellent for lounging on comfortable sofas with a bottle of wine or a cocktail but there are far better places to eat close by.
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Hotel du vin have started doing that really annoying and rude thing of adding on a 'charity donation' to your bill. I asked the waitress who the charity was that they supported and she had no idea. I asked if she would mind going away and finding out, so she did. When she came back she shrugged her shoulders and said "Hospitality and Children'. I had never heard of this charity so looked it up when I got home and lo and behold, nothing comes up on google! This is poor - first to add on a donation you have not agreed to, secondly, to not know the charity and thirdly, it doesn't even seem to exist! Hmmm.
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, May 21, 2009

A very disappointing experience. We had high hopes for Hotel du Vin and booked for an anniversary. The service was of a standard of any high street pasta restaurant, extremely average, and the overalll experience felt rushed and not very special at all. It would appear the potential for a lovely, special experience has been lost to profit and diner turnaround. There are plenty of restaurants in Brighton and Hove and for the money I certainly would neither recommend or return to Hotel du Vin.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, April 27, 2009

My partner and I had lunch at Pub du Vin this week. We had a pleasant 2 course meal with a pint of beer each which came to just over £40.

We had to wait almost half an hour for the first course but there was a decent break before the second course. We were there for an hour and a half without lingering which is a long lunch break from work. The starters were excellent, the scotch egg delicious and the black pudding and poached egg salad very nice. the mains were less exciting, a good burger and fish cake, nice handcut chips. The portions weren't enormous, good for a lunch but this is alot pricier than a normal pub lunch.

The atmosphere was pleasant although at 1pm there was only two other tables spoken for. The music was alright.

I would eat there again, I'd like to try it in the evening, although they need to decide whether they are a pub or a restaurant. It does not have a pub atmosphere.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Friday, April 17, 2009

Their current £29 for 2 deal is no doubt good value. However, as always with H du V, all is not as it seems and you have to keep a sharp eye on them. When you order, they do not point out that it is only certain items you can have for the £29 deal. I have heard numerous accounts of people ordering the 'wrong' items and then them refusing to give you the £29 deal. This is even though you have booked the table for the deal AND shown them your voucher upon entry to the restaurant. In normal H du V style they will also try and add items on to your bill - we had our coffees added on even though they're supposed to come with the deal and a friend who recently went had an extra bottle of wine added on to her bill. Beware!
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, March 30, 2009