All reader reviews by Anonymous
Riddle & Finns
Went for lunch with my oh who is not a fish lover by any stretch of the imagination, but will eat fish'n'chips :-) He opted for the two course special for £12.95, for which he got Thai mussels and whiting and chips. Both courses were really tasty and cooked well. The mains was a little on the small side, but overall it was a good meal for the money. I indulged with my favourite scallops as a starter which were just yummy then had one of the specials of the day, a whole gilt-head bream. This is again one of my favourites, and preferable to me to sea bass. The flesh was white, moist and flavoursome, mmm mmm mmm! The bread and mackeral pate presented before the starters is always a nice touch, along with the butter, mayonnaise and horseradish, although, in our case, I was the only one to eat the pate (quelle domage!) and neither of us had the mayonnaise. A chilled bottle of Tempranillo rose went very well with the meal, and finally, have to mention our friendly, efficient waitress who looked after us very well.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sabai Thai Gastrobar
Had a slightly different experience this time. Initially it all started well. Went inside, as older couple had very small baby in pushchair outside; we left them to their space and we desired ours. Again warm welcome, but then the music was suddenly turned on loudly, overpowering the soothing shush of the water feature. As we were the only inside lunchtime visitors, we politely requested that the volume be reduced. One waitress who mainly looked after us very charmingly, asked the other waitress to turn it down. She did so, but then immediately turned it up again! It took another request to accomplish a little peace. We had the chicken satay and thai crispy greens for starters, chicken fried rice spiced up and the chicken jungle curry that needed no spicing up - very fiery but also tasty. Phillipe de Rothschild white wine accompanied this very nicely; unfortunately, it was also accompanied by the constant toing & froing of the man seated outside coming in and out with the baby's pushchair which he parked nearby to us. If he wasn't bringing the chair in and out, he was constantly back and forth getting items from it. Why he couldn't just keep the darn thing outside, I do not know. When it came to pay, the not so nice waitress took my husband's credit card payment. When he realised there was no service charge added to the bill, he asked her to redo the credit card payment, at which request she rolled her eyes! She then went to the bar and quite blatantly moaned about us to the nice waitress! We asked her if she had a problem and she quickly said no. However, this problematic attitude had taken the shine off the meal, and makes us less keen to return.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 10
Sabai Thai Gastrobar
Visited yesterday for a late lunch as we'd been meaning to try them out for a long time. Had the £6.95 special for two courses and thought it great value for money. Sat by the charming Buddha water feature which made for a relaxing atmosphere. We had a warm welcome and very well looked after, with only one minor hiccup. When ordering I asked for a 15 minute break between courses. What actually happened was we weren't given our starters for 15 minutes and the mains came up fairly quickly after the starters had been eaten. Not a problem though, as there wasn't an enormous lot to eat to start with, although perfectly acceptable and nicely presented. They were chicken satay and barbecue pork with a (hot!) chilli dipping sauce. Both were very tasty and the pork had only one piece that was slightly fatty, and for the most part was very lean and tender. We both opted for the pad thai, one chicken and one beef, and these were generous portions, so generous in fact, that I was unable to eat all of mine. My oh had no such problems :-). Again, the beef could have been more tender, but it was certainly better quality than in a lot of Thai/Chinese restaurants we have tried. The charming waitress offered us a side dish of fresh lime pieces and dried chilli powder, and this certainly took the old taste buds to higher levels!!! We like hot spicy food so our palates were certainly tickled by these additions. A nice bottle of Rothschild merlot washed our food down a treat, and the whole bill came to £28.00ish. Nice to see that service charge was not added, although we left more than the standard 10% to show our appreciation. On leaving, we passed a table for two with two regulars who were chatting with the lady chef. She asked us if everything had been ok, and was pleased with our enthusiastic response. Just to finish, the a la carte menu looked very interesting and had dishes that we'd not seen before, plus old favourites. It wasn't cheap, but I think, if the quality of the food lives up to expectations, it could be well worth a venture.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
The Chilli Pickle
Sorry, can't understand or agree with the previous reviewer. There are plenty of vegetarian options, especially on the day menu. As I said on a previous review, we had a completely vegetarian meal the last time we visited, unintentionally, as we both eat meat. However, what we were ordering was so tasty, we never noticed that the meal was veggie in it's entirety. We've never had a bland dish there - maybe the cauliflower pakora we had once was a little lacking, but that's it.
Perhaps they were really unlucky and the chef had an off day. Everyone I've spoken to and every other review I've read have praised this restaurant to the hilt. Indeed, we fully intend to return, and soon!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
The Chilli Pickle
Have to agree with the previous reviewer - this has to be one of the best restaurants in Brighton.
Owing to the credit crunch, like so many others, we've sadly had to cut back on eating out. However, we couldn't resist the siren song of Chilli Pickle any longer, and had to return! We're so glad we did. As always, we received a warm welcome which is always a pleasant start. We were glad we booked for Saturday lunch time, as a good amount of people hadn't, and they failed to get a table. Having decided to go with the street food, we started with a spicy mix of rice, lentils, plantain and peanuts, which was crunchy, spicy hot and tasty. Then came potato masala and crispy lentil fritters with a hot tomato based sauce. The potatoes were of a good texture and the spicing made them oh so moreish! The fritters were crunchy and flavoursome. After a suitable break, alternating glugs of the same organic red we had before, and free tap water, the final two dishes were potato samosas and crispy feta balls with chilli jam. By this time, a lady on her own had arrived at the next table, and after chatting to her, we ended up offering her a taster of these dishes, as this was her first visit. She was suitably impressed, and being of a generous nature, she very kindly gave us a taster of her dosa. Unsurprisingly, it was lovely! This is the sort of restaurant where these experiences just seem to happen as you are so relaxed and enjoying going with the flow. As ever, the people looking after us were friendly and efficient, and we look forward to our next visit. Hopefully soon!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
