Brighton HarBAR & Kitchen in Brighton and Hove - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Went for afternoon tea. Restaurant was beautiful. Service was impressive. Couldn’t do enough to please. Afternoon tea was AMAZING. Cocktails were delicious. If you want afternoon tea with a twist, go. You won’t be disappointed!

We didn't book a pre show meal , we had stayed at the hotel before so took a chance. They kindly fitted us in first in a bar seating area , then when we asked again , at a table but only for 1Hr 15 mins but that was fine. We only wanted 1 course and we had time limitations ourselves. My partner is pescatarian so the choice was limited but she settled on the Fish and Chips , I had a burger. Both seemed pricey but not extortionate for Brighton and our own fault for not pre booking somewhere. When the food arrived my partners battered fish was liberally covered in sea salt? Which to her palette rendered it uneatable. She persevered by taking the batter off but it was ruined. The chef by chance was doing the rounds and we informed him about the fish. he did to his credit offer to cook us another piece of fish, but we had no time for this, and no one wants to eat alone. So we declined but did say, an explanation in the menu or from the servers maybe would be an advantage. A lot of people like to season their own food. The main server then came to clear our plates he saw my partners plate and asked if the meal was ok. We explained again and that's when the conversation took a turn for the worse. His attitude was not conciliary, we weren't asking for anything just making observations and suggestions. but he was trying to convince us not every ingredient could be listed , if we had a problem with added salt we should have said. it was an essential part of the meal , just like the oil for frying? Now we did want something, we wanted the cost of the meal taken off of the bill, he assured us there was nothing he could do, and we assured him there was but he was refusing to do so. The bill was paid in full and we left. 1) maybe in future let people season their own food, or if you insist on doing it make sure they know beforehand, even your local chippy has the curtesy to ask do you want salt and vinegar on that. 2) we know there is a staff shortage for everyone but if your new staff do make mistakes , don't let your customers suffer. We heard your senior server tell the waitress as we were leaving , to tell the customers in future about the salt on the fish, too little too late! 3) We also heard the senior server , tell the table next to us about the specials, one of which was a Fish pie. Our new inexperienced server did not tell us this. So we had to pay for your staffs lack of training. 4) we did not ask for the service charge to be removed as we felt as appalling as the senior servers service to your customers was, it was by no means the inexperienced servers fault.