Crocodile Cafe Restaurant in Lewes

Real Italian food. Great chef. Lovely staff. Always go back for a real taste of Italy.

My favourite restaurant in the area! The food is always sublime and I cannot reccomend it enough! Absolute delight visiting every time!

Well, this is a gem. We found it by accident during a walk along the coast, and we were all so impressed (2 adults, 2 children). The food was delicious! They even managed to prepare my aubergine dish in a way my children not only wanted to try it, but actually wanted to have more! They've never liked aubergine before! The deli was well stocked and the restaurant had a wonderul choice of dishes to suit all (pizza, pasta, mains, starters etc). We found it by chance, but we will definitely return by choice.

love this place - top quality and very good value! Just had take-out focaccia: absolutely delicious!

I can’t speak highly enough of this place. The food is always and I mean always so good with great service to go with it. I would buy shares if I could.

Great food, friendly service, a cosy family restaurant.

Lovely small personal cafe. Great food and worth every penny. Caring and considerate staff and service.

Oh. My. Goodness. I am at a complete loss for words (but I'll try!) to describe the sheer culinary ecstasy that was the focaccia sandwich I devoured at Crocodile Café in Saltdean. This wasn’t just a sandwich—it was a divine masterpiece of flavor and texture that danced on my taste buds like a symphony of deliciousness. I felt like I was transported straight to the sun-kissed hills of Italy, where the air smells of freshly baked bread and the sea breeze whispers secrets of culinary perfection. The focaccia itself was a pillow of soft, chewy, herby heaven—crisp on the outside, gloriously fluffy inside, and kissed with the perfect amount of olive oil and sea salt. Each bite was like sinking into a cloud of artisan bread magic! And the fillings... oh, the fillings! Fresh, vibrant vegetables bursting with flavor, a rich and creamy pesto that tasted like it was made by an Italian nonna that morning, and perfectly seasoned meats that melted in my mouth. Every ingredient was meticulously balanced, harmonizing in a way that made my heart skip a beat. The care and attention that went into crafting this sandwich was beyond anything I could have imagined. It was as if the chefs at Crocodile Café were food artists, weaving together layers of texture and taste into a creation that could only be described as edible art. This focaccia sandwich was a revelation—pure, unadulterated joy in every bite. If I could give this sandwich ten stars, I would. I’m already planning my next visit just for another taste of this mouthwatering perfection. Crocodile Café, you’ve made a focaccia sandwich that dreams are made of, and I am eternally grateful!

One of the best food places i found since moving to Brighton in 2016. Authentic Italian. Also one of the best pasta dishes I've ever eaten and i am Italian! This place is a must try. Looking forward to trying more dishes from the delicious menu. Thank you Davide and Stefania, lovely to meet you both, see you soon!

Excellent as always great food friendly service, a great treat to visit.

Delicious, well priced and truly authentic Italian food. Honestly loved it :)

The owners here are so friendly, so welcoming. The coffee is great and the handmade cakes and biscuits are really delicious. The foccacia pizza is excellent. I would recommend truffle and mushroom.

Lovely food, the charcuterie board was very good. Pizza bases were really crisp. Desserts were lovely.

Really lovely Italian food. Stopped for Lunch and were pleasantly surprised by the food and wine on offer. Delicious meal and we will definitely be coming back!

Exploitative practices. They bring you in for 4 hour 'unpaid' trial shifts and then don't hire you on. Rinse and repeat, you can see how bad this place is towards its workers. Don't support places that don't support paying people to do a job.

Such an amazing products! Full of authentic Italian gems and super crunchy,delicious focaccia! Little Italy!❤️

Thankyou for a lovely meal and wonderful Lemonchello Spritzer. Lovely time. Great service. Great atmosphere. Thankyou

Lovely family atmosphere.. light lunch and wonderful service.

A pleasure as always. Some of the best Italian food I’ve had in a very long time.

Wonderful food, the loveliest staff! Order, you won't regret :)

We were so surprised at the quality of this Gem of a restaurant. Excellent food and wine, and the staff are so wonderful. Thank you

Lovely staff, food great for the price, little café with a nice, friendly, local atmosphere.

We were a big group for a celebration and had a lovely Italian style lunch. Everyone loved their dish and the atmosphere was great. We also preordered a cake which was delicious and very home made! Would recommend and can’t wait to go back!

My wife and I had a lovely meal last night. Service was perfect as was the food. I had Pasta with mushrooms and a hint of chilli (try it you won't be disapointed) which will go on the favourites list of mine for nest time whilst my wife had Pizza a la Debbie (don't ask!). Thank you for a great evening.

What can one say! Just perfik in every way

very tasty food and nice service, you have to wait a long time for it, I recommend it

This is probably the best Italian restaurant south of London. It is unpretentious, small and tidy, but the food, man, how good is the food! We come to Brighton fairly often and always take the time to visit this place. We have never been disappointed!

Recent change of ownership but the same welcoming atmosphere, good service and nicely presented food from their modest but tasty menu.

A fantastic night for my group. Great service and atmosphere. Thank you.

Had a great time here! Ordered the seafood pasta which was really very delicious 🥺 The tiramsu we had for dessert was also homemade and very good. Attentive and warm service, reasonable prices, would totally recommend if you are in the area.

Had a fabulous meal here tonight. The staff were courteous and friendly and the food was authentic Italian. Just perfect xxx

Best Italian in UK by far..pasta dishes are amazing ..pizza also superb.. deserts great too..love it 👍🏽

The waiter was lovely and attentive My octopus starter wasnt for me but my pizza main was delicious and i requested extra pecorino cheese on my pizza

Amazing food! We visited this restaurant for a second time and tried lasagna, lemon curd with meringue, apple pie, and almond cherry pie. Everything was incredibly delicious, making us big fans!

The five of us had a great lunch after the dog-swimming session at Saltdean Lido. Food excellent all round. Charming, helpful, friendly staff. Recommend.

I had pasta and sea food and it was amazing. Friendly people. Great service. Will coma again xx

We unfortunately missed the kitchen closing by half an hour at lunch time, so were only able to choose cold dishes to have. We chose a vegetable platter and a Greek salad, washed down with a bottle of white wine. The food was very disappointing, the Greek salad was very feta light and was a poor version of a Greek salad and the vegetable platter had one sun dried tomato and one slice of artichoke but was predominantly made up of an assortment of salty olives and bread and the bottle of Trebbiano was spoilt by not being chilled. Our waitress was friendly but other staff didn’t engage with us, and the bill was a scrawled note with a £6 cover charge! Because it was scrawled quite small I didn’t initially realise what it was and left a tip as well! So overall on every level a very poor, expensive meal with warm wine.

Cucina italiana fantastica! Prodotti di alta qualità!

A little gem on our doorstep will be back for sure .. fabulous authentic Italian home cooked food so fresh and delicious we couldn’t believe our luck !

Really nice small Italian restaurant, with delicious food

A warm authentic welcome from the host Stefanie and her team and delicious pizza to match! I Wanted to save a slice or two to take home but ate all of it instantly! Perfect place to have a great lunch and enjoy the beach views or swim at Saltdean lido. Looking forward to returning next time!

Delicious authentic Italian cuisine, best I've had in a while. The linguini alle vongole was incredibly tasty, and the tiramisu... 😋 I would most definitely come back if I'm in the Brighton area.

very good food, authentic Italian owner, great coffee!

Very good food and friendly staff :) We ordered pizza and lasagna and both of them was delicious. The ambience here is Italian :)))

Just ordered some pizzas for collection, good Italian vibes, and the pizzas were absolutely delicious proper pizza

This is an amazing family run establishment. Like all visits to this restaurant we have lovely food, drink and service. Would highly recommend to all

Loved the food. Was a little wait but worth it as the chef made everything fresh. Brilliant quality. Best Italian food in Brighton I reckon.

Best gnocchi dish I have ever had. Stuffed gnocchi with truffle sauce was to die for.

Have to leave this place a review! Have been going to Crocodiles to eat and also ordering their take away for years. I’d particularly recommend the homemade sausage on a pizza and the Amicone red wine. Their pasta dishes are sumptuous! Tagliatella alla Contadina and their gnocchi are my favourite pasta dishes there. They do a really lovely charcuterie board, all the meats and cheeses are high quality, delicious and beautifully presented. They have a wonderful deli too where you can buy some wonderful treats! The staff are always lovely, really friendly with a homely and welcoming vibe. It’s also by a mile the best pizza in Brighton & Hove and I’ve tried A LOT! Grazie Crocodiles!

Loved the food. Was a little wait but worth it as the chef made everything fresh. Brilliant quality. Best Italian food in Brighton I reckon.

The delivery service is fantastic too.

A friendly, cosy, Italian restaurant & deli where 3 of us had lunch on 18 May. We enjoyed the meat lasagne, I would have liked a larger portion of mixed salad for £6 & the side of bread & olives was rather small. Delicious Frangipane tart & mini Italian tarts & cappuccino. Well done!

Heard about this little cafe/restaurant practically on our doorstep and thought we would give it a try especially as the reviews were good. It is situated just up from the undercliff walk at Saltdean in the main high street. We booked and it was a good job that we did as the restaurant was full at 1pm on a Wednesday! Very friendly staff, a varied menu and reasonable prices. The food was great - we had pizzas and the tagliatelli bolognese - gorgeous flavour. Well worth a visit. A gem of a find!

I was visiting from London for the weekend & our friends took us to this quaint Italian deli /restaurant. The food was authentic & outstanding. I had arancini , seafood linguine, diavola pizza & tiramisu. All were excellent and the vegan options were I'm told equally delicious. Very reasonably priced and very friendly staff, can't wait to go back and try there lasagne. Thanks.

The pasta and pizza was very good I recommend highly. Customer service was really good as well

The best Italian meal ever! We all loved everything that we ordered. Staff were so attentive and polite. Would not hesitate to recommend this place

A really excellent Italian café restaurant and shop. True home cooking at its best prepared to order. Wonderful friendly owners. Marvellous selection of deli items from Italy. Highly recommended.

For me a bit out of the way, but worth the effort to try this cafe. Very friendly and they serve nice pizzas, and all at a reasonable price.

Great meal down the Crocodile Cafe.

We love Davide and his team at croc cafe. It's one of our favourite places to eat out and we would recommend it to anyone 😋 You must go and try for yourself! Home made Italian yumminess!!

Un posto eccellente! Ci devo ritornare fra poco! Ci sono tanti pasti saporiti da mangiare. come le pizze!

Picked this place off maps, based on location and rating... certainly not disappointed! Each member of our party loved their food and I'm sure we'll be back, again and again! 💙

Food, drinks, service and ambience all excellent. The home made puddings made by Stephanie are wonderful, take some home if you don’t have room after lunch or dinner. Fabulous quirky little secret on the outskirts of Brighton

Excellent food and service in a lovely, intimate but lively atmosphere

A lovely little gem in Saltdean I was very surprised to find genuine Italian food here. The staff were very friendly and feel this could become a local instead of a trip into Brighton.

The food was delicious ! We had a great Blonaise and Calzone . We had a lovely evening . So good you are open on Mondays too !

Authentic Italian food and very testy! Chef Davide is so friendly and the staff super professional. I do recommend to go there even for the cosy atmosphere...it looks like to go back to Italy in a classic trattoria. Grazie mille...see you next time, for sure!

Awesome coffee with authentic lobesters Great atmosphere and people if I could give it 10 stars then i would

TRUE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE 1) Food – delicious, genuine Italian flavours and shop with original products. The very only disadvantage are really small portions, comparing to any other Italian run or non-Italian places. 2) Customer service – Italian street feel, with the chef screaming in the country of origin language, in the exactly same way as we have seen on many movies.. :) 3) Interior – Italian province design, but very small and tight place, so if you want to appreciate their great cuisine in comfort, that might be difficult. 4) Price – similar as other, superb Italian places, but as mentioned above, portions are really to small, so not the greatest value for money in terms if quantity.

wonderful fresh, varied Italian food. Davide and his team make every visit fun as well. Makes Saltdean THE place to come to!! 🤗

Lovely little restaurant cafe with handmade pasta in delicious sauces. We tried all 3 specials, linguine with white wine and seafood - delicious fresh taste of the sea, with juicy mussels, squid and clams. The vegetarian tortellini with spinach ricotta and a squash sauce was delightful. As was the tiramisu. 3 plates plus 1 dessert came to £70, which considering its home made we felt it was worth it.

Amazing food and service! We eat lasagna, stake and pear+almond cake. Everything were really delicious

We've visited several times and this is really some of the best Italian food I've had in England and even better than places I've been to in Italy. Most recently, the seafood pasta was exceptional and also their carbonara. A real hidden gem, with friendly and attentive staff. Worth traveling to Saltdean just to visit the Crocodile Caffe!

Who knew that a place called Crocodile Café would be home to the most delicious Italian food! Staffed by an Italian-speaking team, this is both a deli and a restaurant. And don't let the name fool you - they are open for dinner too! As an Italian myself, I have high standards for my people's food and I was so pleased to find this place! My friend and I are both vegan and we were spoilt for choice when we went for lunch. We shared a scrumptious platter of antipasti like sun-dried tomatoes and olives, each bite delicious! Then we had a Marinara pizza topped with fresh artichokes imported from Italy. Coffee and biscuits followed, again all really lovely. Very affordable pricing for extremely high quality! We loved the friendly, welcoming atmosphere, reminiscent of a trattoria. We will definitely be back soon! Grazie ancora!

We visited here on a rainy Saturday afternoon after wandering around Brighton. Our first impressions were a bit confusing as the lady on the door said there were no tables but we managed to book one online - that said everyone was really lovely thereafter so just putting that down to being crazy busy. Food was ok, we ordered a Burger and Chips and a Caesar Salad with Salmon. The size of the fries portion was small considering the price and the burger bun did fall apart. What was more disappointing was the addition of bacon to the Caesar Salad. My partner is a pescatarian. He picked around it but perhaps it would be wise to make it clearer on the menu as we missed ‘Coppa Radishes’ - just call it bacon! Espresso Martinis were delicious!

Very good service, able to get a table without booking, nice decor and atmosphere. Had delicious vegan burger but when I asked the waitress what was in it she said it was a 'moving mountains' one so not made in-house. I've since bought them from Sainsburys! This was a bit disappointing, also the bun, which was delicious too, I think now was a brioche burger bun, and if so I believe has egg and milk,in it, so not vegan, (good job it didn't make us ill). We had a very nice evening and meal and in fact went twice in week. Would recommend with these reservations.

Sunday lunch - Great selection of starters, roast dinner (carvery) was beautiful - great selection of vegetables and perfectly cooked meats. The desserts, well they were divine. Staff very polite, attentive and helpful. Beautiful surroundings, and this is all for under £20!!!

Great welcome..orders taken promptly..both waiters here are the best in the country..the food was amazing as usual..best restaurant in east Sussex

Fast,clean,cheap… see you next time 👍

Heard about this little cafe/restaurant practically on our doorstep and thought we would give it a try especially as the reviews were good. It is situated just up from the undercliff walk at Saltdean in the main high street. We booked and it was a...

I was disappointed with the long delay in service at the restaurant tonight. Despite not being busy, our order took a significant amount of time to be taken and our food took even longer to arrive. I understand that things can happen in a kitchen, but the wait was excessive and it detracted from the overall dining experience. I hope in the future, the service can be improved to ensure a more timely and enjoyable meal.

This cafe is run by the owner, he took time to come out from the kitchen and chat with the punters. He takes great pride in his food and service.

Great family run business. Excellent food

Delightful owners. Excellent real Italian food. Very good prices. Simple, friendly and dog friendly environment.

beautiful cozy little place with amazing Italian food best margarita pizza you'll ever have and the tagliatelli bolognaise is the best and the deserts are delicious... you need to see for yourself, the chef Davide is a great guy full of energy very friendly and...

Brilliant food and staff. A very nice experience.

Was a lovely little place to stop for a coffee and cake. Will need to stop for dinner as the smells from rhe kitchen were amazing!

Funnily enough of has a crocodile skull on the wall. Its not often you keep a bill as a memory. Even the house white is superb, I went back two nights running, as it was that brilliant. I found a favourite place at last that I can return to repeatedly A proper carbonara no cream in Italian carbonara so I learned a couple of culinary lessons too. The deserts are skilfully assembled and there is a wide range of over the counter meats cheeses and Italian deli. Get in Mon Weds for relative peace and quiet don't bother with rest of week unless you book in advance, Italians eat here.

Lovely place serving great Italian coffee and cakes. We came in the early evening as no other coffee places were opened at this time and we found this nice restaurant. The service was beyond excellent. Highly recommended!

Truffle Pizza Night? An Authentic Italian Deli & Restaurant one block from the Airbnb I booked for a month, how lucky did I get. Everyone puts their love into the cooking and the service at the Crocodile Cafe. Loved the grilled vegetables for my side...

The best Pizza we have eaten for a long time! The pasta and Lasagne were great as well.

Simple unassuming place serving rustic homemade fresh Italian food. Served by the owner who is friendly and clearly passionate about Italian food.

Had delivery from Crocodile Cafe on many occasions now and it is lovely. Excellent lasagne this evening. Staff are so bubbly and friendly. Never eaten in but will look forward to doing so in the near future. Highly recommended by me.

Very accomodating for a party of 9: Aggie: "Extremely friendly and food was good" Phil: "Delightfully quaint" Tom: "Wholesome service, good value" Jaydn: "Long tagliatelle vibes" Yvonne: "Homely, welcoming and delicious" Olivia: "Italiano authentica" Lucy: "Quirky, home-cooked food" Ali: "One word: Whimsical" Sammy: "A home grown delicious Italian experience"

Food was great perfect drop in for lunch. We already planned to visit in the evening. Very casual environment with family feel

First time visit and we were made to feel like family. Staff are helpful and attentive. Menu has lots of tempting options. We chose old favourites of bolognese and carbonara and they were both delicious.

First time eating here and can’t wait to come here again. Food was excellent, home cooked with a lovely service.

Well I don’t know where to start, We had the most amazing lunch here today, The starter of Hams and cheese is not one to miss! Amazing! I then ordered a pomodoro which I didn’t realise wasn’t even on the menu today but they were...

We stayed with friends in Saltdean; they took us to this excellent little Italian restaurant for pizzas . It was totally unpretentious and authentically Italian. The pizzas were delicious. Service was first rate and we were given a warm welcome. On a hot summer's evening...

The food is delicious and the service friendly and prompt. 1st class. It is well worth travelling for.