Cuckmere Inn in Down

The triple cooked chips were the best I’ve tasted in England. I’m from Canada and it would appear that all chips (fries in Canada) are crispy and have some colour. We ordered the wrap with sweet potato fritter and the fish sandwich. Both were delicious. Prices are reasonable and comparable to other similar establishments. The place has plenty of both indoor and outdoor seating. The beer selection is fine. Some of the staff are friendly and helpful, others not so much. In the end we really liked the place and it’s conveniently located at the end of a short walk from the 7 sisters.

The location is just fantastic, surrounded by spectacular views. Food was great, but it took a bit of wait. A perfect place to enjoy the sunshine and chats over a glass of beer.

The venue seemed nice and the service was okay. It really did come down to the food. The food was really bad!! I got the special burger and my chips were dry and cold. I told the waiter and when my chops came back they were the same change is that had been placed in the microwave. Wow!! So I sent them back. My burger was the special at £18ish and honestly a hamburger from McDonald’s had more flavour. God Awful, if you want a great meal please avoid this place. I even gave the manager on duty feedback and yet nothing. Disappointing!!!

Yeah, very nice place! Good food!

delicious food and big portions!

Very disappointed. The food I received was raw in places ie chicken skewers and the chips were burnt as was the bread that came with the starters. Manager didn’t seem very bothered, although the young lady who I spoke to originally was very polite and helpful, maybe she should be the manager. She certainly had a lot more customer service attitude than he did.

Staff were nice - our server, Georgia, was lovely. An obvious good location in terms of Exceat. However, there was an hour between us ordering and the food arriving at the table. There was no explanation and no information/reason given. We had to chase several times. When the food did finally arrive, most was cold and the signature burgers were dry. Substantially overpriced, poor quality, food. Staff didn't seem surprised by complaints and seemed rather resigned. Having now read a long line of reviews it seems that the venue is well aware of similar complaints but nothing seems to have improved.

This place has to be seen to be believed really. The location is so amazing that the place is run by a bunch of teenagers who couldn't care less and seem to spend most of their time fending off complaints. Quick run down of the debacle... arrive on time > table not ready > wait 15 mins, we have to keep coming back to the bar to ask, no ones finds us > then takes another 20 mins to place order, again we have to keep asking, no one comes to us > food then takes 50 mins to arrive > food arrives cold > we ask to place dessert order, told to join the 25 mins drinks queue at the bar!??! > we order desserts > comes without cutlery, we ask for cutlery, given largest spoon we've ever seen even though only ordered the mini-dessert [see pic!] > etc etc etc. The pub is beyond a shambles but the location is incredible and the food is not bad (but very expensive (£19 burger, £23 Sunday roast), it cost us over £150 for a family of four. Expensive for a good place, but for a customer service car crash £150 for lunch is painful) but if you want to walk from Seafood to Cuckmere and back and get some food to break the journey, what can you do!?

Very rude staff - I walked in to check whether there was a table available for my group of 8 who were waiting in the parking lot as I didn’t want to wake baby up unnecessarily and they hadn’t picked up the phone when I called. They agreed to give us said table and I said I need a few minutes to pop out and get everyone. After 4-5 minutes we entered the pub to find that our spot had been taken by 2 people when there were plenty of smaller tables available to them. When I politely questioned a staff member behind the bar she told me I had taken longer than 5 minutes (I hadn’t) and showed no willingness to accommodate us and no compassion whatsoever despite having a young baby and elderly people in our group. When she did eventually say they could move some tables around she immediately turned to tell me I should not be threatening them with a negative review! A situation they could have avoided so easily, that they showed no compassion about and then proceeded to tell me how I should be reacting because I said in a matter of fact way that I wouldn’t be giving them a positive review. Thankfully, others feel the same way (see average rating) so I need say no more but the inn has lost 8 returning customers.

Prawns skewer was unbelievably disappointing. The prawns (see video) were hard, dry and completely tasteless. Not edible. I'd never leave a negative review but after waiting 30 minutes for the food and being served this, I really feel I wasted money and time.

Sarah was a fantastic server, we went on a very busy and hot Saturday and she let us know straight away about the long wait for food so we wouldn’t be disappointed. She was also lovely all round and very friendly.

Lovely Sunday lunch. Did not get my 20 pounds deposit back though.

Lovely food , lovely staff. Couldn’t fault the Cuckmere inn if I tried. I will be back soon.

It was a hot sunny day and quite a few people were there. The staff were friendly, there good was great but the service was slow today. There were also a few equipment problems which didn't help.

Came here for a family meal and it didn’t disappoint. Obviously a beautiful location but the food lived up to idyllic landscape. The friendly and welcoming staff were a credit to this establishment and we shall be returning very soon.

Great experience at The Cuckmere Inn after a lovely walk in the Seven Sisters. Food was beyond my expectations and the staff were lovely and attentive, definitively will be coming back! Thank you

We went there today for lunch and the place looks nice inside and has a large outdoor seating area with a beautiful view. The place looked clean. The staff seemed kind of detached and the only lady who brought out our food (in her 50s) seemed more friendly. I asked to swap onion rings and chips for halloumi fries and the answer was NO, I wouldn't mind to pay some extra as both were the same price. The Signature burger was delicious so where the potato wedges however my friend's stake sandwich was very dry and I would not recommend. Also it took a while for food to arrive and it was hardly warm.

Highly recommend, tasty burger 😋

I visited this restaurant yesterday, came here with my family. We all ate various dishes but were all so pleased with the food quality and presentation even on a busy Saturday lunchtime. I even asked for the head chefs name which was Kyron, as he clearly knows what he’s doing so keep up the good work! Would recommend to all friends and family and will be visiting again!

Lovely food, service was quite slow but we weren't in a rush so didn't matter.

Visited here for Saturday lunch, beautiful setting, but the place was total chaos. Booked for 2pm, waited a while to get our drinks ordered, then ordered one small dish each (6 people). At 2.55, two dishes arrived, half an hour later the other four dishes arrived. Most of the dishes were not as described and the soup was simply embarrassing, about one spoonful. There were clearly not enough staff for a sunny Saturday afternoon, and obviously the kitchen was in total meltdown. To add to the misery, one of our party had an allergic reaction to the flowers on the table! Have given 2 stars, as the manager was very apologetic and dealt with our complaint well. We love the area, and would hope to return, but wouldn’t want to repeat this miserable experience. Update: returned on 27th April, still an absolute shambles, waited 1 hour for starters, 1hr 45 for mains. Aubergine & halloumi skewers came out with no aubergine. When this was pointed out, a tiny bowl of aubergine appeared. Roast beef was awful, inedible. There is something fundamentally wrong with this place, we’ll never ever come back, and wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

Cozy restaurant, but when we had finished our drinks we could not eat anymore because we had not made a reservation. They should have indicated that earlier.

Attempted to eat here on the 25th April. Nothing fancy ordered other than prawn skewers and a chicken avocado salad. Waited for 1hr 20mins for food at which point we asked for refund and left due to extensive wait. Shame as the place is situated in a very nice location. Avoid due to service issues.

Upon visiting this pub, I unfortunately didn’t notice the signage indicating that all parked vehicles must be registered upon arrival. Dear future visitors, please make sure to register your vehicle to avoid a parking fine. Thankfully, the manager at The Cuckmere Inn kindly arranged for the fine to be cancelled. It was my oversight for not seeing the signs, and I truly appreciate the management’s understanding and willingness to help.

Waited an hour for food, we weren't allocated the table position we booked on line and when the food eventually arrived it was burned and cold Another 20 mins later they brought the same food back warm and turned over 😔 Staff were not helpful seeing as I clearly had a support dog with me. This is the second experience like this here. We definitely will not be recommending it to friends and family but I do think the FDA do need to have an inspection of this place.

The pub is lovely, outside area big but not as much shade as wanted really. You have to download an app to order form the table which I didn’t realise at first and just didn’t for convenience. When we arrived it wasn’t busy, but the food took almost 40 mins to come out and was cold by the time of arrival. Burger still had a bit of warmth but the pizza seemed almost fridge cold. It was all tasty but disappointing. We decided not to complain about this as by this point we wouldn’t have had time to wait for food to be prepared again. The staff weren’t very engaging. Didn’t bring cutlery to us and didn’t check back on anything during the meal. It had gotten a bit busier by the time we got our food but it still wasn’t that busy. Disappointing really but at least the food tasted nice.

This pub is oozing Sewage, avoid for now. May or may not be their issue but it needs sorting we are destroying this beautiful place, while nature copes with our stench! Such a Shame as it's visually stunning here.

Great food, great views and amazing service from Lalliah, who was friendly and polite and couldn't do enough for us. Would definitely recommend! Service with a smile :)

very good food for a reasonable price, lovely location and atmosphere 😊

Great pub in the countryside looking over the river cuckmere. Brilliant service would definitely recommend a visit 🙂

Lovely staff and fantastic gin and tonic 👌

Great food. Staff friendly. Special mention to SJ who went above and beyond for our party. We will be back!

One hour wait for a mediocre quality of food. One hour! Very unorganised and the servers need more customer service training. Tried to chase them 4x before we got our food and they don’t seem to give a flying F about how frustrating it is to wait for an hour. We’re talking about fish and chips here. Food that you fry - no complex cooking method involved! Ordered via their app but the table numbering outside is a mess (e.g. there are 2 table numbers) so much so that even their servers were confused. Good outside seating though.

Awful experience here. Ordered two sandwiches and Belgian fries on the side as we wanted a quick lunch so we could finish our walk before the rain arrived. 40 minutes later one portion of Belgian fries appeared with the assurance that the rest was coming. After another 30 minutes we enquired where our food was. They came back to ask what we ordered and fortunately I had the order details as I used their app. They then admitted they couldn't find the order on the system. They eventually managed to produce the sandwiches we asked for that were mediocre at best. We left the pub just as the rain started. We told people about this later and they said we should have gone to the Saltmarsh Farmhouse bar and café, a stone's throw over the bridge at the Visitor Centre. The next day we did and it was wonderful.

Waited an hour for the food, followed up twice and when the food arrived it was very cold and was obvious that the plates have been sitting in the kitchen for a long time. No napkins no cutlery no service. Wish I had read the previous reviews before walking in and wasting my time and lunch.

Service was incredibly spotty, and it took a long time for us to get any acknowledgment to be seated for our booked reservation. Wait staff were avoiding eye contact. Once seated, it was fine, and the food was good, albeit a bit overpriced

Gets really busy on holidays when the weather is nice. Remember to register your car if you park. Using the Vintage App' to order save time from queuing.

Seems like a nice venue in a picturesque setting. But the service is unbelievably slow. We popped in for two sandwiches, two portions of chips and a pint each. We waited for around 45 minutes for one portion of chips to come out, when we asked where the other portion of chips was, the waiter shrugged at us and wandered off. The rest of the food at the time of writing has still not arrived and it has been an hour and twenty minutes. 90 minutes later, we've asked a waiter where our order was and they seem to have completely forgotten about the order at all, asking what our order was again as they couldn't see it on their system. Infuriating! They then put a rush on the food and the sandwiches eventually came after an hour and 45 minutes with no attempt at any sort of service recovery. We also observed staff wandering between the tables with other food orders clearly with no idea which order was to go to which table, despite them having a number system in place I wouldnt recommend this place to anyone if you're in the area. A bitter disappointment to what should have been a .

Based on food alone...else would be one star as needs management. Very slow service, very chaotic and unorganised. No door service to guide booked guests and public bar orders. The food is brilliant and staff do their best but could be way better managed .

This is by far the worst service I’ve witnessed. Can’t really call it service to be honest. All the tables have dirty dishes on and we waited 1h30 to have our lunch served. Couldn’t wait to leave

Slow service. Pork belly quite tough

Great pub with good food and service. Also beautiful location. Worth a visit

Great place to relax ,Great food and lovely staff especially Alice and Sj

this is a very friendly pub but waiting over an hour for our roast today was too long and the meal disappointing: While the pork was cooked to perfection the cracking resembled a dogs chew and was inedible, the roast potatoes were cold and soggy , the 1 pasnip hard and greenery in very short supply . the gravy was cold. The chips were stale . please go back to your old service .

Good selection, also very fine vegetarian dishes. Nice ambience.

Cannot find any fault in the service or food

Very good food and service,will definitely come again

Debbie our waitress was an absolute dream. Never had to wait too long to be checked back on or kept waiting for another drink!! She made the experience go from pleasant to outstanding!! The food was very good and a great portion size. Two very happy customers who will return! 😊

Amazing place and views to die for ❤️

Premium prices, for a fast food grade service. 1 hour waiting time, even at quieter times. Used to be my favourite place but definitely won't be back again .

Absolutely loved the food and atmosphere! The service was friendly and attentive, and everything we ordered was fresh and full of flavor. Definitely coming back!

Chicken skewer and salad was tasty - I think my friends all enjoyed their food (apart from the sweet potato bites). Lovely view sitting in the April sun!

Here’s an honest view from a vegetarian. Looking at the menu, there wasn’t so many options - I mean, for main meal, there was a lentil cottage pie, sweet potato burger, pizza and sweet potato katsu curry. The latter I chose, and it was ok, but I think there could be more than five options, and some people might not enjoy having that, and a lot of things, like the cottage pie, were not available. But a big problem was the price, which was honestly not great! My meat eating husband ordered a stick with pieces of lamb on, which came to us plain ( the server came with sides) for £18. Not great, and the steak was £30! Not sure if we would come again honestly.

We waited for the food to such a long time that my husband had to go to the kitchen to find out what was going on. It looked like the food had been left under a heater for quite a while When it arrived the fries were tepid and the burger cold. We left without paying after the manager agreed that the food wasn't acceptable. It was probably an accident as, usually we always found the food good. Also there was a very poor choice of sandwiches.

Great pub lunch, easy access and parking, fantastic location with plenty of walks to coast & Seven Sisters

Had a lovely sunny meal with family. Was served by Toby on the bar who made some amazing coffees.

Just enjoyed a lovely evening here with friends. Delicious food and superb service from Sarah. She really looked after us well. Altogether a great experience. 😊👏

Went to the Cuckmere inn, was greeted by welcoming staff. Was served by Toby, had a pleasant evening with great food and service.

Pub with one of the best scenic views in the country. Had good quality Sunday roasts, quickly served, didn't book but no problem finding a table. Parking was easy. Probably gets very busy at times so best to book in advance

The place can be such a gem if the food and service would have been at least ok, We ordered and were waiting on our food and when we checked they said they could not find our order 🥲 the staff looks like they are there physically but not mentally somehow.. i would get some help if i was the manager/owner. Not saying this in a bad way. If i was the owner of this place i would be very pissed with everything. The location is amazing though! On a sunny day it is divine !!!

Extremely rude barmaid. Complete lack of basic manners twice in a row. Skip if you can.

Great atmosphere with lovely attentive staff. Perfect place for a sunny lunch.

Alice and Shannon are the GOATS!! 🙌

Alice and Shannon brilliant server's and top notch food

We loved the location of the venue, there was a warm homely feel to it, from the moment we walked in. Staff were friendly and helpful-especially our server, Shannon who was amazing. We had the Mother’s day 3-course menu and the food was delicious! We will definitely be returning very soon.

Lovely food great staff dog friendly what a great place

Mother’s Day lunch, was lovely. Sarah was our waitress and she was very attentive.

Excellent food, menu and time to eat and enjoy.

Very nice pub, with fantastic views, plenty of staff, so waiting to a minimum. Only suggestion to the landlord is to repair handrail on steps up to car park, it will fall over soon and there is a post stump sticking up 1/2 inch, which caused me to trip. Apart from that, a lovely place to visit

Nice looking pub with a good view but the food is expensive and a portion of halloumi chips get you 4. The standard chips aren't much better.

One of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Dillon and Kieran where great hospitality and know how to how to poor a good beer. Highly recommend to anyone

It is a wonderful place for meeting friends, taking lunch or just alone with coffee enjoying nature around.

Came to this establishment on Wednesday and was served by Tommy, he was very attentive, and catered to our every needs, the food was superb, will definitely be returning. Thanks for a lovely afternoon.

Delicious food and great service. I had the trio roast which was tasty and sizeable, and my partner had the chicken parmigiana which was also very tasty. The service was quick - we were in and out within an hour and on our way for the walk down to the beach because of the amazing location. Debbie was our waitress and was lovely.

A lovely Sunday lunch to celebrate my mother’s birthday. Tasty food & great service from Sarah

It's the location that makes it. Food is fine, good pub food. Great location and views are brilliant

My wife and I, together with our American guests, enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Cuckmere Inn. We each chose different main course dishes and, without exception, found them to be beautifully prepared and presented. Our server, Sarah, made us feel welcome and ‘special’ - telling us about the history of this interesting old inn. On a fine sunny Spring day it was a real pleasure to relax in such delightful ambience and enjoy the stunning views across the beautiful Cuckmere valley.

Very pleasant and prompt service. The lunch menu was very tasty and reasonably priced. It was genuinely dog friendly. We will be back.

Really nice food and good hospitality

Staff were very friendly especially Dylan and the fish finger sandwich was sick. Very good portion.

Staff are amazing Dk and Alice were very lovely 😊

SJ and Alice were lovely and provided great customer service with great views and a lovely atmosphere

My server today was Shannon vessey she done a amazing job maxing sure I had a great experience at your establishment I had the buttermilk chicken burger it was extremely delicious and tasted well prepared and fresh

Had 3 courses here and all of the food was delicious and came quite quickly despite being busy. The views out the windows are lovely and our server Dylan was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. The toilets were clean and when people left around us the tables were cleaned straight away. Only negative I could think is the starters were a bit on the small side but very good experience overall

Great day out with family, served by a really friendly face called Dylan, who was very helpful and polite. Would definitely come again!

The food was amazing and our server Dylan was very helpful and friendly. Would highly recommend eating here.

Had a great meal an a good evening, enjoyed so much go there a fair bit ,the food was good an the staff are all very friendly an a good laugh ,I would certainly recommend a great place to go .

Very friendly staff, food was excellent

A bit disappointed, had a table booked for 18 people for a 60th birthday party. A few things seemed to go awry. We asked for the kids meals to come first and after a very long wait they came alone with the adult main courses which was frustrating. A few of the main courses were cold and one dessert was rock hard and inedible which was returned. Upon arriving we mentioned we’d be using £10 off vouchers per family and nothing was said but being given the bill for almost £500- we were told it was one voucher per bill and not for use on a Saturdays. The terms said it was eligible for Mon-Sun and expires in April. We asked to split the bill up (surely they didn’t expect one payment for a table of 18!?) and the server got visibly exasperated with us and was incredibly rude to us. She then walked away from us mid conversation trying to work out why we’d been charged for 2 extra desserts we didn’t have. I can appreciate its tough to serve and feed a large table but we were made to feel like an annoyance rather than a valued customer and in the end we paid the bill and left to sort it out elsewhere. This means we ended up not using our £60 off worth of vouchers and paying for food we didn’t even have. We understand mistakes happen but the way were ignored and there were visible eye rolls from our server it’s safe to say that all 18 of us will not be attending this restaurant again.

Perfect lunch place after our walk!

A Perfect place for resting, dining and scenary.

Good food, friendly service and dog friendly too. Varied menu. There was quite a queue for the bar, but we had table service so didn’t affect us!

08/03/2025 update Had the same curry again and it was served barely warm with old rice. ------------ Have been here three times and all after a big walk from Eastbourne. It is a nice treat to have at the end of the hike. Price: quite dear comparing to other similar pubs but I guess a lot of other pubs don't have the views over cuckmere river. Food: First time here, thought the food was just average. Second time here, thought the food was decent. Now the third time, I have the Penang curry and that was delicious!!! The service: The first two times, I thought the service was really not up to my expectations but today, we had two amazing waiting staff.

Not necessarily a review,but big thanks to the staff here, who let me use their toilet back in September when I had a very bad stomach ache when i was out walking! Your kindness to people makes a huge difference. 🥰

Had been for a lovely walk at Seven Sisters. So had worked up an appetite. I chose the lamb skewers with triple cooked chips. Was really yummy and really enjoyed it. Would defo order it again. Sat outside in the garden with the warm spring sunshine. Was a lovely afternoon and would highly Recommend.

Beautiful setting and our waitress was lovely but the food was a huge let down. The roasts took about an hour to arrive and were stone cold, and there was a hair in the cauliflower cheese. The waitress was apologetic and took the food back, and returned 5 minutes later with ‘fresh’ food but this was just the same food that had been reheated in the microwave. The cauliflower cheese still had the hair in it and the cold roast dinners were now warm but completely soggy/stale. We knew they weren’t fresh meals as one of us took a bite out of a roast potato and this was still on the plate when it returned. Overall very let down as this was a birthday lunch and we ended up not eating any of it!

Such a gorgeous pub and the food is great

Great experience ! Perfect spot to have lunch after or in-between walks with great views and great food ! Will definitely come back

Visited for lunch today. Very tasty food and friendly service. Great cosy atmosphere inside with open fires on.

A great place for a birthday lunch. Great menu choices and very friendly staff