The Cottage Restaurant in Wealden

Went here for a family meal, for my husband's birthday,couldn't fault it the food,staff and service was excellent and no wait considering we were.a table of 11.

Have been here many times and it's always really nice. Lovely food and lovely restaurant.

Pleasant staff and lovely restaurant but the food was particularly bad. The pizza was bad. Listed as a stone baked pizza but it was cooked in a pan. The base was soggy as there was way too much cheese. Didn’t taste of anything. It was worth a refund. Steak - advertised a fillet, didn’t get a fillet. Fries were advertised but low quality chips were served. Lasagne was over cooked and greasy. I can confidently say that this restaurant have no idea what they are doing.

Great service, friendly and attentive, food great,

Top service, very friendly, very kind staff. very clean place. Will definitely come back.

We booked for a meal after a tribute for my dads funeral there was 18 of us. The food was delicious and enjoyed by all and the service was excellent. Would thoroughly recommend this truly delightful restaurant thank you all for making our day so special. X

Random stop on the way back home. The service was quick and the staff were quite nice. The atmosphere in the restaurant was very nice, a nice surprise for a restaurant right next to busy motorway junction. NOTE: The prices are 30-50% higher than the menu that appears on Google Maps The cheesy dough was very good, as were the prosciutto mozzarella. The lemon chicken was basic, not much flavor in it and very flat taste. Same goes for the creamy chicken that I got. Not much flavor and the sauce was plain, didn't taste like anything at all. Never had creamy sauce with no flavor before. I didn't raise this with the staff but we are clearly not having food at this restaurant again. I want to believe that pizza would have been a better choice at the time, I will never know...

Delicious Italian food and very friendly and welcoming staff! Less bright lights and table cloths or placemats would make the restaurant more cozy though. There is enough (free) parking space.

This was a beautiful meal. Couldn't fault it. We all had different dishes and tried each others. Absolutely lovely food. Would highly recommend.

This was an amazing meal experience. I couldn't fault anything. Would highly recommend. The food was delicious.

Always made very welcome. Food is very good.

Our second vist and it was so good. Staff are super nice and nothing is a bother. Orderd baked camambert with out chilly. It arrived with chilly 5 minutes later a new one arrived with out. Super servicr

Lovely service , tasty food. Will be back for sure 🥂

Friendly staff, has parking and a garden area. I love the rustic feel. Lovely Italian menu and many classic dishes.

Was so looking forward to having dinner here, as it’s a change from our usual Italian restaurant we have been going to for years. NEVER again will I go here. Having being seated we were not told the table was needed in any set time. We ordered two courses and my daughter and I were really looking forward to dessert. When our mains were cleared I was presented with the bill. I politely said we would like to order dessert and the OWNER, as I found out said, “no you don’t have time for dessert, we need the table back!” And walked off. My husband and I were in complete shock! We had only been there an hour and had been asked to leave with an £86 bill!! If we wanted to be rushed we could have just ordered from just eat, but we wanted to have the dining experience! Even in Londons finest restaurants they give you the courtesy of a minimum of two hours. We had not even been told on the door we had a set time, because at least if we had we would have been given the opportunity to go somewhere else where our custom would have been appreciated. We like to support our local businesses, but this attitude will ensure we will NEVER come back and I will not recommend it to friends or family who work hard and look forward to a meal out! The OWNER really needs to rethink his management and customer service skills. ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING!!! The food was ok nothing special.

Excellent meal. Everyone in our party enjoyed the food. Friendly Staff. Worth a visit. Recommend

Amazing food, so cozy inside and very kind staff! Will be coming back

Never had a problem from here But tonight the pizza came stone cold and the carbonara was full of oil. They offered to send new one out but after having few spoons of pasta i feel sick.

Lovely food...🍿🍲🍕 pasta at is best 👌, pizza 🍕 I will say good Definitely recommend

Sorry haven't been for ages, so glad to say still warm and friendly welcome, staff so very polite and courteous and attentive, wonderful tasty food fresh and reasonably priced, no rush service very relaxed, great to see a busy restaurant really doing it right, well done to a great team see you soon

May have already left a review. Great service, food good, my lasagne needed warming through the.middle some more but not an issue. Garlic cheesy dough balls are to die for, so tasty! All pizzas cooked fine. We will be back.

1st visit. Lovely atmosphere. Delicious food. The chicken dish was delicious and very generous portion size! Amaretto Hot Chocolate was delicious!

Always great service and delicious food

It's a beautiful building, the waitress was attentive and in control, the waiter, however, delivered our dishes to the wrong table, not the end of the world but a star drop. Atmosphere was echoing and the chairs screechy on the floor, again not the end of the world. The food was almost really excellent, but the bought in products were telling, but reflected in the price. I'd happily eat there again..

Fantastic food 👍 well worth the visit

We went for a birthday meal, although we booked we were sat in a corner given menus and then ignored by the staff. Not even a drinks order so we walked out. Terrible rude staff

This is a beautiful place. Really delicious food and great waiting staff. Everything was freshly cooked and very tasty. Highly recommended

Had a great family party for my daughter 18th service was fantastic, staff were very warm and welcoming

Had a great family meal here with our 3 children. Excellent food and great friendly service.

Special surprise 70th Birthday meal for family of 12. Amazing staff and service, excellent food, complements to the whole team! See you soon!

The garlic and cheese dough balls. My word. Phenomenal. Parking can be tight on a busy night though

Great place, never eaten here before. Superb food and amazing service. A real refreshing find. Someone has managed to 'get it right'! One starter, one main and two soft drinks £30. From the outside you would never believe the inside provided the quality of food and service that it does. No great signage advertising the venue that I noticed, small and tight car park too. Maybe parking adjacent to the venue, I didn't notice.

First time visiting this venue. I was early for a race meeting at Arlington Stadium, which is minutes away from this restaurant. I found this place by chance whilst heading to a local services for a MacDonald's 😕 which I was informed was the nearest eatery to the Stadium. Well, it wasn't the nearest....this place is. The food, service and set up was exceptional. Such a surprise as from the outside it doesn't look much. I just wish I lived nearer, I would be eating here all the time. 2 x cokes, 1 x starter and 1 x main £30. Excellent quality food and good prices given the quality of both the food and the service. 10/10.

Another smashing restaurant we found on our mini break away. Highly recommend The cottage Italian Restaurant. Not too busy just right amount of people and atmosphere was lovley ,you could stay inside and have an intimate dinner with you love or go in the garden for a group gathering. Food was amazing flavours and how each plate of food was cooked was perfect. The price was so cheap for the service and food provided as well. A MUST IF IN EASTBOURNE.

Brilliant delivered meal pizza and pasta absolutely great. Seafood pasta best I've eaten.

Food was amazing. The pumpkin ravioli was spectacular 👌🏼

Everything was very tasty and excellently served, as always! Very friendly and attentive staff! Our favorite place to visit! Definitely recommended for food lovers!

Fantastic stunning food. Fast and friendly delivery. Great value also. Sorry no photo I nommed as soon it was delivered. 5 *

Went here for my birthday. Service was outstanding, as was the food. Everything ordered was delicious. Thank you for such a lovely night.

I booked a table for myself and my both disabled wife and my daughter. I mentioned this when I booked and was assured there were no stairs. In fact, the toilet was only accessible via a couple of steps. My wife and daughter wouldn’t have been able to use the toilet if they needed to. No complaint about the food or the service. We loved the food although I found the prices somehow on the high side. We had drinks. I asked for a Glass of water in order to take my medication. We had dessert and coffee. I asked for two espresso lungo. The two young ladies serving didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. This I found very surprising, being in an Italian restaurant. I had to explain what an espresso lungo was. The bill was quite steep in my view but we enjoyed the meal, I paid £130 for the three of us or over £43 for each of us. What shocked me even more was being charged £1.95 for a glass of water. It was just a glass of water. We’ll not be going back to the Cottage.

Always a lovely place to go. Friendly. Good food.

After hearing good reviews we thought we would give it a try for a family birthday meal. We were very underwhelmed to be honest and the service was poor. There is no children’s menu but they can have a child’s portion of any pasta or pizza but we had to ask to find this out, the food was quite good although the Camembert starter was not very hot. The desserts were just plonked at the end of the table and we had to ask for the spoons. All in all disappointing ☹️

Superb food with great service. Mussels and the lobster ravioli were awesome. Service was a little lacking, we had to call someone over for black pepper and parmesan - an essential in an Italian restaurant. This was, however, just that night, other visits have been fine.

Intimate feel to this lovely restaurant. The food, staff and ambiance are excellent. The take out meals are of equal high standard and generous. We cant rate this highly enough and its wonderful to have on our doorstep. Certainly recommend

Parking not brilliant. Food outstanding as were drinks. If you are not a regular you don't seem to get served as smoothly.

These guys absolutely nailed it. Great customer service, food was fresh and tasted amazing. Will definitely be returning here soon! Its hard to come by restaurants that truly care like this any more.

Always a lovely meal and experience here... xx

Very enjoyable evening could not fault it

brilliant service, great fresh tasty dishes. favourite restaurant 😋 😍

The dish we had was very tasty and perfectly presented. The service is friendly and efficient. All that, reasonably priced.

Valentines meal. Excellent meal and experience despite it being very busy. The staff manage the restaurant so well. Love this place

Amazing place. Went to celebrate my mums birthday. Amazing staff, amazing food and the atmosphere was amazing. Wasn't loud, very soothing.

Always an amazing evening . Heavenly food and wine . The mist tender steaks …. Try to book … more availability in the week than weekends … love Italian love this place

We (two couples) have just enjoyed another lovely evening at The Cottage. We were looked after splendidly by Matt and Kat, and made to feel both welcome and comfortable. For a reasonably-modestly sized, independent restaurant, the menu (food and drink) is surprisingly extensive, and very reasonably priced. We chose a range of starters and mains, and found the quality excellent. The portions were generous too. If you know The Cottage, I hope I'm preaching to the converted. If you don't, then do yourself a favour and give it a try. Highly recommended!

Just back from another delightful evening at The Cottage. We were two couples, and could not have been happier with our welcome, the quality of service, the menu choices, and the starters and mains we chose. First class all round. Credit to both Matt and Kat for looking after us so very well, and whoever was in the kitchen! It's a go-to place for us, as we live nearby. It would still be, however, even if we lived a trip away, such is the consistent quality of the food, the reasonableness of the prices, and the warmth of welcome.

This was an early meal before going to the theatre in Eastbourne never been before would recommend nice food and good service.

Excellent food, fast service. Friendly polite young staff. Lovely atmosphere, open fire. Portions the right size

Wonderful food and services, i would recommend a visit

Think the order was forgotten and left on the side … calamari was rubber … spaghetti was dry … shame because normally it’s hot fresh and delish

Authentic clay oven pizza, just like mamma used to make. Belisimo!

Not impressed, waited two hours for delivery and food was cold when it arrived. We were told that the food was out for delivery twice before it arrived another 30minutes later. When we phoned to say we weren't happy with the service and wanted to be compensated we we're told that it wasn't possible due to policy. Pizza were average at best, but I couldn't be sure as they were stone cold when they arrived. We were offered 20% off our next order which is pointless as we won't be ordering from there again.

We come here regularly and it’s always an enjoyable experience. The staff are always friendly, the service is quick and the food is always lovely. Can highly recommend!

Ordered for delivery. Told 45 minutes wait. 2 hours and 15 minutes later after 3 phones calls our food turns up cold. Called back and told to return the food, which we said no as we were starving at now 8:30pm. Told they wouldn’t give any kind of refund not even 10% Awful service awful delivery and disappointing food.

Excellent place to visit 😀 will definitely be going back. Highly recommended.

Early evening meal with family. We chose cheesy dough balls,calamari, pizzas,calzone and prawn and salmon salad. All really tasty and well cooked. Good portions. Lovely attentive staff. Will definitely go back.

Large portion sizes and tasty. But not authentically Italian at all. The staff were friendly. Quite expensive

Very good restaurant but too expensive for many visits.

First time at this restaurant, have driven past loads of times. It was fabulous, had marinara risotto and my other half had the chicken. House wine, rose, was good too. Staff were very friendly. Great value. Will definitely go back and try the takeaway delivery too.

I booked this restaurant for my wife’s 30th as every time we go the food has always been delicious and excellent value for money! But I must say the staff were on point with the task of serving 30 meals almost simultaneously and making sure everyone had their order, everyone was happy with their meal and said how it was cooked perfectly. They should be very proud of themselves! I would highly recommend this little piece of Italy for just a night out or a big occasion :). Really big well done and thank you again!

Terrible! Food was cold and was 45 minutes late!! Called restaurant and was greeted by rude and sarcastic staff! Not happy

Order arrived within the time given. However, it was almost cold. ☹️

Restaurant was busy when we arrived.We booked table for 7.30 and was shown to our table.ordered wine and our main course which arrived promptly and was delicious.Unfortunately this all changed when our waitress went home.We would have ordered more wine and a dessert as well as coffee but no service was given at all.The restaurant had emptied by this time and the staff werent busy After an hour or so wait we were finally asked if we wanted dessert but it was almost closing time so decided to ask for bill.We left money on table and left as once again nobody bothered to serve us.What a shame for us and the owners of the premises.We could have easily spent a further £50 given the chance.

Ordered our food at 6:50 never came until 8:30. The food arrived cold too. I was so disappointed,

Went on a sunny Sunday afternoon for some lunch with family. Restaurant was empty, sat outside which needs some maintenance as looks a bit run down but could be lovely. Service was good and quick. Food was very average and overpriced for what it is. Tiramisu tasted like it’d been left in the fridge for weeks. No atmosphere at all, won’t be returning as just very basic

Incredible food highly recommend

Just had a delivery which arrived within the 45 mins quoted for Herstmonceux. The food was still nicely hot. The pizza was delicious with generous and fresh toppings on a lovely soft base. Pasta dishes were extremely tasty. I have also eaten at The Cottage and Would definitely recommend it.

We have driven past this restaurant for years but never been in until last night. This is now our go to restaurant. So impressed by the decor, staff and of course the food.

Absolutely appalling service from the get go . Once somebody finallly came to take the order I thought things were looking up , wrong . Starters appeared and were poor and overcooked . Can’t comment on main course as despite several apologies and 2 hour wait -for Steak !! perhaps they were breeding the herd first , nothing materialised . Asked if we were ever going to recieve the food - girl in charge just looked blank , my patience extinguished I paid for staters and left , shouldn’t really of done that as they should of taken that on the chin . My advice - don’t bother with this place , kebab shop down the road , you’ll Proberbly end up there anyway !!

The staff were very helpful and friendly. The food was very good. But the prices have gone up. £6.50 for a cider. £7.50 for a wine. Sorry to say we will not be going back again. The stake have gone up by £3.00

I've been here in person once and ordered a takeaway a couple of times. Had a nice experience in person there and the takeaway always arrives very quickly, it seems. I've not been disappointed by the food, particularly as a coeliac. A lot of the pasta dishes are available gluten free which is awesome. The only issue I had was one time when getting a delivery, I ordered myself a gluten free dish and my friend ordered a gluten dish. They weren't labelled as GF or not. Luckily the dishes were distinct enough to figure out which was which. Edited a few months later: I'd still recommend this place to people but I definitely think they should be better about labelling GF items. It says GF pasta is available on the menu but doesn't state, for example, that the meatball pasta dish isn't GF because of the meatballs. They sent a gluten pasta dish to me yesterday and it was rectified but they sent along a (presumably) gluten dessert as an apology. The only reason I knew it was a gluten dish is because they always use GF penne and it wasn't penne. I don't know if the dessert they sent is gluten free because the menu isn't labelled. I probably won't order from here again and it honestly is great food, so it's a shame. I think, however, some of these things would be less stressful when eating at the restaurant, because you can ask the staff.

Amazing meal as always. Definitely should have booked as was so busy.

Food is delicious and staff very friendly and accommodating

I chose the special which was Sea Bass, it was undersized and not cooked well, it appeared to have been lightly dusted with flour and was soggy and swimming in an overpowering unpleasant tasting sauce, served with diced fried potatoes and a plain salad. For just under £18 I would have expected and have experienced much better. The delicious olives were the only redeeming feature

We’re recommended to go so went for first time, looked good, the restaurant and staff and atmosphere were great, unfortunately the pizza dough not cooked at all and raw, staff said it was a faulty clay oven but on other reviews looks like an ongoing problem, the starters were good though, but definitely, not recommend having a pizza

Have visited many times and this was the first time we felt kept down ,waited over an hour for main and not apology or concern.ignored and let down …

Good friendly service and lovely food, generous portions

We absolutely love this restaurant. The food is so yummy, the service is amazing and the atmosphere is great! We enjoy sitting outside where it's spacious, sheltered and there's music playing. Would definitely recommend and will no doubt be visiting again very soon.

We visit The Cottage a few times a year, and always, as in always, have an enjoyable time. I am bemused by the comments (and grammar) of some of the recent reviews, for we have never been disappointed with either the quality of the food, or the service. We thoroughly enjoyed our meals a couple of nights ago (Cottage calzone and Cottage penne), and were made to feel very welcome by Matt and his colleague (I'm sorry, I don't recall her name.). The atmosphere was really pleasant, it's a charming restaurant, and very good value. Thank you. Strongly recommended.

Very friendly food average but would go back again

We have been meaning to try this restaurant for a long time and finally today we did, and wow we wasn’t disappointed we had calamari to start and it was perfectly cooked and just lightly battered, just right. We both had pizza and they were delicious you could taste that all the ingredients were fresh. The staff were very knowledgeable and friendly. Just found my new favourite restaurant!

Outstanding meal and great service

We had a home delivery for 2 pizza's last night 16th June. Our pizza's were not cooked properly and were unedible. We had to put the oven on and finish it ourselves, which defets the whole point of takeaway, they were virtually cold, the dough was a soggy mess and the topping was sparse. If you order from here, open the box while the delivery driver is still present, to check it first. I just hope our wildlife are still alive this morning!

I had a steak and my friend had mussels and both were so amazing. The sauce with the mussels was just perfect and the meat was so juicy and tender. Amazing.

First time eating here. Would recommend food was delicious service great. Very friendly atmosphere

The staff are always friendly and food is tasty.

Lovely family dinner. The pasta dishes were very tasty and well presented. The waiters were very attentive even though it was a very busy evening.

Foods quite pricey if you order non Italian, £23 for a basic Steak ! Zero vegan options, good service and atmosphere though.

The saying is don't judge a book by its cover and this definitely applies to The Cottage. Once inside you are greeted by friendly staff and the food is amazing. Very reasonably priced, good value. We had the bottle of house wine which was a lovely pinot grigio. Would highly recommend this lovely little Italian 😊

Fabulously delicious food. Excellent service for our party of seven. Thoroughly recommend.

Having searched some of the local Italian restaurants at the weekend we decided to visit Cottage My Lasagne was cold in the middle and awful the other 2 pasta dishes that we had , the pasta was uncooked and spicy ( no way al dente , just not cooked enough) The service was very hurried as we felt that they were more interested in getting people in and out When we left , nobody said thank you or goodbye As I am part Italian , I was extremely disappointed and will never return