The Drift In Cafe Bar in Hastings

This is an incomparable, little gem of a restaurant . Top quality, interesting and imaginative dishes all created by a very talented chef using locally sourced produce makes it difficult to decide what you would like! Memorable experience for someone who is coeliac too. Good sized portions and amazing choice = excellent value for money. Don’t forget to try the Appasiomento wine - a true find. Front of house service is relaxed, faultless and friendly making the overall experience excellent. We always pre-book to avoid disappointment.

Brilliant food and service is great. Not a long waiting time at all

Lovely meal. Majority of dietary needs met. Just missing a decent vegan desert

Came here for breakfast with friends when visiting. They live locally and rate it highly so I was happy to go. It’s called breakfast ‘zone’ so assumed they’d cater for all. They have various fixed options for breakfast including 1 veggie. I asked a waitress if the sausages were vegan and was told “Well we don’t know if they have eggs or ‘anything’ in them”. Goodness knows what ‘anything’ is! Her response didn’t fill me with confidence, nor did I trust her if she’d even bothered to check. I decided to go for the pick 5 items breakfast option. I asked if they had vegan spread, and was told ‘I think it is… but would you like me to check.” She did and her reply was, “No sorry it isn’t”. Good job I’d asked her to then, and that was toast off the menu (not being a fan of dry toast!). She did tell me the mushrooms and tomatoes were vegan as not cooked in butter so that was one thing (well 2 things). Scanning the breakfast options…. Numerous non veggie things, not so much if you can’t or won’t eat dairy or meat. My non-veggie friends were really apologetic at the lack of options and suggested we go somewhere else and had a quick look online. I said it would be fine, I was sure I’d be able to find 5 items. Scanning the options it was very limited, one being the ubiquitous felafel (I’m not a huge fan but as above… limited options), and thought it might make it more substantial. I ended up choosing mushrooms, grilled cherry tomatoes, felafel and 2 hash browns. My friends easily chose theirs, and decent potions too. When my sorry looking plate finally arrived, the hash browns were inexplicably missing and I was told “they were coming shortly”. It was also just 1 falafel which appeared and tasted homemade however it was the smallest felafel I’ve ever seen in my life, one of my friends actually gasped and said “Is that ‘it?!’” Slightly larger than a cherry tomato and at 1 option from the items available, it felt like a complete rip off and certainly not the equivalent of 1 sausage for example, you’d need at least 3 to be anywhere near. I decided to wait for the hashbrowns to ‘bulk up’ my empty looking plate. They took over 5 minutes to arrive, on a saucer, so the rest was pretty cold by then. The mushrooms and toms were nice enough, cold but ok. I ate everything as I was starving by this time but it didn’t exactly fill me up. The coffee I had was really nice, with plant based milk so they’ve given some thought to certain things. However, in 2025 at a place called Breakfast ‘Zone’ , I was extremely disappointed to be made to feel like I was putting people out and then faced with such limited options for breakfast. To not even be able to have beans on toast that isn’t dry is pretty disappointing to say the least. Those with dairy intolerances also obviously not catered for. Most other reviews here are really positive which is no doubt due to them being from those who eat meat/dairy. My score is mostly for the coffee. The owners seemed friendly as we left as we said goodbye but I didn’t want to complain as my friends felt really bad and like the place so I didn’t want to spoil this or make them feel any worse in that moment. I was also just feeling really disappointed, and hungry! I genuinely hope the owners read this and make a few, simple improvements as it wouldn’t take much to cater for all. Stick some vegan sausages in the freezer (Linda McCartney’s aren’t exactly hard to come by). Nor is Flora spread. By the time my ‘saucered’ hash browns arrived, they could have sent one of the waitresses to the local co-op and bought some! Adding a vegan brekkie to the set menu so vegans, and those with dairy intolerances, aren’t made to feel like they don’t matter. Making the menu clear what is, or isn’t, vegan would be really appreciated (including the other stuff on the menu not just breakfast items), would simplify everything and removes the need for customers having to ‘bother’ the waitresses who clearly don’t really know the basics. A little research and staff awareness wouldn’t hurt either. Also maybe consider increasing the size of the felafel, or making 1, a decent portion rather than just 1 tiny offering. Trip adviser lists vegan options for Breakfast Zone but my experience of this in reality wasn’t great. I found myself wishing I’d just gone for a plate of chips for breakfast! With a few small changes, hopefully other customers don’t need to nip to Greggs straight after to buy a vegan sausage roll as they’re still hungry!

Always had great experiences here. Thank you