Polegate Restaurant Guide

In a medieval village at the foot of the South Downs, a “fifteenth-century inn transformed into a delightful boutique hotel and restaurant” by hospitality guru Olga Polizzi, who acquired it in 2021 for her now three-strong chain. Most (if not all) reporters laud River Café alumnus Tim Kensett’s “delicious” locally sourced food, though “what makes this place is the service and setting” (the “very sophisticated” decor includes Bloomsbury Set artworks, and, in the dining room, a striking monochrome Elizabethan-style floor).

“The only true fine dining restaurant in Eastbourne” – Hrvoje Loncarevic “continues to gradually restore the reputation of the fine dining room of the elegant Grand Hotel”: a large, 150-bedroom grande dame of a property on the seafront and “an excellent venue for business or celebrations”. “Beautifully laid out courses” are provided by “service of the high level you’d expect from a five-star hotel, and the wine list has a very broad range of fine vintages”. “We had a table in the window overlooking the garden on a lovely summer’s evening, all the while being accompanied by an excellent pianist playing a mixture of standards and modern jazz”.

2022 Review: At the heart of a picture-perfect village in the South Downs National Park which was beloved by Virginia Woolf in her day, this rambling brick and flint pub-with-rooms has a “great garden, or more like field” (!) offering views over the Sussex countryside. Inside offers an “intimate” and “romantic” backdrop to “modern and fresh” food of a “reliable” bent.

2022 Review: They “recently extended the outdoor space and garden” at this imposing wattle-and-daub Elizabethan inn, built for the Keeper of the Privy Purse to Elizabeth I, no less. Together with a “new menu” of snacks and heartier grub it now makes a “great eating place” by all accounts.

“On top form” since the pandemic, this low-key spot in a townhouse away from the seafront, founded by former Le Caprice chef Nick Hales almost 20 years ago, does not generate a huge volume of feedback in our annual survey, but what we do receive is uniformly positive. The menu favours locally caught fish and seafood.

This “beautifully presented pub” – a run-down 1860s hotel until a renovation five years ago – offers “great service” and a “hearty menu with generous portions”. “The choice of dishes at lunch seems more limited in recent months” – “sign of the times?”

2022 Review: Owners Alan McNally and Steve Morrish (who have collectively worked in some of London's trendier spots: Crispin, Leroy, Lyle’s and The Clove Club) run this tapas, eatery and deli with the aim of creating a “Balearic vibe”. No feedback as yet, but on paper it looks well worth a try.

“Family friendly and lively” Sussex pub-with-rooms that was taken over by the national Young’s chain in 2022, after over four decades under the Pullan family. There is the odd grumble about the switch, but most reports remain positive and its “lovely terrace” in particular continues to win approval.

2023 Review: “An enthusiasts’ wine list does full justice to the very much above average bistro food” at this “restaurant, wine bar and wine shop offering small and large plates accompanied by your selection from the 200 vintages”. “There's always a real buzz about the place and the owner's infectious sense of fun guarantees you have a great night out”. Beers and coffees are on hand if you don’t wish to partake of the grape.

2023 Review: “Great attention to detail is the hallmark of this Italian restaurant close to the seafront in Eastbourne”. Run by chef/patron, hospitality veteran Lorenzo Cinalli, it’s in a traditional mould and – according to a recent review from the Mail on Sunday’s Tom Parker Bowles “is one of those rare places that manages to combine the old school with the resolutely regional” including “spanking fresh turbot... up there with Scott’s, Wiltons or Bentley’s”.

This “tiny restaurant with big-flavoured food” was opened without much pizzazz in 2021 by former Ledbury and Dairy chef Richard Falk, and has attracted positive reviews from the Guardian’s Grace Dent and the Telegraph’s William Sitwell. It has yet to generate much feedback, but what there is, is uniformly positive.

2023 Review: No feedback as yet on this August 2020 arrival in this ever-more fashionable seaside town, but it’s a July 2022 tip from Giles Coren writing in The Times and awarding it 23/30. “I probably shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was by the low, low prices on the menu” achieved with “unfashionable fish – mussels, sea trout, plaice, mackerel – and plenty of pasta.”