Read Reviews About East Dean Restaurants

Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in East Dean

Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best East Dean restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 5 restaurants in East Dean and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing East Dean restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.

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1. The Tasting Room, Rathfinny Wine Estate British, Modern restaurant in Alfriston Rathfinny Wine Estate - BN26

Panoramic views of the vineyards and South Downs accompany a trip to this seasonal dining room (which is closed in October during the wine harvest). Some reports are of outstanding cuisine from chef Chris Bailey, although there is the odd concern about some “huge mark-ups” on certain items. You can always opt for the “really relaxed” Flint Barn dining room also on the estate (“keenly priced, lovely posh grub with a large choice of wines to wash it all down”). There is also The Hut at Rathfinny – a wine bar with week-round opening.

Food

Good

Service

Good

Ambience

Good

2. The Mirabelle, The Grand Hotel British, Modern restaurant in Eastbourne King Edwards Parade - BN21

“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”.

Price*

£85

££££

Food

Good

Service

Very Good

Ambience

Very Good

3. The Star British, Modern restaurant in Alfriston High Street - BN26

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).

Price*

£80

££££

Food

Good

Service

Good

Ambience

Very Good

4. Cru restaurant in Old Town 8 Hyde Gardens - BN21

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.

5. Rostick Italian restaurant in Eastbourne 209 Terminus Road - BN21

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”.