Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in West Sussex
Hardens guides have spent 30 years compiling reviews of the best West Sussex restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 142 restaurants in West Sussex and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing West Sussex restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured West Sussex Restaurants
1. The Lamb at Angmering
British, Modern restaurant in Angmering
The Square - BN16
“Wonderful fresh produce and stunning dishes” win fans for the Norbury family’s “fantastic gastropub”, handily placed for the South Downs and coast, and there’s a “great atmosphere” to boot.
2. Amberley Castle
British, Modern restaurant in Amberley
“A romantic and beautiful ruined medieval castle” – dating from the era when bishops required a fortified residence – makes a “stunning location” for a Brownsword hotel. The food served in the first-floor dining room, under a 12th-century barrel-vaulted ceiling, is generally felt to be “pretty good”, although it (and the service) is “not quite up to a level that matches the setting”. “Afternoon tea served on tiered cake stands in the gardens (complete with a noisy white peacock named Bob)” is a very safe bet.
3. Ockenden Manor
British, Modern restaurant in Cuckfield
Ockenden Ln - RH17
2018 Review: In beautiful Sussex countryside, this “superb” Elizabethan country house hotel makes a “romantic” retreat from ‘the smoke’, “with a wonderful dining room and rooms that are to die for”. One former fan had a poor visit here this year, but the majority of feedback lauds Steve Crane’s accomplished cuisine (there’s an à la carte, or choice of six- and seven-course tasting menus).
4. East Street Bar & Grill
British, Modern restaurant in Petworth
New Street - GU28
With its stylish interiors and large garden, this modern brasserie in the heart of the town offers an “accessible” menu, with something for everyone, majoring in “excellent steaks and grills (including venison)”.
5. The Star & Garter
British, Modern restaurant in East Dean
“The surroundings are stunning on the South Downs” at this “relaxed pub” at the heart of the Goodwood Estate, which has “great views if you can sit at the back”. It serves “good straightforward food, with no pretensions”.
6. Lickfold Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Lickfold
Highstead Ln - GU28
It’s all change again at this out-of-the-way old country pub, north of Petworth. DJ Chris Evans owned it about five years ago, then Tom Sellers ran it, but that came to an end last year, and as of August 30 2019, it has a new management team and a less ‘fine dining’ approach than under the chef of London’s Restaurant Story. Reports please!
7. The Parsons Table
British, Modern restaurant in Arundel
2 & 8 Castle Mews, Tarrant Street - BN18
“Deservedly popular, local chef-run place in the middle of town” – a simply but effectively decorated operation run by Lee & Liz Parsons, which won very consistently high ratings all-round last year for its “thoughtful but relaxed service” and “wonderful” cooking that “makes brilliant use of local produce” to create “fantastic flavours”: “the bread alone tells you the place knows its stuff!” A meal comes “at a realistic price” too.
8. The Crown
restaurant in Haywards Heath
The Green, Horsted Keynes - RH17
2018 Review: “After a change of management, the food is now pretty good to excellent and the service is friendly (if not always slick)” at this 16th century gastropub with rooms, which since November 2016 has been run by Simon and Mark Dennis, owners of Cuckfield’s Rose & Crown.
9. Rose and Crown
International restaurant in Cuckfield
London Road, - RH17
“High-quality ingredients are cooked well and provided by welcoming staff” at this West Sussex gastropub, run for six years by the family team of Mark Dennis, a food-loving former accountant, and his son Simon, a professional chef.
10. Gravetye Manor
British, Traditional restaurant in East Grinstead
Vowels Lane - RH19
“George Blogg’s plot-to-plate food is just superb” at this famous Elizabethan manor, where a major investment in a new “stunning glass-fronted dining room” provides “both warmth and class” and is emblematic of its reemergence as a seriously good dining destination. “Set amidst a stunning, natural garden” – created in the 1880s and of significant importance if you’re into horticultural history – “lovely leafy walks are thrown in”. It’s is very much not a cheap experience, but the equation stacks up for most (if not quite all) reporters: “it broke the bank… but we’ll be back!”
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