The Urchin Brewery & Shellfish Pub Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "EVERYONE COMMENTED ON HOW SUPERB THE FOOD WAS."
• "The food to die for."
• "Devine, creative cooking with fresh ingredients."
• "Top quality food at reasonable prices."
• "The lobster, scallops, and mussels were incredibly good."
• "Food is excellent with fresh shellfish and always an exciting twist on the dishes instead of just the classic seafood."
• "The food is exquisite, well presented and full of flavour, I would definitely recommend going."

Cons:

• "Felt as though we were being overcharged for fairly average food."
• "The king prawns were over-cooked and the moules mariniere watery and lacking seasoning."
• "The dishes sounded great but seriously lacked flavour."
• "The chorizo, prawn & squid feijoada should have been packed with flavour, but it was 4 large prawns (shell on in a steaming sauce), some very rubbery squid heads & a few slices of chorizo, swimming in a bland tomato sauce with big lumps of barely cooked tomato floating in it."
• "Food so so. Don't try the crab, no description other than 'crab', came in a disgusting broth."
• "Disappointing seafood tapas, Spent £34 on 3 dishes, that were pretty flavourless."
• "A very disappointing meal."

Service

Pros:

• "The service is exceptional - we were served quickly, the staff are knowledgable about the menu, and really personable."
• "Service was very good, staff were knowledgeable about their products."
• "Service, food, and drinks were all fantastic as usual :)"
• "The service was exceptional, all the team working were helpful and attentive."
• "Service was 10/10, so friendly."
• "The friendly staff did a great job of making it a memorable lunch."
• "Staff, food and beer all great."

Cons:

• "First waitress was not able to explain the ‘specials menu’ to us, and did not understand the wine we had asked for."
• "Staff were just grumpy and disinterested. Don’t expect a warm welcome here."
• "The younger female who served us (very reluctantly and after considerable time before getting someone else to do it) was not."
• "Service could be more attentive as it sometimes took a while to get their attention."
• "Her service was rather joyless and perfunctory."
• "Communication was poor and there was no explanation or apology while we were waiting."
• "Food great, but have never had worse service in my life."

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Guaranteed noisy when busy - great atmosphere can become grate atmosphere if it becomes that Hove combo of property prices, nasal nouveau-riche braying and jewellery rattling."
• "Atmosphere was super chill too."
• "However, when sat in the courtyard of this pub, you are completely detached from the traffic noise and people that are only 50m away."
• "ALWAYS a good atmosphere."
• "Great relaxed atmosphere, tasteful themed decor and fabulous staff - attentive and relaxed."
• "It's a great relaxed atmosphere, would definitely come back again."
• "Felt very safe and relaxed in current environment."

Cons:

• "The ambience is starting to look a bit tired too."
• "The ambience is basic, seasidey."
• "I felt so unwelcome and degraded."
• "AN UNSAFE SPACE FOR BLACK PEOPLE."
• "A very big minus point to our dinner was that we had to dine with a bunch of rude people."
• "I can not remember the last time I felt so unwelcome in a place."
• "The only other people in there apart from the distracted staff was a middle aged white couple."

Value

Pros:

• "The beers are on point and good value."
• "We have eaten in many fish restaurants this year and this was the best value for money by a country mile."
• "The food is absolutely impeccable and reasonable for what you get."
• "Pretty reasonable for such fantastic quality food."
• "The house wine was recommended viognier at only £5 a 175ml glass. Best value around this area so far."
• "Most recently paid around £25 per head for main + fries + 2 glasses of wine each (service extra)."
• "When 2 of you can go out, have a drink, eat delicious seafood until you're stuffed and walk away with a bill of less than £55, it's a place to keep returning to."

Cons:

• "Underwhelming menu and very expensive."
• "But overly pricy for the beers unfortunately, which will prevent me from making it a mainstay."
• "Very expensive."
• "The Crayfish & Crab Cocktail 🦀 🦐 had nicely balanced flavours and was fresh but perhaps a tad small on the portion size for the price we paid."
• "Very disappointing. Food delicious but main scallops, at twice the cost of starter, consisted of 6 small (from a bag?) scallops."
• "But I suppose you trade off portion size for higher quality and higher prices."
• "But overly pricy for the beers unfortunately."

Drink Selection

Pros:

• "A lovely Larrikin Stout went perfectly well with our starters of scallops, salt & pepper squid, brown shrimp."
• "A nice selection on draught and lots of crazy bottled beers and ciders are also available."
• "Definitely worth a visit for its friendliness and wide choice of beers."
• "The very impressive craft beer selection was a bonus."
• "Nice atmosphere good drink selection."
• "They brew their own beer 🍺!!!"
• "The pub also have their own micro brewery and the beers are well worth trying."

Cons:

• "But overly pricy for the beers unfortunately, which will prevent me from making it a mainstay."
• "The fries were overly salty."
• "But overly pricy for the beers unfortunately."
• "Tried to stop by for a drink yesterday but waited at the bar for 15 mins without acknowledgement so we left to go elsewhere."
• "The beer selection is great."
• "Great beer selection - can't be faulted."
• "Huge selection of beers."