The Urchin - Brighton and Hove

We haven’t been to The Urchin for a few years as we’re not locals, but decided to head down to Hove for. Christmas treat to meet friends, and also to buy a voucher as a gift. When we arrived we expected the restaurant to be buzzing as it was a Sunday lunch, but it wasn’t! There were very few people in the restaurant, and we received a luke warm welcome from the staff. The service was slow, the staff looked bored and there was absolutely no atmosphere. We ordered scallop's for starters off the specials board and off the main menu both were well cooked , but cold! We followed with spicy Malaysian prawns and crab, again delicious but served with no enthusiasm, no follow up with “how is everything?” …”would you like any more drinks?” ..eventually we went up to the bar and ordered drinks! On the whole, very average due to the lack of atmosphere and bored staff! We decided against buying a voucher for a friend for Christmas.

We’ve visited The Urchin several times and the experience is incredible. The staff are very welcoming and very attentive to every need. The food, wow, is incredible. We normally go for the crab but on this occasion we decided to discover from the specials board. The madras king prawns and the yellow Thai mussels were exceptional. A starter of **** Mary oysters followed by the salt and pepper squid was the perfect start to a wonderful evening. We’ll definitely be back, without a doubt, the best food and value for money in the city!

Best restaurant in Hove. I don’t trust any restaurants cooking paella in the UK but this time I had to accept that British chefs also know how to do it. The smell and taste felt like being in a Spanish chiringuito, amazing! All the dishes are always incredibly delicious

We have always loved the Urchin but our latest visit there was really disappointing. I had booked a Sunday lunch for my birthday, we were a group of 8, and when we arrived felt the staff member that served us was really moody and had a bit of an attitude problem. This made us immediately feel really uneasy. There was an issue with one of the drinks we ordered, a pale ale which wasn't what we had thought it would be and didn't taste nice at all (we all tried it) and instead of offering us something else another staff member came back to tell us we would have to pay for it as its been poured already but what else can they get us. I feel like the way that customer feedback was handled was a little unneccesary especially when we were going to be ordering other drinks throughout our lunch.. We felt like the food was a bit of a let down as well, the portion sizes for some of the starters were tiny, as an example we ordered prawn skewers and got 1 skewer with 2 prawns on the plate for £5, they also didn't taste of much. Some of us got the muscles which were tasty and he Malaysian prawns were delicious. I just think for the price you are paying at The Urchin I think you expect really good service and we just didn't get that which was a real shame for us, especially as it was my birthday meal.

Cosy, great food, nice atmosphere. Staff have a good balance of attentive, knowledgeable and did a great job of making us feel at home. Our new favourite eatery