The Cuckmere Inn

Easy to book, excellent food and friendly staff.

Had run out of our first choice platter but it was still a nice lunch and plenty of time to stay and chat

Sadly this wasn't the best idea we had. We arrived at 17.30 on a Sunday, greeted by plates stacked 5/6 high, empty glasses on most of the tables. We thought they must have had a busy afternoon....then we looked outside! Broken glasses around tables, cigarette ends scattered and most of the tables full of empty plates.
We ordered and our food was served relatively quickly. One order was a steak, blue, when it was cut open it was medium rare, we were told that to have a blue steak it wud have to be served cold! Unbelievable!
Several people complained about the food.
Very disappointed. First family meal for a while. Waste of money.

It was very busy so the service was very slow - over an hour - this wasn't too much of a problem as we were a large party and we entertained ourselves but would have been different had we been a couple! The food was OK but we all had issues with our choices ie. not hot enough etc. We don't make The Cuckmere out first choice as we have had bad experiences in the past - it's such a shame as it gets 10 out 10 for ambience/location.

Dinner with friends.

Amazing food, beautiful scenery, and they allow my two dogs to sit with me. I couldn't ask for anything more!

We enjoyed our meals, but would have liked them to have been a little bit hotter when reaching the table, and the sauces would have been nicer served with the meal, The puddings were superb and the staff friendly.

We decided to visit again after hearing that things had improved somewhat since our previous extremely bad experience 2 years ago.
It was Tuesday 14th around 1915 hrs. A worrying lack of cars in the car park. Upon entering we were greeted in a civil and friendly fashion by a bar person who showed us to a table. There was only 1 other table occupied. I have found some bus shelters to have more ambience than this. It was chilly - no heating on - no fire alight. There were small candle-type gizmos on each table - none of them alight.
However, we wanted to give it a chance. I ordered Caesar salad with salmon and my wife ordered chicken pie with seasonal vegetables. A pretty safe bet we assumed.
My Caesar salad was tasty but small and the salmon was delicious. On the side of my bowl someone had placed 2 pieces of warm cardboard which I later learned were stone-baked garlic flatbreads. They may have been stone-baked originally but they had not taken kindly to the re-heating.
The chicken pie was OK - very impressive pastry top but not alot underneath. The heap of seasonal vegetables that had been dumped on the plate comprised some lukewarm cabbage and some strange small orange discs. We worked out, not by the flavour or the texture, that they must have once been part of a carrot. Again they were barely warm and upon tasting one of these orange discs I found that not only did they taste nothing like any carrot I have ever eaten in my life but the texture was totally wrong. They were full of water and tough to actually eat. I held one between my fingers and squeezed several drops of water from it as you would a sponge to show the waitress how badly they had been reheated and possibly reheated more than once? The waitress was "sorry"! Probably not as sorry as I was that I had taken my wife there. Needless to say my wife could not eat her orange discs and we hurriedly left to find a more professional establishment - it was not a hard thing to do.

We (two of us) had to wait thirty minutes whilst our chickens were cooked. When they eventually arrived they were obviously freshly cooked and succulent. Well worth the wait. However the numerous carrots were hot but hard and uninteresting. The greens were non descript and the potatoes hot with no taste. The waiter did his best to be polite and courteous but he was not responsible for the kitchen's attempts at interesting food. The desserts were a little better bit I had to ask again for cream when the pudding arrived with just custard. I am a local resident and I think you should be aware that the Cuckmere Inn has a dreadful reputation in the town. My friend and I only paid the restaurant a visit because of the views not because of the food. It is a tragedy that not more effort could be put into the catering side of your business to bring it up to the same standard as the surrounding countryside views. We will not be visiting again.

Great fish and chips