Premier Inn Eastbourne (Polegate)

We arrived at 6.00 pm this eveningand Alex showed us to table 15. Throughout our time there my wife and I were the only customers, with no one at the bar either. We have frequented this restaurant almost monthly for 5 years or more when it was called the Treacle Well, owned by Whitbread. Before now we had nothing but praise for it in all respects. Tonight was our first return since the Premier Inn took direct control over this and nearly all the 'attached' restaurants nationally. In our opinion, a very bad move. - The menu was reasonably priced but only a few options were available for each course. - Even with no one in the restaurant and my wife not having a starter, my starter of Chicken Goujons took 23 minutes to arrive, and then only when I had to get up to enquire with the waiter when it was going to be ready. - The chips came already salted with my wife's main course, whereas she normally opts to add salt herself for health reasons. She was not given this option. - Her pizza was nothing special but not bad either. - Although the taste of my Chicken Makhani curry was good, the chicken was rubbery and hard to chew as if it had been overcooked. - The picture on the wall showed a garnish of perhaps corriander or parsley on the curry, and also a spoon. There was no garnish on my curry and no spoon was offered. - My wife ordered a Fruit Salad which was good. - I ordered an ice cream with wafers & chocolate sprinkles which came without the sprinkles. - At no time during the evening did Alex, or anyone else, come and ask if everything was satisfactory! Before Alex (the waiter) went away, my wife brought the missing sprinkles to his attention. He went away & returned with the news they had run out. It was here that I asked to speak with Alex as things had not been ideal. Instead, he shook his head and walked away! I followed straight after him to where he had stopped to talk with another member of staff around the corner, and started to say to him that not everything was down to him and he walked away again into the kitchen, not wanting to engage! Alex was new there, but walking away from a customer twice, who only wanted to constructively help him understand what went wrong so as to help things improve, was inexplicable, unwarranted and downright rude. Naturally we then had to escalate this and make his manager aware. Mia was very understanding and our conversation was mutually beneficial. We left just after 8.00 pm and still appeared to be the only customers in there. As we are pre-booked in the restaurant for 2 breakfasts and 1 more dinner while we stay in the Premier Inn hotel next door, we hope that things may now improve.

Very comfortable bed, spacious room and surprisingly quiet. Well positioned to start your next day on the road with food and drink next door (Pub Restaurant, McD and 24/7 Petrol) Close to some great locations (Druscillas is ten minutes away). The roundabout is very busy coming into and coming out of the services, so avoid peak times unless you like to queue!

Best nights sleep, staff were lovely and helpful really enjoyed our stay here. Will definitely come back orthough sad to hear the pub is being pulled down to build again. Lovely pub and staff. The room and bathroom was lovely too. The kids enjoyed it too .