Excellant!

I've been to this restaurant twice; the first time was with a date where we ordered 3 courses and had a few drinks, the second was with a voucher for a set meal and a set price. Interestingly I had very different experieces. Where I walked away the first time feeling contented with good food and very friendly service and feeling like although it was a tad expensive it was definately somewhere I'd go back to, I walked away the second time vowing never to return having been made to feel like a second class citizen on producing my voucher. The meal was average at best, they were impatient with my daughter and rude with myself and my party. Having once thought of it as quite a classy place I have since changed my opinion to finding it a pretentious place having shown it's true colours.

Seven Dials is well known in the Brighton area as a high-class eating establishment and has an excellent reputation for its food. My partner and I went there for a special Anniversary treat (a treat, because it is expensive - but more of that later).

We started off by being given a small basket of bread with some mushroom paté, which was delicious, and which I followed with wild mushroom soup, which was also very good. However, my main course of asparagus risotto was disappointing: the sauce was very heavily creamy (I suspect that had added cream) and the rice was underdone, so that it was slightly gritty, and therefore rather unpleasant. My partner's fish starter and lamb main were more successful - very good, but not outstanding. My feeling was that they didn't cater as seriously for vegetarians as for carnivores. On the plus side, the wine list is very extensive, although again at a price.

The most disappointing aspect of the evening, however, was the service. There was an event booked in the basement, which seemed to overwhelm the staff. We asked three times for some extra bread, which took 20 minutes to arrive, and 30 minutes to provide the water weordered. (The wine came more quickly - a ploy to get you to drink more of that, I wonder?). The staff were perfectly pleasant, if slightly harrassed, but just too hard to get hold of.

By the end of our main course, we had decided to give up on desserts and ask for the bill: you guessed it - we had to wait 15 minutes. Although we were expecting it to be expensive, £100 for two of us, for two courses, was still a bit steep, especially considering the service. Side orders like bread and vegetables are extra, (£3-£3.50 per veg) and 12% service charge is automatically added, which bumps up the bill. So even their lunch-time menu of £15 for two courses could easily end up costing £25. I would mind less but, for that money, I think that the service should be as good as the food - it's a total experience you are paying for, after all.

Since then, we've heard of mixed experiences from others - some very good indeed, others less so - although the food is always highly regarded. More consistency on the service front would encourage us to give it another try.