We visited Côte in Brighton on 9/10/25 and we were very disappointed at the deterioration of the whole experience. We have been there many times in the past and it was always very good. This time, the service was very slow and the food was of a very low standard. Firstly the menu has changed a great deal and there were very little choices. Then I was served a starter I hadn’t ordered and luckily I noticed it didn’t look right before I ate it as it was apparently potted crab and I am allergic to seafood. They returned with the chicken liver parfait that I had ordered which was inedible. It was supposed to come with a fruit chutney (fig) but this was missing. I had to get up and walk over to the bar area to ask for this. When it arrived it was a few sloppy pieces of chunky figs in a tiny dish that were disgusting. The parfait was even worse! It tasted bitter and left an awful taste in my mouth. Maybe it was off! I was unable to eat it. My husband had ordered the potted crab starter (which interestingly didn’t look or smell exactly the same as the first thing they had given me) and he said it was watery and tasteless. It took another half an hour to serve the main courses. Worth noting here that the restaurant was nearly empty. (Clearly this speaks volumes as in the past it had always been packed). The main courses were both poor. I had the roast chicken and pommes frites. My chicken was a bit grey and again, tasteless and the so called “pommes frites” were nothing of the sort. They appeared to be and tasted just like skin on oven chips. They were soggy and again, didn’t taste very nice. My husband ordered the seafood linguine which was very odd looking and quite unappealing. The linguine was more like Asian noodles and was a bit crispy around the edges. There was no sauce, just some muscles and grey-looking prawns. He said it was pretty awful. We had asked for two sides, one of tomato and basil salad and one of spinach, holding the pine nuts. The tomato and basil salad had no basil in it. It was a few pieces of chopped up tomatoes in a small bowl. The cooked spinach was less than a tablespoonful, watery and still had some pine nuts in it. Both starters cost £5.50 each… that’s £11.00 for a chopped tomato and a spoonful of spinach! I had to ask for the basil! We also had to ask for a spoon for my husband to eat the so-called linguine. My husband said it was the worse thing he has eaten in a very long time. We picked at this food and decided to leave. We were not going to chance a desert or coffee. The serving staff were polite and didn’t charge us for my starter but the bill was still £80. Worth noting we didn’t even have any alcoholic drinks, just soft drinks. Not blaming the serving staff but it was not in any way the experience we’re used to at Côte. Unfortunately we will not be frequenting this establishment again. And it looks like many others are also doing the same. What a shame. How the mighty have fallen. Côte…you have some work to do to save yourselves.
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