"Our friend this year invited us to stay with her this Christmas and bought my wife and I Christmas Day lunch at Horsted Place as a gift, which we shared as part of their family party of 7. They booked after we all had several very enjoyable meals before. This was the largest party the restaurant had on the day, so they informed us. We arrived in plenty of time, for 1230, we were ushered into the lovely lounge area by the lit open fire and were given a glass of Prosecco each, as part of the meal and we expected to be seated at 1300. However, after asking several times, we were eventually taken through to a private room at 1400. The room was sparsely decorated, with no tree or decorations. The fire was unlit and so the cosy atmosphere of the lounge was replaced by a cold barren room. The meal was a total disappointment, no effort seemed to have been taken on any of the courses, and only the politeness of the guests who had allergies prevented us from complaining there and then. Basic things were missing and we had to ask for them, such as serving spoons and sugar. There was no cranberry or bread sauce. The puddings/sweets were minute, and there was no alternative for these or the cheese and biscuits for those with allergies (which had been notified well in advance to the restaurant, at time of booking) also we had to ask for a dairy milk alternative for these guests, which included my wife. The staff did their best and were polite and attentive, but even this could not distract from the very underwhelming meal and surroundings. On leaving the restaurant, due to the delay in being seated, it was pitch black outside. The booking had been made deliberately early to enable two elderly guests to drive back to Shoreham in daylight. Also, our cars, due to no space in the main car park, even though two of us are disabled, had been parked in the overflow carpark. On leaving the restaurant there was no lighting to see along the rough path to the cars and no offer of assistance from the staff. It was as if as we left the restaurant, they were finished with us. Not happy, what should have been a very enjoyable experience, was in fact one of the most disappointing restaurant Christmas meals we have had and we have had many."
