Emerald Cafe - Hastings

We went in here for some coffee and lunch, both of which we were disappointed with. The coffee was awful and took forever to come and the ‘giant’ jacket potato that cost almost £10 was nothing special and average sized, definitely not worth the price.

The owner was rude, the service slapdash, and the food mediocre and overpriced. While we were there the party at the next table walked out because the owner was so arrogant and condescending when they asked a question about the menu.

Visited this cafe in Jan 2016 on a very busy weekend. All our usual haunts were full, so when we saw a spare table at the Emerald, we grabbed it gratefully. Well now we know why it was free this is a pretty awful place. We ordered 2 tuna paninis, a bottle of wine (to celebrate the New year between 6 of us), sausage and egg sarnies and a salad. Our waitress was nice but had filthy hands and nails dirty jeans bit of a worry but we pressed on regardless. The sausage and egg sarnies arrived and were OK big doorstops but tasted alright. The chef then came out from the kitchen holding 2 burned black paninis, asking if we would be OK eating them! As some people like their paninis 'crisp '. Umm no, not really... So we had to wait ages while the others ate their lunches. Finally the paninis came out the filling was fine but the bread was so hard we could barely eat it, just like a brick. We chewed and chewed but it was inedible. I ended up scraping my filling out and eating that on its own. Last but not least the wine never arrived we asked and asked for it but it just never materialised from the bar no explanation or reason given. The owner seemed like a nice guy and gave us money off our bill when we complained, but the whole experience was so chaotic and odd, I couldn 't recommend it. There are so many other good places to eat in Hastings, I wouldn 't risk it here.

This 'everything bright green ' cafe right in the centre of Hastings ' historic Old Town area is like a trip to the kingdom of the Wizard of Oz: keep your sunglasses on! The coffee is good and strong and they offer great scones and a massive choice of milkshakes; but prices are high and the owners have a tendency to be unhelpful, even downright rude. Clientele is almost exclusively tourists and it 's not a good sign when locals avoid a place.

Two of us went to his restaurant, right in the middle of the old town, for lunch. The place is very clean and tidy but very echoey. Everything is tiled, even the tables which gives a really cold echoey feel to the place. Lots of people sat outside and I don't forgive them for that. As we were sitting there we noticed they don't take cards. Something I find unforgivable these days. You can not service your customers quickly and easily without card payment. Service was quick after the owner stopped having a argument with a technician. After our order was taken the owner and two other staff members continued to argue within ear-shot of us. This created a tense atmosphere. Quite unprofessional. One of us ordered a jacket potato with three fillings. This seemed unheard of from the chef who came out to see how this was possible. The food arrived quickly and was of an average quality. Prawns here very small, cheese tasted a bit cheap. I then tried getting the attention of a member of staff for an extra drink. Which was impossible. Had to get up to get someones attention. This restaurant experience was average and thats being generous. I wouldn't not recommend it but theres plenty more places seconds away which are way ahead of here.