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.

I visited with a newish friend on Pirates Day, 2015. The place was only half full but we had to wait an age for anyone to come and get our order. We ordered a Bavarian ham and chips which came with salad and a Caprese salad. Our teas came and were plonked on the table, my friend remarked on the sloppy service. After another age, our food arrived. My friend was presented with a 'doorstep ' sandwich of fried egg and sausage. When we said this was not what was ordered the waitress seemed unable to grasp the situation and seemed to think my friend should eat the sandwich, we actually had to explain to her that she really wanted the ham, egg and chips! I had the Caprese salad, well I don 't know what recipe book they got their Caprese salad from, it was nothing like the Caprese salad I have had many times before, in other establishments. I had a plate with a few measly 'shavings ' of mozzarella, covered in halved cherry tomatoes three of these cherry tomato halves had a miniscule dollop of pesto (not really a dollop as they were only tiny cherry tomatoes! on them. The whole was then covered by a generous squirting of sweet balsamic glaze and a tiny floret of parsley in the middle. I asked the waitress where my basil was. She pointed to the pesto and said thats it, that 's basil.... I said that no, pesto might be made from basil, but its not basil. She just walked away! The menu described the salad as Mozzarella, tomatoes and basil.. My friend had then to wait another age for her ham, egg and chips. I ploughed on with the plate of tomatoes and few bits of mozzarella, then found that the whole plate was icy cold! Why on earth would a restaurant keep tomatoes in the fridge?!! It was completely tasteless, all I could taste was the balsamic glaze. There was no olive oil or seasoning apart from the pesto. I would have preferred to have had proper balsamic vinegar served separately to add myself rather that the gluey glaze plastered all over my freezing cold tomatoes. This was also served with 'garlic bread ', now I like garlic but this was a slice of bread, simply soaking with oil with a thick spread of garlic all over it. It looked like cheese on toast! It was so strong it made me feel ill, it was so bitter. I seriously thought that the waitress would have reported back to the management, but obviously she didn 't and for the first time in my experience nobody came over to ask is everything ok for you? (I wonder why? So we ploughed on, but I will never, ever go in there again! There are plenty of other cafes and restaurants in Hastings to choose from!