My mother recently had her 65th birthday and so I happily flew over to England to spend it with her and my Dad. They are in the deevine Victoria Nursing Home and the chef made a wonderful birthday cake for her, with candles and the whole 9 yards. Then my aunty Wendles and my uncle Peter organized a wheelchair accepting van and we took them down to the Hove beachfront for a walk/push and a meal.

The weather was deevine and we were delighted to find The View Restaurant directly on the esplanade with seating inside and out. It's an Italian Restaurant and the quality of the food was excellent. The staff were very helpful getting the 2 wheelchairs inside the restaurant and rearranged tables and chairs so that we could all sit comfortably. There's even a permanently manned invalid toilet about 100m away from, so we had all bases covered.

I mention this strange fact for a specific reason, which I will get to shortly. I'll tell you about the lovely food, soon as I've got this off my chest. After the meal, both parents desperately needed the loo, so I paid quickly and then we maneuvered them out of the restaurant. The bill was GBP85.75 and I gave the waiter a GBP10 tip as he had been very helpful. When I got home I checked the bill and noticed that a 10% service charge had already been included. I was and still am very annoyed about this. I have one of their menus and NOWHERE is it stated that there is an automatic service charge. And I am really annoyed that the waiter took the extra money and didn't say anything.

Okay, with that out of the way, let me tell you about the food. I was impressed with the quality and the presentation of the food. This is essentially a “chain restaurant”, but you certainly don't feel that at all. When my father and I ordered mussels for a starter, the waiter first went off to check that they had fresh ones and they were not only fresh but super!

Mussels in tomato sauce GBP 6.95

For the main course, we had a variety of lovely meals. My aunt, Wendy, had a Risotto all' antara (Duck, wild mushrooms and creamy sauce) GBP 10.95 which she said was very tasty. It could have done with a sprig of parsley – the green in the photo she very kindly took from her husbands plate to make it look nice for the photo – but the dish itself was good.

My Mom had the Pollo crema a funghi (Breast of chicken with new potatoes in a brandy, cream and mushroom sauce and seasonal vegetables) GBP 10.95 which looked and tasted great. A big portion with balanced flavors and very nicely cooked.

My uncle Peter and my Dad both had The View Burger (with egg, cheese and wild boar) GBP 9.95 and I had the Spicy Prosciutto and Cheese Burger for the same price. The burgers were super – big juice patties on fresh buns with salad. Deevine. The toppings were also very good – the wild boar was like a piece of crisply fried bacon and I thought it tasted really good. Mine was supposed to be spicy prosciutto, but was in fact chorizo which I also really like, so I'm not complaining. The portions were huge and we didn't manage to finish everything, but did give it our best shot!

All in all, I really recommend the restaurant with its lovely setting and great quality of food. So go and enjoy!
The View | Bar & Dine
Western Esplanade
Kingsway, Hove,
BN3 4FA