Situated close to the beautiful shingly beach in Shoreham, a historic fishing town just west of Brighton, but on a parade of ugly, possibly 60s, shops, this restaurant is noticeable at first by its unusual bowed glass frontage.

I visited on a late July lunchtime with The Schoolmaster and I'm not sure what to say really. I had three oysters to start and they were top notch, cold, sweet and delicious. Like eating the softened bottom of a fishing boat. Perfumed of the briny, like a rope's end. Nicely presented on the shell (pacific/rock oysters, these were) on a white plate with ice and a chunk of lemon. The Schoolmaster had black pudding with scallops, which he pronounced excellent.

Main course was for him sea bass (delicious but he would have liked a whole fish instead of just a piece), and for me, something called crab and shrimp bake (I think). The waitress was away with the fairies - offhand to the point of impertinence. I asked: 'do I need to order potatoes or do they come with it?' 'Oh, you need to order potatoes' she said. So I did, and some greens while I was about it.

We had water/cold beer and everything so far was more-or-less OK. Except the decor and ambiance were a bit, well, 70s.

When the food came I had to remind her about the veggies and then wait four or five minutes, which is a long time with your crab and shrimp bake going cold in front of you, and then when my spuds arrived The Schoolmaster had to remind her about his chips, which she said were coming. but they took another few minutes. HOPELESS. It should all come at once, or what's the point?

My 'bake' was mainly mashed potatoes, so the potatoes I'd ordered - as instructed - went uneaten, though paid for. Did she not know what was in the dishes she was serving? There was, I noticed, a slightly desperate note of up-selling some of the time.

I think they were working hard in the kitchen and the ingredients are freshly caught locally (the fish and stuff I mean, not the potatoes) the presentation is nice, but the ambiance is somewhat bleak, the decor unimaginative, the specials boards plastic with ghastly green-and-white lettering in the school-project style. And the prices were a bit much I thought. Sixty-some quid for what we had seemed a bit hefty at lunchtime in this out-of-the-way place.

Nice food. Shame about everything else.

OK. Perry Stalsis. 2006