The Rainbow

4.0

741 Reviews

£25 and under

British

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2 people

4 Jan 2025

19:00

Experiences are available.

Charming
Good for groups
Neighbourhood gem

In showing this building some love, local businesswoman Shoes Simes has said that she hopes to help make her pub more food-led and family-friendly. In doing so she hopes to turn this local building of historical importance into an establishment for local families and friends to enjoy together. It all started 13 years ago when she first saw the building and she knew straight away that this was the pub for her and finally her dreams have come true, with a full refurbishment, this pub is now ready to be revealed to Eastbourne in all its glory. Once functioning as an old Moot Court, eventually turning into a restaurant in the 1970s, before it boomed as a pub trading as The Rainbow. It eventually changed to The Counting House and saw a new lease of life as the garden grew to be a popular haunt of all in old town. Returning with a change of name to the older style of The Rainbow, and with it a focus on food again.

For outdoor reservations, please contact the restaurant directly.

Additional information

Dining style
Casual Dining
Price
£25 and under
Cuisines
British, Gastro Pub, Beer Garden
Hours of Operation
Bar Wed, Thu, Sun 12:00–22:00 Fri, Sat 12:00–23:00 Lunch Wed–Fri 12:00–15:00 Sat 12:00–21:00 Sun 12:00–17:00 Dinner Wed–Fri 17:00–21:00
Phone number
01323 731158
Website
https://www.facebook.com/TheRainbowEB/
Payment Options
AMEX, Mastercard, Visa
Dress code
Casual Dress

Location
Star Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 1NB
Area
Eastbourne
Parking details
Private Lot
Public transit
Additional
Dog Friendly, Gluten-free Options, Indoor Fireplace, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Vegan

Experiences

DRINKING ONLY
Multiple dates available
Please only select this option if you are DRINKING ONLY!

What 741 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.0

4 based on recent ratings

3.8Food
4.1Service
4.2Ambience
3.8Value

Noise • Energetic

741 Reviews

T
TRACEY
East Sussex
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined 6 days ago
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
Excellent food and service, definitely returning in the New Year.
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J
James
East Sussex
3 reviews
5.0
3 reviews
Dined on 24 December 2024
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
Great food, great service as always, you know the staff are well trained when they check your glasses are properly clean before serving you drinks.
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R
Rita
East Sussex
2 reviews
5.0
2 reviews
Dined on 22 December 2024
1. Overall 5
2. Food 4
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
Our first visit to The Rainbow, certainly not the last. Nice and friendly staff and cozy atmosphere.
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E
Elaine
East Sussex
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 11 December 2024
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
We had a lunch with 5 friends to celebrate Christmas and the atmosphere was very festive and cosy.
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I
Ivor
Kent
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 9 December 2024
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 4
A lovely Christmas Dinnwr 🎄 We were shown to a lovely quiet table near to a super warm log fire 🔥 To be fair it was a Monday night and the pub was pretty quiet anyway. There was no problem taking our two dogs who were provided a bowl of water. The food was delicious 😋 and very generous portions. The dogs enjoyed sharing some of the pigs in blankets 🐷 No problem at all with the very helpful table service. It eas an enjoyable night out and great value
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V
Victoria
Brighton
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 23 September 2024
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
We had a lovely early dinner at the Rainbow. We took my autistic brother, and the staff were polite, friendly and welcoming, and fully accommodated his needs, i.e allowing us to choose a quiet place to sit, offering to give him more time to choose his drink if he needed it. The food was great (beefburger, chicken burger, squid linguine, followed by the brownie and a waffle with ice cream). We really enjoyed ourselves. Thank you.
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c
caroline
VIP
London
4 reviews
2.0
4 reviews
Dined on 15 September 2024
1. Overall 2
2. Food 1
3. Service 4
4. Ambience 3
The meal was very disappointing. The quality of the food was extremely poor, not what we were expecting after many good meals at the Rainbow.
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p
pamela
London
2 reviews
3.0
2 reviews
Dined on 31 August 2024
1. Overall 3
2. Food 2
3. Service 4
4. Ambience 5
Food is a disappointment. Crispy squid is the worse! Undercooked, thick and gummy. Gyoza had a creamy dipping sauce?! what was that about?? Pork belly was underflavoured and tough. I suggest they stick to regular pub food. Such a beautiful pub with plenty of character.Food was a let down!
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K
Katie
Kent
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on 17 August 2024
1. Overall 1
2. Food 1
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 1
We arrived on Saturday evening, it was so busy I’m sure down to airborne. I can appreciate the fact it was busy and this wasn’t why I’m here giving a bad review. However the way the staff delt with the busy evening was awful. We arrived in plenty of time to the restaurant for our booked table, in which we booked online, I had then called to confirm as I knew it would be busy. When arriving it was so hard to know who was in charge of seating people let alone when we asked where our table was to be told by two different members of team they don’t know it’s their first day. We then just sat at a table and got told to leave by member of staff saying they were getting it ready for someone else. We answered saying could you just find us our booked table. And they still couldn’t. The lack of team work and organisation was terrible. We decided after just hanging around for 20 mins it was time to just leave and went to the pub up the road instead.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
East Sussex
1 review
2.0
1 review
Dined on 23 July 2024
1. Overall 2
2. Food 2
3. Service 2
4. Ambience 1
I reversed an out side table, when we arrived I had a look around and found some reserved tables but with no name, we were just looking and another customer was very rude and said the whole outside was reserved for a private function and to move away. I went inside to find out what had happened with our reservation. It took along time to get served although there was no one waiting ahead of us, the staff were busy doing other things, eventually when the bartender came over I said we had a reservation and they didn't know what to do, they went off to ask someone else, a manager I presume who was very rude huffed and rolled his eyes and said to just them just tell them find a table out side in this area, when we went to the area by the main door there were no tables available to seat us all, we waited around for awhile and eventually someone moved across and offered us some of their table. We couldn't all sit together. Which was ashame, as it was a pre arranged get together of friends and we had travelled from all over Sussex. We specifically booked with the rainbow to ensure a table that could accommodate us all. And had we been informed of this unavailability we would have gone else where or rearranged. It wasn't a very nice atmosphere and I felt the booking service a complete waste of time. Perhaps when functions are on - limits should be set to outside bookings to avoid disappointment and also to improve wait times and service. This isn't my first visit and perhaps I've been unlucky. I'm usually pretty chilled/understanding and easy going but everytime I have visited something has gone wrong, with either service or reservations or food or rude staff. So I sadly wouldn't recommend or return now.
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FAQs

The Rainbow is rated 4 stars by 741 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Make a booking

2 people

4 Jan 2025

19:00

Experiences are available.

Star Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 1NB

Additional information

Area
Eastbourne
Hours of Operation
Bar Wed, Thu, Sun 12:00–22:00 Fri, Sat 12:00–23:00 Lunch Wed–Fri 12:00–15:00 Sat 12:00–21:00 Sun 12:00–17:00 Dinner Wed–Fri 17:00–21:00
Price
£25 and under
Cuisines
British, Gastro Pub, Beer Garden
Dining style
Casual Dining
Dress code
Casual Dress
Parking details
Private Lot
Public transit
Payment Options
AMEX, Mastercard, Visa
Additional
Dog Friendly, Gluten-free Options, Indoor Fireplace, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Vegan

Website
https://www.facebook.com/TheRainbowEB/
Phone number
01323 731158

The Rainbow

Make a booking

Additional information

Experiences

DRINKING ONLY

Menu

What 741 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

FAQs

How is The Rainbow restaurant rated?

Is The Rainbow currently accepting bookings?

Make a booking

Additional information