Rye is a jolly nice place to visit if you are a foodie, and having had one great and one excellent night out, we were looking forward to a somewhat simpler meal for our final night. And given that Rye was once a port (albeit slightly hard to believe from the map), fish was the only sensible option.
Webbe’s is definitely a little more upmarket than we were necessarily expecting: This is not a chippy with seats.
Service was a little slow. I am notorious for having zero bar presence, having had trouble buying drinks at an empty bar on more than one occasion, but Harry Potter could not have more invisible than I was.
We did eventually get a drink – Although there was only a bastard Negroni on offer (can’t quite remember now, but Rhubarb might have been mentioned), I had no problem getting an original, and Mrs N had a glass of Bacchus, trying, as ever, to single-handedly keep the English sparkling wine industry alive.
The not-chippyness of the place really hits home when you see there is a £58 tasting menu, currently consisting of scallops, scallops, and more scallops. I am a very big fan of scallops, but was disappointed they had not managed to weave any into the dessert, so demurred…
We decided to have the Fish Board to start, as it looked like it had a good selection of different fishy bits. It did not. It had a great selection. Unfortunately the selection was so good, there was not really any room for much bread on the plate, it seems, which was a real shame (they bake their own, and sell it to take away).
Stone bass was an excellent choice. Well cooked and really flavoursome. Wish I had chosen it. I went for the fish and chips because, let’s face it, how could it not be good? But it really wasn’t. The chips were undercooked, and the fish was wet and just fell apart: It had no firmness at all. It was really quite disappointing.
Pudding was taken by those who had not had a plateful of soggy chips. You can only go so wrong with ice cream, and this didn’t, so job done.
This was another one of those irritating meals that was really good in parts, but just let itself down on some of the food and some of the service, which was a little brusque and a little absent. Which may explain the next part of the story.
Things have to be pretty bad for me not to leave a tip, as while you can no longer include tips as part of a minimum wage calculation, it is an important part of people’s wages. I do object to the near mandatory 12.5% which is appearing everywhere, but being asked when you are presented with the credit card machine to push a button that indicates how much you would like to give seems fine to me, and actually allows you, as a customer, to feed back in real time how you feel about a meal (I once left 25%, but that is likely never to be repeated as I fear my credit card may be taken away from me if I do).
Webbe’s does none of the above. Neither service charge, nor credit card option. So, in this cashless age in which we live, we didn’t leave a tip. Had I been slightly more on the ball, I might have said something, but I had already been presented with the machine for my contactless payment (and they seemed to want us out). And I didn’t even have an emergency tenner tucked away anywhere. I didn’t love the service, but unless the staff are very well paid, I think the management are doing them out of a fair few quid.
So in looking at our Rye triptych, I think the Fig wins hands down, and the Union and Webbe’s are probably neck and neck, depending on what you are looking for (Webbe’s is not intimate), and what you order. Probably best to do what we did, stay three days, and try them all!
Conclusion
Overall Rating: 4/5
- Food: 4/5
- Service: 3/5
- Drinks: 4.5/6
- Atmosphere: 3.5/5
- Value: 4/5
- Would we go back: 4/5
Webbe’s at the Fish Cafe: https://www.webbesrestaurants.co.uk/section.php/3/1/webbes_at_the_fish_caf_
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