The Slug and Lettuce, Chichester

We spent ages deliberating over the different venues for a girl’s night out recently. We wanted somewhere that would be quiet enough to have a bite to eat, a general chat and catch-up, but would liven up as the evening progressed. In the end we plumped for The Slug and Lettuce in Chichester. A Monday night in Chichester is never going to be a hive of activity, but the Slug always seems to be buzzing after 9pm whatever day of the week it is.
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...venue was partly prompted by The Slug and Lettuce Monday night promotion entitled _Happy Mondays_. This promotion is being run at the moment in all their outlets and they’re offering 50% discount off all the food items on their menu on Monday nights. However, not to worry if you can’t get to your local Slug on a Monday night, as there are plenty of other special offers to tempt you; there’s a _2-4-1_ offer being run on Tuesdays to Fridays (and Sundays), ... more

We spent ages deliberating over the different venues for a girl’s night out recently. We wanted somewhere that would be quiet enough to have a bite to eat, a general chat and catch-up, but would liven up as the evening progressed. In the end we plumped for The Slug and Lettuce in Chichester. A Monday night in Chichester is never going to be a hive of activity, but the Slug always seems to be buzzing after 9pm whatever day of the week it is.

I hasten to add that the choice of venue was partly prompted by The Slug and Lettuce Monday night promotion entitled Happy Mondays. This promotion is being run at the moment in all their outlets and they’re offering 50% discount off all the food items on their menu on Monday nights. However, not to worry if you can’t get to your local Slug on a Monday night, as there are plenty of other special offers to tempt you; there’s a 2-4-1 offer being run on Tuesdays to Fridays (and Sundays), where they’re offering two main courses for the price of one. If you’re just after a drink and not the food, they have a Clocking Off Club (cheaper cocktails and pitchers of drinks before 8pm) or their Wednesday Wine Club (£9.95 per bottle all day). Further details can be found at www.slugandlettuce.co.uk (or you can always have a quick search on www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk which is always an excellent source of any current dining or drinking bargains to be found in any UK chain).

~~ The Chain ~~

The Slug and Lettuce is best described as a chain of “gastro pubs/bars”. The Slug and Lettuce chain was started up in 1985 by an individual who wanted to create a pub/bar where the food and the wine is just as good as the beer. Thus, you can pop into your local Slug for a sandwich, a quick drink, a leisurely meal or a hard night of cocktail drinking - your choice. I must admit that the term “gastro-pub” does strike a note of foreboding with me. For a lot of outlets “gastro-pub” is a terrible phrase coined to allow a publican to demonstrate that he doesn’t just serve drinks but (over-fluffed) food too, and of course, it gives him/her the opportunity to hike up his/her prices too….. A “gastro-pub” doesn’t sell a cheese and pickle sarnie at £2.50 - it serves a buffalo mozzarella and sun-dried tomato panini garnished with rocket and homemade chutney at £6.50….

~~ Location, Location, Location ~~

The Slug and Lettuce in Chichester is located in South Street, a short distance from the centre of the town, known as The Cross. South Street has loads of different restaurants and pubs, and it’s really turned into the heart of “social” Chichester. You’ll be spoiled for choice between Pizza Express, Prezzo, Zizzi, Café Rouge, as well as several independent pubs and restaurants. Be aware though that it's a nightmare to park nearby (especially during the day), so you may need to locate the nearest pay and display car park before you venture out. On a weekday night, it may be a bit easier, as there is a bit of parking available in South Street itself.

~~ Ambiance ~~

The Slug in Chichester is rather light and very spacious. There are huge picture windows, but the views are only onto South Street itself, nothing spectacular - but rather good for people watching instead. The décor is quite minimalistic and trendy - wooden floors, subtle, yet clever lighting and walls hung with modern pop art. There’s a huge long bar to one side of the room, and plenty of tables and chairs dotted around the room. You can choose from lots of different low level chocolate brown leather sofas or bucket shaped chairs, or perch yourself on high bar stools. All the seating is accompanied by solid wooden tables (housing copies of the menu, cocktails and drinks on offer). Towards the back of the venue, there is a more formal area, with proper tables and chairs to eat at. The leather sofas look very inviting, but on closer inspection some of them were a little worn in places and rather shabby looking.

The atmosphere is always very laid back and casual in the Slug. Before 9.00pm there is always a good mixture of ages and groups. However, be warned that as the night progresses the place gets progressively wilder. After 9.00pm, a younger crowd tends to throng there, and it turns into a bit of a cattle market. Lots of skimpily clad young ladies eyeing up the boys and so on. Therefore, it’s definitely not particularly child friendly (try Pizza Hut or Frankie and Benny's instead). Indeed, their website warns that children are not really welcome there after 7.00pm.

~~ The Food ~~

There are a full range of dishes on offer at The Slug and Lettuce, from simple bar snacks through to more elaborate meat and fish dishes. You can choose from a simple sandwich or dish of olives through to a full three course dinner. There is no particular “theme” to the food at The Slug, they seem to mix it all up and offer tempting sounding dishes influenced by all corners of the globe. There are quite a few British pub grub favorites, but they’re been “gastroed” up (< made up word ..) to make them sound more tempting (and of course allowing them to lever up the price!). For example, Steak and Mushroom Pie, Sausages and Mash, Fish and Chips and Fish Pie all make an appearance on their menu, but their descriptions are all gussied up to make them sound more exotic than they probably area…..i.e. Bangers and Mash becomes “British pork Lincolnshire sausages, served with buttery mashed potato and a rich red wine gravy” and Fish and Chips becomes “Hand-battered fillet of fish, served with chips, tartare sauce and minted mushy peas”. Of course, The Slug and Lettuce aren’t doing anything different to a million and one other venues worldwide. A bit of pretension and flowery menu speak does wonders for the bottom line - allowing you to charge £8.75 for fish and chips instead of £3.99!

The Slug chain changes its menu fairly regularly, so that it features seasonal favourites (and something new and different for their legions of regulars). In addition, they offer a small selection of daily specials, which you will find clipped inside the regular menu. On the night we dined there, I was rather tempted by their daily special of a Green Thai Curry, but as we were in the middle of a heat wave, I settled for something a little less spicy and lighter.

There seems to be a lot of emphasis on “sharing” on their menu i.e. shared platters of starters or 2 for 1 desserts. I would imagine that the thought behind this is to encourage some of the drinkers to partake of some food on their premises, rather than just drinks. Afterall a shared platter or bowl of chips is ideal for mopping up some of that alcohol you’ve imbibed with a little too much relish, but you can’t quite stomach a full meal. Similarly, there a full range of sandwiches, wraps, tostados (a cross between a tortilla and a pizza) and potato wedges on offer too - all priced fairly reasonably. However, if you fancy something a little more substantial, then there are a full range of steaks, grilled chicken dishes, burgers and so on.

~~ Our Meal ~~

There weren’t a massive range of starters on offer, so we decided to forgo them on this occasion (and it was too hot to eat much anyway …and it left some space for a dessert). However, I did like the sound of the Tempura Prawns or Tempura Vegetables (both served with sweet chili sauce), so I hope to try one of these on my next visit. Starter prices range from £2.50 to £4.25.

There were four of us in our party and we all chose different things off the menu for our main courses. I choose a Fishcake Salad, which was a smoked haddock and salmon fishcake with a cheddar cheese centre served on a bed of salad. I could certainly taste the haddock in my fishcake, but I fear the salmon and cheese may have gone away on holiday together somewhere else, because they certainly didn’t seem to be on my plate! The bed of salad was nice, but a little unimaginative, mainly consisting of cos lettuce leaves, large rings of raw red onion, lettuce, cucumber and red pepper. I had this served with chips and garlic mayonnaise. It wasn’t the tastiest meal I’ve ever had, but it was certainly good value at £3.85 (50% discount on the normal price as it was a Monday…). One of my friends is a bit of a fussy eater and hates salady type stuff, so she asked the bar man to serve her Slug Classic Burger without any of the garnish it usually comes with. This was sacrilege to me, as tomatoes, lettuce, onions and relish all make a burger so much more tasty. However, she was quite happy with her choice, and pronounced the ungarnished and naked looking dish to her liking. The Slug and Lettuce do a nice selection of burgers ranging from a classic beef burger, a chicken or vegetarian Falafel burger to a spicier Mexican burger. My other friend chose the Aromatic Duck Wrap, which was duck marinated in a hoisin plum sauce with cucumber and spring onions served in a flour tortilla. This dish comes served with the rather strange accompaniment of coleslaw and chips, which I found a little odd. Chips yes, but coleslaw doesn’t really seem to “go” with a Far East classic like this. Personally I think a small selection of tempura battered vegetables or a cold sticky rice salad would go better than coleslaw. However, she was quite happy with her choice. The other lady in our party choose the grilled chicken with Bang Bang Peanut Sauce. This was basically a double breast of chicken served with a spicy peanut sauce (just like satay really). It looked and smelled delicious and made me wish I’d chosen that instead of my rather bland fishcake.

Main course prices range from £5.45 for a small salad up to £8.75 for a burger and chips. The dearest item on the menu is sirloin steak at £12.95, so all in all the prices at The Slug and Lettuce are on the reasonable side. The beauty of the place is that you can just have a starter or a dessert, or both, and no one is going to talk about minimum cover charges etc. You can eat as much or as little as you like.

The choice of desserts is fairly limited at The Slug and Lettuce, but the portions were very pleasing when they were served. Two of us chose the Hot Chocolate Puddle Pudding and the other two had Sticky Toffee Pudding. Both came served with either hot custard or ice cream, but we all chose the ice-cream due to the heat. The Hot Chocolate Puddle Pudding was a light chocolate sponge filled with a bitter dark chocolate sauce when you cut into it. The sauce inside was delightfully rich, but tempered well by the creaminess of the vanilla ice-cream. I didn’t partake of the Sticky Toffee Pudding but it looked as sticky and gooey as all good ones should be, and my dining companions assured me they were delicious. Dessert prices start at £3.75 and go up to £4.75. We didn’t bother with any teas or coffees to round off our meal, but the usual range is on offer if you like to do the full works when you dine out.

The bill came to a very reasonable £33.85, which was excellent value for 4 x main courses, 4 x desserts and 4 x drinks, working out at around £8.50 per person. However, they did apply the 50% discount to the bill for the food. Normally that meal and drinks would cost around £59.70, which I reckon is still pretty reasonable for a “gastro-pub”.

~~ Service ~~

The service was fair to middling in The Slug. There seemed to only be two staff on duty, which seemed a little on the light side. However, they appeared to be coping rather well, if somewhat slowly at clearing dirty crockery, cutlery and glasses off the bar and tables. We ordered our food and drinks at the bar, as it seemed quicker than waiting for someone to come to us. Once we’d finished our main courses, no one came and cleared the table, or asked if we wanted desserts, so we took the initiative and went up to the bar again and placed our order. I’m not sure if this is the norm for The Slug, or whether they were short staffed that night. Either way, our main courses and desserts both arrived promptly, so we had nothing major to complain about.

~~ Recommended? ~~

Monday nights at The Slug and Lettuce are very, very good. You can eat your way through a fairly decent selection of food at a bargain price. The food is good - not out of this world, but tasty and filling. For a “gastro-pub” the food is fairly unprententious, reasonable value (especially on Mondays) and generous of portion. The venue is relaxed and laid back and it’s a great place to enjoy a catch up with friends and family. Recommended…for a lively night out with a group of friends at a bargain price.

~~ Other Details ~~

The Slug and Lettuce is owned and operated by The Bay Restaurant Group and has around 80 different venues throughout the UK. The Bay Restaurant Group Ltd (http://www.laurelpubco.com/) also runs Ha Ha Bar and Grill chain as well as La Tasca outlets.

The major problem in this area is finding somewhere to park the car during the day and at the weekend. The nearest pay and display car park is at South Pallant or South Gate, but they’re both only a two/three minute walk away. However, mid-week evenings are not so much of a problem, as you may be able to park in South Street itself.

The Slug and Lettuce is not really the sort of place where you make a reservation for dinner or lunch (unless you’re a big party of course), it’s more of a turn up and grab the nearest table on offer kind of venue. I’d recommend eating there before 9.00pm if at all possible, as the venue does get a little lively after this time, and it turns into more of a bar / pub than it does eaterie. Indeed, you’ll have a job pushing your way through the myriad bodies crowding the bar area to reach the dining area at the back of the room, and you may wish you chosen somewhere a little quieter….We walked in straight in off the street at 7.00pm on a Monday night, and managed to find a nice spot in the bar area to eat and drink at. However, by 9.00pm it was filling up rather fast with drinkers.

The Slug and Lettuce
27-28 South Gate
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1ES

Tel: 01243-792012

Opening hours: Monday to Sunday - 10.00am to 12.00am (11.30pm on Sundays)
Email: slugandlettuce.chichester@bayrestaurantgroup.com
Website: http://www.slugandlettuce.co.uk

The restaurant is open seven days a week and takes all the major credit cards. The venue is located on the ground floor only so is suitable to be accessed by the infirm and disabled. Please note that children are only welcome there up to 7.00pm

 

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