The Lion & Lobster

Lion an Lobster is the closest to me at the moment. I enjoy it– good vibe lighting and prices. the food is nice but the roast definitely needs improving, I recommend the pizza!
great outdoor areas and huge fire place so fantastic through out the year.
always had good service and friendly staff

There’s a reason this pub sold for a record amount recently, it’s one of Brighton’s most famous and popular pubs and you’ll see why as soon as you walk in.
There are nooks and crannies galore here, I swear I found a new hidey-​hole every visit years after I started to frequent this humble establishment. And I do mean humble, though it is a football pub you’ll never feel oppressed by any ongoing matches and I’ve never encountered any trouble here.
So apart from the Alice in Wonderland-​esque twisting and turning corridors and seating booths, what else can be said for the Lion and Lobster? The food. Goodness me the, the food! You really would not expect a pub to serve such a wide range of cuisine and to serve them all well, but that old adage of ‘jack of all trades is master of none’ does not apply in this instance. My personal highlights are the pizzas, the seafood platter and the Sunday roast.
Minus one star for making you pay extra for Yorkshire pudding and cauliflower cheese, in my neck of the woods such things would be deemed blasphemy!

Definitely echo the sentiments of other reviews in that the food sets this pub apart. Nice work chef! The pizza was excellent and a minute steak cooked perfectly, along with some lovely chips.
The rest is standard olde worlde pub stuff. Bit of a maze downstairs but the polite bartenders served a solid guiness.
Also show the football! Excellent.

Visiting friends and we decided to try the L & L — top quality food. And generous portion — which for a man of my size is important. Totally recommended !

Really nice outdoors area, inside is a bit stagnant… Could do with opening a window and turning up the lights!

The food at the Lion and Lobster is like the difference between Clark Kent and Superman: nice but slightly dull local boy vs amazing, super hero (who saves pub food from the doldrums of standard bar fare!)
I was expecting a pub menu of standard fare: burgers, salads, etc but it’s more than just that. They had pigeon on the menu. Pigeon! This is serious stuff, people.
I had an amazing, perfectly cooked whole cracked crab. The tartare sauce was a great pairing but I barely touched it as the crab was succulent and sweet. Delicious! Perfect messy food to eat. Not so fun for my partner who had to suffer through a tedious session of me picking through the crab but hey ho. Relationships are all about compromise!

Went here last night off the back of its great Unilocal reviews and I wasn’t disappointed! I wanted a drink, a bite and somewhere to watch the tennis. It delivered on all three. I sat downstairs in the cozy pub. Had to have a nosy around to find a table.
I did go upstairs and explored all the different levels! Restaurant on the first floor looks nice too.
Roast n a pint cost me about £15 and there was plenty of food, so good value.
The staff were all super friendly and really helpful. One of them saw me trip and immediately came over to check if I was alright and offered to bring ice for my ankle.
Don’t be put off by its «old man’s pub» feel as you first walk in. There’s more than meets the eye!

I really enjoy going to the Lion and Lobster, it’s one of Brightons most unique pubs — it’s huge, set over three floors with 2 outside areas — it feels like there is a spot in here for every one!
I organised a dinner for a group of Unilocalers yesterday, booked a table for 10 thinking we would be seated in the pub, however we were seated in the restaurant area which was nice as it was a little quieter and gave us all the opportunity to chat properly.
The restaurant has a slightly different menu to the pub menu, however we asked for the pub menu as quite a lot of the party wanted the garlic doughballs (after trying them, I now know why!!)
The food was great, I had the Spanish Pizza (Chorizo and Chicken) and shared the doughballs with Scott. It’s not often I’m not able to finish everything on my plate, but I was absolutely STUFFED! In a good way.
I’ll definitely be returning.

I hate pubs.
They smell, have sticky surfaces, cocky barmen and have no places to hide.
I like Lion & Lobster.
There are plenty of places to hide.
Try the doughballs and pizza. Don’t share, you’ll regret it.
The terrace is great in the summer.
Get your calculator ready if you want to pay seperate to the rest of your party, they make you tally up your own bill.
Plenty of screens to watch the football.

Really quite the exceptional pub.
Upon entry you may wonder what all the fuss is about, as it’s a standard pub bar area… And then you start to wander around and it’s like the pub never end. Nooks here. Crannys there. A dining area upstairs and just about the best roof top smoking area you could ask for.
Add in good food and a challenging weekly quiz and you really should head here, quickly.

Great pub! staff are friendly, love the roof terrace with the little bar and they allow dogs. The food is amazing!

Lion and lobster is an excellent pub– its got so many winding corners, stairs going up to different levels so you always find a new place each time!
I booked a table for my boyfriend’s birthday last weekend-​there was 11 of us and they gave us a fantastic big room which was great as we could make as much noise as we liked! We all had roasts which were very good– cauliflower cheese is a must! All the food came steaming hot and at the same timd which was impressive as there were a lot of us!
It was sunny out so we went up to the top roof terrace and spent the whoke afternoon in the sun with friends– great day and the lion and lobster is a great place to spend a birthday or any afternoon!

Great place for a cheeky drink and FOOD! OMG the food is GOOOOOODDDDDD.
It’s such a big pub and it’s got a different vibe around the venue. You’ve got the pub, the restaurant, the outside balcony, and the chilled garden area! It’s just a cool place to go for a drink. It’s just a great British pub!
Just had a beer and nachos! Get yourself down.

After a few attempts to try and enjoy a roast here, I’ve finally had the opportunity today! We managed to find an available table upstairs on the terrace as we didn’t book a table.
I’ve heard that they’re known for their Sunday roasts and to my surprise, they offer a deal for a mixture of two meats for £9.95! You can also ask for Yorkshire pudding AND stuffing for an extra charge (might as well cause they’re both delicious!). Service here is quick but it can get busy so you’ll need to take the initiative to ask for sauce/​cutlery as soon as the food is served.
I’d rate the roast here ⁸⁄₁₀! Well-​cooked, large portions and all at a reasonable price!

I have been a frequent of the lion and lobster over the past couple of years.
I went again yesterday with my partner and my daughter. Usually the bar staff and waitresses are really really friendly and attentive, however yesterday was a totally different ball game… The staff were unfriendly and didn’t pay a blind bit of notice to us during our meal. We weren’t greeted upon arrival as we usually always are and we didn’t even get so much as a thank you or goodbye when we left.
My partner ordered the cheese and ham toasty and I had the pork and black pudding toasty with piccalilli. Both toasty, s had ridiculously hard crusts that left mine and my partners mouth sore!
My first toasty actually had to be sent back as it was lick a brick on top and when I picked it up collapsed on the bottom totally in edible…
Before leaving I needed to use the toilet which was the most disgusting toilet ever see from the pics…
There was excrement on the floor and the toilet brush was in an old plastic food container and also covered in excrement… For a pub with such a good reputation I’m sorry but this really really isn’t acceptable at all.
I really do like this place and I’ve always rated the staff, the atmosphere, and the food highly but from this experience I’m not sure ill return when the area has so many other places that are consistent.

This is a great little find in Brighton. It is off the main street, but still a good respite from the rest of the beach and tourist crowd.
— Rooftop!
— Good beer selection
— A fun loving, casual crowd
Didn’t try the food, but it’s more of a place to grab a pint in the late afternoon.
Worth a stop by

After a very long walk around town on a Sunday night, trying to find a place that does a good Sunday roast, we chanced upon the Lion and Lobster. We first sat downstairs and then found a restaurant upstairs which does table service (same food though). I ordered a whole roast chicken to share with all the trimmings. The chicken was moist and delicious, perfectly cooked. The side of cauliflower cheese made me happy inside, which the roasties were crunchy and delicious. The meal could have done with more vegetables but it was the perfect Sunday evening meal for me. Very filling, great gravy, great atmosphere. Will definitely be going back. A lot.

I took my family here for a late lunch on Saturday (25.8.12). Its a great pub, lovely menu, my food was okay as was everyone elses but my wife’s chicken was raw in the middle. when we complained to the waitress she looked at us in shock as if to say ‘how dare you complain about the pink, un-​cooked, cold chicken’ and referred us to another, friendlier waiter who offered to take it away and have it cooked further. My wife declined as her appetite obviously went out of the window and asked for it to be taken off the bill, which it was.
What really annoyed me was the fact nobody apologised. In most restaurants the chef would come down and gloss over things in the hope that you’d maybe give the place another go but not here.
The Lion and lobster could be a fantastic place if they dropped the attitude and learned how to cook a chicken.

Our friends in Brighton live literally across the street from this super pub.
So when we went there to visit them, the first «pub stop» was The Lion and Lobster. The place is incredible. From the outside you wouldn’t give it a second glance but once inside —
!
The place is huge, old fashioned, 2 outdoor areas, 3 bars, big rooms&small rooms, a section with no windows, just booths with candles — very mafia like, haha. old pictures, posters and newspaper clippings on the walls.
Old timers and new comers, name tags on the stools, great atmosphere, friendly staff and very strong vodka-​orange.

Yay for Unilocal!
A recent Brighton talk feed discussed the best places to get a good roast dinner, and Brix H was quick to suggest the Lion and Lobster. I felt it only fair that I try this out on the first possible occasion, so I dragged a few friends down on Sunday lunchtime.
We had booked for 12 o’clock and were extremely glad we did when we arrived to find people queuing outside, waiting for the doors to open. We had a table in the bar, next to the open fire. This was a great place to sit as the pub is full of atmosphere and it also allowed me to keep one eye on the Manchester United game showing on the well placed television screens!
The menu included roast lamb, beef, chicken and pork belly, as well as a vegetarian option, all for a flat ten squids. However, the thing that really won me over was the option to go half and half — the perfect solution for those indecisive roast eaters such as myself! I ordered the pork belly and lamb, plus a Yorkshire pudding for the bargain price of 40p. Other sides on offer were pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese and stuffing balls.
The food came out really quickly and the portions were massive. Both of the meats were really flavoursome and tender, the roast spuds were crispy, and there was a wide selection of vegetables.
In a race to see who could eat most, I was a clear winner (the competitive streak in me coming out again), but unfortunately this left no room for pudding.
I will definitely be back for more Sunday roasts. The pub is also great for a drink on a Friday or Saturday night, it’s always really busy. They also have a roof terrace for al fresco drinking in the summer.