ARTBOX Cafe - My Melody & Kuromi Tea Shop

I took both my 9 year old daughter and my 22 year old daughter, who both loved it equally. My youngest has celiac disease, and there were plenty of options for her to eat, and they looked through the allergen folder to double-check. The cafe it's self is upstairs but there is an accessible table downstairs. The cafe is decorated adorably with my melody and kuromi and there is a beautiful wall perfect for photos. The shop has so much merchandise my daughter actually became a little overwhelmed with what to buy! But she came away with 2 bags. As its quite small the downstairs area can fill up quickly. The staff were all lovely and friendly even complimenting the t shirt my daughter made for the occasion. We can't wait to come back next time we are in Brighton

We visited Artbox for our 9 year olds birthday on her request. After seeing others experiences on Artbox’s instagram and having had feed back from personal friends who had previously visited the cafe, we were keen and very excited to visit the themed cafe with its dishes and menu based on the iconic Sanrio imagery. We drove nearly 2 hours to visit the cafe and on arrival, having never been before when we asked “do we just go up stairs?” - the rude looks and one word answers we recieved had already began to put a dampener on our mood and experience. Once we went up stairs we did find the cafe cute however there were no guides or instructions about how to place an order or how to view a menu. We had seen that the cafe was counter service only online but the fact you have to make multiple trips up and down the stairs because there is no menu upstairs and the order process isn’t clearly indicated isn’t ideal at all. The adults of our group both have a physical disabilities and whilst it was noted that there were 2 “accessible” tables down stairs, (bistro tables without any furnishings for comfort) they were completely removed from the cafe experience upstairs. This combined with how hot it was downstairs didn’t feel like a fully inclusive option, especially when bringing a child. The menu itself boasted about gluten free options - especially online. We were also looking forward to the cutely presented food similar to the images we had previously seen on the cafes social media. When we enquired about the gluten free options due to an intolerance on our group we were met with a very dismissive response of “ that’s all we’ve got” when there was only 1 gluten free option of a brownie, despite the menu stating options being available under the toasties section too. We then were told that the dishes we’d seen were no longer stylised as characters since the theme change - this isn’t made clear on any online areas either. Not only was the themed food no longer available which was a huge dissapoint to our child. We then had to explain to her why the cafe she was experiencing wasn’t like the expectations she had been given via the various media outlets we had seen the cafe on. It’s also important to note that our child is neurodivergent and there weren’t very many, if any, sensory safe choices for them on the menu. Depsite our child being mostly open minded with food we found it difficult to pick food for them due the very small selection now available compared to the previous offerings we had seen. Once the food was ready, which didn’t take too long I’d like to add, it was spread out over two trays - only one of us was able to come and retrieve the food so that our child wasn’t left alone and I was frustrated that no offer of helped was recieved even though it was obvious I was going to struggle getting things upstairs. Overall we are really dissapointed with our experience of the food, cafe and service in general and unfortunately we can’t say that it lived up the hype it boasted online. The only decent part of service we recieved is when we asked if a pencil case we had seen on arrival was in stock and a kind assistant actually checked for us.

At my daughter's request, we came to this pleasant Hello Kitty and her friends themed place. The food was divine and showy, the place was pleasant, the staff friendly and helpful. We really liked it. Everyone can check the current prices before visiting them on their website. They are not cheap, but something for something. It was important for us to have a gluten-free option, and it was. You should know that the dishes do not contain meat, but they are still very, very tasty. On the lower level, there is a shop and an ice cream/coffee service with outside seating. There is a place upstairs for those who want to eat from the food on offer. It is mandatory to order at least one dish per table. For those who just want to drink something, the sitting area in front of the store remains. There isn't much space upstairs either, unfortunately we didn't reserve a table in advance, so when we said we wanted to eat, we were faced with the fact that there was only a free table after 4 hours. So it's worth booking in advance. If your child is a fan of Hello Kitty, this will be a very pleasant experience for him. :)