Butchers Block at the Bell in Maidstone

We were so looking forward to lunch at The Bell,such a pity it was a disaster.Over an hour waiting for our food to arrive,despite being told it was being plated up after 40 minutes,& then one dish had to be sent back to the kitchen as it was wrong. No explanation was given for the dreadful delays we experienced,not even after contacting The BB at The Bell the day after to leave a private review(at their invite). We won't be back.

Drove from chatham as we heard this place was amazing but the starter tasted good but was barley luke warm but said nothing then the roasts came and the roast potatoes were barely luke warm so was the meat and 2 of my potatoes were borderline cooked through. Gutted really as we were really looking forward to this meal and left very dissapointed

Excellent food and service, well worth the money

Really lovely friendly staff, cosy, clean and food was great, nice outdoor area to eat and have drinks, we chose to dine inside, staff polite, professional and very helpful, 2022. We've dined in the BB at the Bell Inn a few times and NEVER been disappointed. Photos are Our visit on Saturday 19th October 24. The meal was SUBLIME, flavours, triple cooked chips, fresh side salad 🥗 portobello mushrooms and peppercorn sauce. 5* Staff met all requirements for allergies and intolerance before we ordered. IMO can't find anything to fault.

Stopped off here for a lunch with my hubby and was so impressed. The food was incredible and cooked to perfectioned and seasoned beautifully. I haven't had a steak cooked this well in years locally. The chef created the most amazing sticky toffee pudding with a salty sauce and a beautiful ice cream too - make sure you put the sauce with the ice cream! Staff were delightful and genuinely this is our new best place for date night or date lunch! Great food - great people - plenty of parking too!

Highly recommend the Butchers Block at the Bell.Steak was divine, as was all our food. Staff were attentive and nothing was too much trouble. Book and go.....

Good food and service. Lovely staff who are very friendly and helpful. Outside seating available at the rear. Large car park.

What a wonderful evening we have had at the Butchers Block at the Bell, the food was outstanding and the service was just perfect, friendly, warm welcoming and attentive without being intrusive! All the staff are a credit to the place and the only issue with the menu is wanting to try everything!! We will be back to try more!!

Great pub garden with lovely food, easy access to the Garden Bar and Garden, brilliant live music. Easy to park and really friendly staff - what else could you want

First time here and well impressed, food was excellent with prompt and helpful service, highly recommended.

Decided to push to boat out for a birthday with a £34 serloin steak. Medium rare was bone dry. Benefit of the doubt was given but the second was blue!!! If you are charging that sort of money for a steak then you need to know how to cook one. The meal was ruined. No service to check on the food and so we needed to go to the bar each time to complain. The blue steak was either an insult to the table or just the fact the chef doesn't know how to cook a steak correctly at a steakhouse...

Such a disappointment. We went for a birthday meal, and was expecting a properly cooked steak at the prices involved. Four of us went, after waiting for about 45 minutes three steaks were completely overdone. We asked for the chef to redo, they came back completely purple inside. It was left to the waitress to explain, nothing from the management. By that stage, the evening was ruined. We were not offered any sort of compensation, just a refund for the awfully cooked steaks. A real shame, as it seemed a nice place. Definitely do NOT recommend and would avoid. Live locally, will not go back and will tell others the same.

Excellent pub and diner experience. Food good , wine and beer fair price plenty of parking staff very helpful and friendly.

Just enjoyed a lovely meal at the Butchers block, Bearsted. I loved my sirloin steak, cooked to perfection. The rest of the table had the roast dinners, which they thoroughly enjoyed. If you are looking for an excellent meal add the Butchers block to your list. 😋🥩 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Had the 3 tapas plates for £18 - delicious. Friendly staff. Will return to try out some of their other offerings.

We had a wonderful afternoon here celebrating a friends birthday. The staff could not have been more attentive and helpful and really friendly. The food was excellent, prepared beautifully and tasted delicious. Steaks were cooked to perfection and the drinks were top notch! Highly recommend for a long lunch!

Amazing food with great service

Fantastic food ! Great steak menu with alternatives. The theme is based on quality food enhanced with superb flavours. So enjoyable.

Stopped for some dinner tonight after a hectic week was lovely to sit and relax and get some great food. Staff lovely can't help you enough. Great steaks of having the chateaubriand to your self make sure it's medium rare and ask for it not to be pre sliced. Mrs sirloin was so soft and moist you could of mistaken it for fillet. We will be back with friends 😊

Worst Ribeye steak I’ve ever had Never known a ribeye to have so much gristle !! No blue cheese sauce fries definitely not 3 times cooked and had no cheese for kids burgers kids burgers were frozen burgers not butchers block as advertised certainly not going back 😡

What a smashing find today. Cosy little pub fantastic food. Helpful and friendly young staff . We had a lovely roast lamb and roast beef cooked to perfection . The rhubarb and custard creme brulee is the best ever. The Irish coffee was very good too. So clean in the pub . The staff were cleaning the menus which is always good to see. We will defo be back in fact we have booked up two dates 🥰

Just been for my first visit to the Bell, wow!! All I can say. The staff and service was exceptional , the food was outstanding and we have already booked to return with family. Never tried the steak, had one of the best roasts out but looking at the dry aged steaks throughout my meal meant I had to return ASAP to try. Will let you know how it goes. Well done to all the staff at the Bell.

We were lucky to dine there twice in as many days and it was phenomenal. The quality of the food, the warm and welcoming atmosphere and the friendly hosts and staff - superb! No hesitation in recommending The Butchers Block and hope to visit again.

Had a really lovely evening. Sean the manager and Will the server were really attentive and friendly. Wasn’t too sure with the first couple of months of change over but definitely have been won over.

Unfortunately a disappointing experience. Table was 35 minutes late. Service was very slow. Item on the menu not available. No apology. Shame as we were looking forward to having somewhere local for a Sunday lunch. Can not recommend.

Our first time at The Butchers Block Bearsted for Mothers Day lunch. Lovely food, good service, nice atmosphere. Would definitely recommend to friends.

1st time since taken over for Saturday lunch with the ladies. Great food and drinks. William did a great job of looking after the table very friendly and professional. Lovely atmosphere will be back soon.

Highly recommend this place, had a lovely meal. Staff friendly and food excellent

We were all very impressed with our Sunday roasts. Brilliant service and great tasting food. Will definitely be returning and recommend highly to anyone.

The best roast dinner I've had out in a long time. Their lunch menu is lovely too. Staff are really friendly and a nice laid back atmosphere. So lucky to have this on our doorstep xxxx

Staff were great. Not in your face but there if you needed something and quick to get drinks, menus, take orders etc. Menu choice was a bit limited for a Friday night (Sunday’s looks better…) and the dish I was looking forward to unavailable, but the place was busy and atmosphere was good. It’s a steak house so, as you’d hope, the steak was reportedly really very good, especially with the addition of garlic butter, but unfortunately the burgers not so consistent. Of three burgers, one smelt noticeably dodgy (distinctly different from the others, in a not good way) which was quite a put-off. Remainder of the meal was eaten (without the patty and without complaint) and when asked for feedback it didn’t feel constructively received and the chef was quick to blame the ageing process for the smell, which didn’t explain the difference between the three burgers and sounded more like “stupid punters don’t know what they’re talking about” excuse. Based on that un-customer-friendly, and arrogant sounding, reaction alone I’d be inclined to choose somewhere else before going back, which is a shame, but maybe we’ll try a Sunday and stick to real meat only,, in the hopes the Bell lives up to the Burham restaurant.

Finally made it to the Butchers Block at the Bell last night with friends. The food was absolutely superb along with the service. Look forward to visiting again and again in 2024.

Good restaurant, especially Beef and steaks

Visited here for Sunday roast. Would highly recommend and can’t wait to go back to try the steak. Wonderful atmosphere, food and a great wine list!!

Visited the Butchers Block at the Bell on a Friday evening. Sat in the dog friendly bar area with our dog and had a fabulous dinner. Home made hummus and flat breads to start and a fabulous burger for my main. My wife had the lamb shank which she said was delicious. Great service and a lovely bottle of organic red wine made for the perfect Friday night. We will be back.

Another fantastic Sunday lunch, from the team at butchers block at the bell! Great service from the new team, atmosphere was great. The clotted cream rice pudding was to die for!!! Looking forward to returning soon!!

Thank you team BB at the Bell for a fabulous family Sunday dinner 😋. One of the best roasts you’ll get around. Amazing roasties, perfect Yorkshire puddings and beautiful tender beef! Can’t wait to return soon 🎉

A little gem with great staff and food would def recommend

Brilliant meal - starters were amazing- couldn’t choose so had two and both did not disappoint! The fillet steak cut like silk- if you want exceptional steak this is the place to go! Had the cheese board for dessert- range of cheeses were really good as was the wine! Already booked to go again! Enjoyed it so much I forgot to take any photos! Our waitress Kirsty was lovely and really good!

Fantastic meal, best steak I've tasted in a long time, these guys obviously know a thing or two about meat, which is not surprising as I'm told the owner has a background as a master butcher....!!!

Wow! Had the most delicious Sunday roast at the new Butchers Block at the Bell. We had the roast sharing platter and it was amazing.

We were looking forward to our 1st visit as it's on our doorstep but left very disappointed. The place has been done out very nicely and there were plenty of staff. I ordered the fillet steak, the steak was very good and cooked medium rare the way I ordered it. The issue was the accompanying items, hasselback potatoes, there were 3 small potatoes that looked more like boiled potatoes with a light scoring on the top. Usually they would have deep scores and would be nice and crispy these were nothing like that and very bland. The roasted onion was more raw than roasted and had no flavour. The garlic butter was rock hard, I expected it warm so it could be poured over the steak. My partner had the lamb and said that it was really good. When they came for the plates they asked if everything was ok I said the potatoes and onion was undercooked and they said they would tell the chef, no apology. For dessert my partner ordered the Cherry Bakewell Torte with cherry and Kirsch sorbet. The torte was actually chocolate with no taste of almond or cherry, the sorbet was grainy and full of ice crystals and not smooth at all. It was left unfinished and the waiter told of the issue, they took it to the kitchen then returned to say they would take it off the bill with no explanation why it was chocolate not cherry Bakewell, she therefore had the crème brûlée which was ok. I had the peacan pie and it was nice. We will not be returning any time soon

Had a beautiful Sunday lunch with the family

Sat in the bar for Sunday roast Food hot Service excellent Bar crowded so meal not very relaxing Pie delicious Roast lamb rare and raw

Had a superb meal at here last night . We have ate at Burham numerous times and this is just as good . Amazing food, great service and a lovely atmosphere. Well done Simon and Jo . Spot on

Just had a fantastic roast here.. absolutely amazing!!

Really lovely pub, great staff, cracking outdoor area and beer garden in picturesque surroundings, with loads of parking. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ANYONE!!

Incredible fresh Thai food, superb flavour.

My first Pad Thai Noodles and they were delicious and very filling, the staff were very friendly and helpful too

Went Friday night for the music. Didn't have food so can't rate. Bar ladies were friendly and efficient. Music from Keith Highfield was excellent. Atmosphere was great. Thoroughly enjoyable night.

Lovely pub with a good size garden. The Thai food was delicious and the bar /eating area is nicely laid out.

The experience was brilliant and the food was excellent. Dog friendly and heaters on the outside area was brilliant. I would like to mention that the staff are excellent especially the woman that brings your food to the table. The music was good as well and it was a friday night just a brilliant start to the weekend.

This pub has it all, proper pub

All I can say is absolutely delicious Thai food. I wish I lived nearer I would be in everyday.

Delicious food, reasonable prices too.

The bell Inn is about a 20 minute drive from where I live but is one of the nicest pubs that I've been to. The staff are friendly the atmosphere is warm and inviting, the live acts are lots of fun and the food is amazing!! A definite must for the food.

Sadly only one real ale, green king IPA.

Good little pub for a beverage or two 😀 - log fire 🔥 for u romantics out there!

Great food, great service, and a lovely atmosphere. Worth every penny!

Excellent local, good company, decent beer & easy parking. Had many Thai takeways and really no complaints.

Great little pub, loverly staff. Thai food on site, sky sports. Decent choice of beer's at fairly reasonable prices.

Food okay, service so so slow. Would not return

Small portions for a high price, the Pad Thai was a clump of noodles nothing like a real Pad Thai, half way through our meal the band started up so we couldn’t hear each other talk First and last for me

Me and the Mrs went there today. The food is amazing, the best spring rolls I’ve ever had. The beer was superb, and could not fault the service. To top it off , the live music was great as well. We had a fantastic time and would recommend the pub to anyone. Enjoy 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺

The best Thai food but the alcohol prices are very high.

Fantastic night. Great staff and a great band. The locals are lovely and very friendly. Thank you xx

Wonderful pub, great entertainment and the food was perfect #gluten free options

Absolutely appalling service. After a sad day at a funeral my family had gathered to have a take away. At 6pm I arrived home and tried to order online. On an iPad there was no way to place your order into a basket or confirm a booking. I rang in the hope they would take an over the phone order. The lady told me that they could not take an order over the phone and nor could she help me with my online order. My brother then managed to place an order at 7.15 on his phone for a 8.30pm collection. I left to pick it up at 8.10pm and arrived to find out that she had cancelled the order at 8.15. Understandably I was extremely upset. It was now 8.30pm, an hour and a quarter had passed since we ordered and we did not have food and had to wait longer to order food elsewhere! Upon telling the lady I was upset her response was the kitchen closes at 9?!? Well we ordered just after 7pm!!! Absolutely terrible service. I’ve heard the food is good but I will not be trying there ever again!

The food was tasty and divine. Atmosphere and decor was beautiful and relaxing. Enjoyed our time there and the staff was very friendly and professional. Will definitely be going back there.

Great pub, amazing food and band night spent with friends.

It was ok if you like Thai food then give it a try. It is a traditional pub with all the beers available it has a nice seated area out the back, one that is covered and one that is not, The staff are very helpful and polite, couldn't fault them at all, the food was ok, the starters were lovely, forgot to take a photo! For the main we had beef chilli jam with rice which was supposed to be medium but was far to hot and spicy for us, we both felt there was just something missing, it was nice but just something missing. If someone were to say they were going I would say try it and see what you think, but personally, would not be in a rush to go back again.

We called late in the day for a reservation for two people with a dog All worked out well. The food was amazing. The wait time between the main course could have been shorter for others, but I loved that there was more time between the first and second course. We ordered the fish cakes to start, they were delicious, fresh and spicey. I then ordered the green Thai curry with prawns.... Hot. It was so delicious, one could really taste the authenticity of the cuisine. My husband ordered the Massaman curry, another amazing choice. If you enjoy excellent, authentic Thai cuisine, you will love it at the Bell Inn. Highly recommended. Enjoy!!!

The "pub came Thai restaurant" was a very pleasant surprise and fantastic change to the regular pub food menu. The Thai kitchen is original and the tastes of all dishes are spectacular. Each meal is freshly prepared and you can even watch by peeking into the kitchen (if you don't disturb the very busy cook) I had chicken Massaman curry - if you're asked "hot?" and you say yes, then expect to be on fire after your dinner :) My wife loved her green curry, also hot. We both agreed that we haven't had better Thai food before. As mentioned in other reviews, the wait for the main dish can be a bit longer, but is worth it. Staff is very friendly, but also busy. If you want to sit inside, best make a reservation because they get busy every day. Prices are fair. We would come back more often if we lived in the area. Thanks for the great experience!

Great place to eat and drink. The Thai food was just like being in a beach side restaurant in Phuket, outstanding. Service with a smile too. Fantastic.

As an asian person, I would say the thai food are authentic and it tastes really good. Would come back again. Well done The Bell Inn.

Lovely food. Will definitely go there again

Staff are working hard, somebody has spent some dosh Thai food is OK...just OK. But something is definitely missing. Needs a push in the right direction.

Food was absolutely amazing, best curry I've had and the dessert was awesome too. Really friendly staff. Definitely recommend!

Really lovely afternoon Fabulous Thai food Good singer We will definitely return to this restaurant!

They have live music over the weekend and have an excellent chef serving Thai food

Nice outdoor area, staff friendly

Great friendly staff. Meals cooked to our tastes. As waiting staff explain how hot/mild the dishes are. Very friendly and not overly priced. Can highly recommend. And shall return.

Great live music on a Friday night

Nice food friendly atmosphere good experience.

Firstly, I would like to say that the food here is AMAZING and in the main the staff are too! However, the policies that are affect their approach to customer service is shocking which is so disappointed as it was one of my favourite places to eat! I gave up ordering takeaway a few weeks ago because the website never works and won’t take card payments! I’ve rung directly a few times to see if I could order on the phone and was told, quite abruptly, no it had to be online. Today we popped in for a few drinks and a quick bite to eat and were asked to pay for our food whilst we were in the middle of eating! I completely understand there have been issues with people leaving without paying but they should either ask for payment at the time of ordering or at least wait until the meal is finished and ask for the bill to be settled then. This is embarrassing for the poor staff that have to ask you to do it and extremely unprofessional from a hospitality point of view. I’m afraid to say this latest issue has really put me off and whilst I love the food and the pub itself, I’m not sure I like it enough to eat there again. Such a shame!

Good beer, excellent service and superb Thai food!

Been here a few times before and the service was good but last night we ordered take away and the lady was quite abrupt to the point of rude over the phone. ***Will here-Nicky's husband - I fully support Nicky's review. In all honesty I would have given a 1. I heard the conversation last night and the lady was unnecessarily rude, it was only after Nicky deescalated the situation, that she THEN explained that the food would not be ready prior to 8:30 to prevent it from getting cold but before that it was very clear that she was annoyed that we were calling before 8:30. You don't know our personal circumstances, you don't know whether we had an emergency why we were calling before 8:30. Whether or not you are annoyed with a customer - you job is to provide decent service, especially for a service we are paying for. We ordered 7:26pm so why is it so much of a bother that we called 45mins later to asked whether the food is ready - unbelievable. The fact that you've stated 'you dont know where we get our take aways from', means you clearly expect every other business to operates exactly like you and the expectations should be based on your business. That is a very arrogant and distasteful statement to make to your customers. Also how is it any of your concern where else we order from? How does that come into this?

Great Thai Food, very authentic. Nice pub.

Amazing thai food! All of us ordered something different and every dish was spot on! Will be coming back for sure! And the two ladies working were a right laugh!

Enjoyed our first visit here. Ask for a GF version of the menu, was asked by waiting staff if gluten intolerant or coeliac. A lovely lady presented herself at the table , explained her daughter was also a coeliac so she fully understood what could and couldn't be ordered . Unfortunately nothing from the starter menu was GF , which meant only a main meal as no dessert either . She said they were looking Into a single fryer to enable them to at least offer pancake rolls , a very simple deep fat fryer is less that £20 , that would suffice for a single portion if spring rolls , as a group no-one ordered starters as our GF couldn't join in . The price of our lost revenue could have bought one. . All that said our GF guest massively appreciated her honesty and thoroughly enjoyed the main meal . Wish I'd been told on booking its card only transactions as I only carry cash and had to ask another guest to pop it on their card. My points aren't meant in any way as criticism , but constructive comment . We will return again .

Lovely pub, great pub atmosphere

Not the best Thai food I’ve had,pub atmosphere and service good.Would go back for a drink maybe.

A pub with an outstanding Thai food menu! Genius. Food was amazing and staff are very attentive. Good selection of drinks and reasonably priced. They also have a huge car park, which is a bonus.

Great old fashioned pub turned into a very good Thai restaurant.

Brilliant service also food really good had a great time

Food is really good however they struggle handling large groups so food arrival was a bit random and disorganised. My main meal arrived after nearly everyone else had finished theirs. They also forgot my dessert and closed up the kitchen for the evening. I expect that they will not have the same issues for smaller groups. Note was told card only for food but tips in cash otherwise it may not get to the staff.

Unfortunately it was very poor. I have scored two stars rather than one because there was a significantt reduction in the bill to compensate. The main problem is that they say "Noi's food is cooked to order, so you can have each dish just how you like it " and this was proved totally untrue. One of our party is allergic to coriander and when asked to avoid it, in practice it was not possible. The only starter available was prawn crackers and literally we were told only one main dish was available. This turned out to be a very bland noodle dish. We were asked to decide whether we'd like our dishes mild, medium or hot and three of us went for medium as were told hot would be very hot. My dish as medium was very enjoyable, but I would classify as very mild, which is probably why my wife's mild selection turned out bland. On top of all this our main courses took nearly an hour and a half to appear and when they did one order was wrong resulting in three of us eating our meals while the other waited for his to be cooked. I may be wrong, but I feel the popularity of the take away facilty impacts on those dining at the pub. I feel it causes a problem in the kitchen which means food is pre-prepared (so not truly cooked to order in the way advertised). Friday night is busy for diners and take away and it seemed to me the kitchen couldn't cope.

Family loved the fresh and spicy food. Delicious!

Amazing beer and incredible Thai food. Great waiting staff, who are very welcoming. Definitely worth a trip.

Lovely Thai food. Amazing Guinness too. A real surprise to find this locally.