Cote Brasserie in Dartford

We had an awful experience at Cotes, Bluewater on 21 November 2024 in the evening. It was a quiet evening with minimal people inside. We waited for 10 minutes to be seated at the door and was not greeted, we were stared at by several staff who were standing at the front of the bar talking and we stared back to get attention, however we were ignored. Being heavily pregnant, I could not stand up anymore and had to go inside and select our own seats. When we selected our own seats, we were still not greeted again, but stared at again by the same staff who were having a catch- up at the bar. After 10 minutes, someone came over and told us to move, explained I am not moving as I am now conformable and our previous issues at the door were ignored. They were persistent we moved to a more crowded area with lower seats and not conformable for a pregnant person and we refused. Customers should be able to choose their own seats. They seem more interested in getting us to move than greeting us and taking our order. We finally got to the order stage and the drinks and food arrived quickly. The portion sizes were small and overpriced, but we knew we had to order additional sides. Our bill did not arrive after 20 minutes of waiting for it and again the staff were busy chatting at the bar than to bring it over to us. We had to walk over to the bar and told them to bring it over. We refused to pay the service charge as the service was extremely poor. It seems here, staff having a catch- up and chatting is more important than providing a service at this place. This was meant to be our last time of going out in the evening before the baby arrived. Cotes has ruined this experience. We will never be returning.

Ordered a full English and it was probably smaller than a children’s portion. And here’s the portion of beans what come with it.

Vendula was our waitress and she was excellent. We opted for the fixed price menu. Steak was lovely and the banana crepes are to be recommended. All in all a great experience.

Belan was our waiter and he was really friendly. There was a small issue where he misunderstood one of our orders, which meant the wrong meal came. The alternatives my friend wanted all took 20 mins to come so she opted to not have a main. However it didn’t cause much of an issue. The food all tasted great!

I was taken to a table with no delay. They accepted my order quickly, within minutes, and all of the staff I interacted with were very respectful. The food took a little longer to arrive compared to other locations that I’ve been to; however, the food was delivered perfectly cooked, and hot. Absolutely worth the little extra wait. Thank you all very much for a great lunch. I will be back in the future