Novell's Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

It needs a better system where the restaurant is. Long queues need more staff members clearing tables to minimise length of queuing. Many people queuing are elderly and cannot spend long time standing around. Staff are friendly and helpful. There was plenty of outside seating, but cold weather people didn't want to sit outside. Perhaps if they were to cover the outside during the winter months, then it would reduce the time people are waiting to be seated.

Food quality could of been better

This is a lovely restaurant with really good food. I had the pulled pork roll. My wife had the macaroni cheese. The ordering process is online and very simple. However, it doesn't allow you to edit an item, e.g. to specify removing lettuce and tomato from a burger. One thing - the metal chairs are very uncomfortable, which is a shame. Still, it was a very nice establishment, and the food was great !!

My friend and I went but realised it was half term!!! Absolutely heaving!!! Staff were brill. Clearing tables,delivering food etc etc. We had a lovely time but may think about when we go. Bacon butties lovely!

Novell's Restaurant in Polhill Garden Centre, excellent service - gets extremely busy especially around holiday times such as Christmas and Easter. Never been at a weekend so likely to be busy then as well

Would not recommend the Festive Toastie, the cheese was processed and very greasy fries. Cranberry jelly would have been a better choice with turkey than cheese!! The staff were friendly and helpful. Very disappointed ☹️

Love the menu and seasonal offerings. Clean and organised with wonderful staff.

Lovely food today they mixed up but this is not usual. Lovely people

Waiting time is long but that's to be expected as the weekend Food and drinks were lovely

We went at 11:30 and it was very busy we just missed out on the breakfast menu and the lunch menu didn't start until 12 so we were able to have a bacon roll and coffee all very nice

Can be very busy. Several ways for ordering food.

Lovely here, food good, but always seem to wait ages for drinks, was nearly finished my food before the drinks arrived!

They were very busy so self order proved to be the best way

Good food and drinks, really clean, lots of seating available, nice staff, play area, outdoor seating, pretty, a little expensive, baked items ok but not great. Shuts before the garden centre.

Very nice lunch meal and very helpfully staff.

Excellent food, great portions.

Good selection of snacks and meals at reasonable prices. Selection of sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, jacket potatoes with various fillings for £7.99 or £9.99. main meals like burgers or fish and chips for around £15.00. Good selection of teas and coffees. You can order at the till, at an automated pay point or via QR code at the table. The staff were very polite and food was served quickly.

Good food, quick service, but limited and slightly odd choice of things

Very good garden centre cafe, good food and very good staff, well worth a visit.

Popular restaurant in the Polehill garden center. Usually have to queue. The menu is quite limited but the service is usually quick, the food is well prepared and presented and the surroundings are all ways clean. The outside eating area is nice on a sunny day. Not expensive and we use it whenever we go there.

Really quite expensive but guess I should have expected that as there's nowhere else around apart from an awful Toby Inn.

Extensive menu of snacks, drinks & meals. Order by app of kiosk. Prompt & courteous service. Sandwiches are great.

Absolutely wonderful staff - really polite Delicious perfectly baked scone just the right texture! Loved the experience today.

The food was ok some of it was over cooked (ie the vegetables) but overall the service was good.

Lovely food and nicely presented. Quick service too. Though they are slow to clear tables which causes a queue at certain times. They will only let you in if there is a clear table, so that's the problem

Rather like that you can still order online instead of queuing up at the counter...there has to be a positive legacy from the pandemic. I absolutely love their club sandwich which is well priced and very filling. Wish more garden centre cafés were quite as well run and frankly offered my favourite sandwich 😉 Highly recommended

Great place for a quick bite to eat.

No vegan/plant options. Vegetarian “sausages” are essentially croquettes, stuffed with potato, peas, carrots and sweetcorn. Not vaguely sausage at all. Vegetarians can eat a plant based diet, it doesn’t work the other way around though. Perhaps have a vegan option that can be made vegetarian with the addition of an egg and real butter? Very poor selection and dietary requirements are massively overlooked.

Reasonably priced bustling, cafe style restaurant, ordering options good, counter, online via QR and at screens throughout. Plenty of choices but nothing too exciting. Food came fairly quickly given the very busy and large number of customers. Pleasant and modern furnishings, lots of room to move about and outdoor options too. No complaints about the quality or size of the portions. Great for lunch with friends

We used the self ordering Tablet. The three of us ordered coffee and cakes, all three cakes out of stock. At the end of our coffee's, 85% of the tables had the chairs put on them as they were closing. Customers were still at tables which made finishing our cakes and coffee uncomfortable. It's a nice restaurant, would hate to go there when it's full. Very good value for money.

Situated at the back of Polhill Garden Centre. I have never had to wait for a table a they clear them quickly. In spring and summer there is also plenty of outside tables. You can order from your table, various screens dotted around the restaurant or from the service area. Excellent food and service.

Staff are friendly and helpful and the food is lovely. The atmosphere is relaxed. You sometimes have to queue during busy times but it's worth the wait. It can be a bit pricey depending on what you get but overall reasonable.

Food wasn't well cooked and our drinks were bought 10 minutes after the food and I had to ask for them. I also had to ask 2 of the staff and then wait while they brought ketchup from the kitchen. I mean what restaurant doesn't provide sauce with a bacon roll? First member of staff told me there was probably some outside. I had to ask the second person to go and get some.

Great cafe to visit when out garden center shopping. Coffee ☕ was good and bacon breakfast sandwich was delicious.

Usually very good efficient ordering system.... Sadly this last time our flat white coffees arrived to our table almost cold.

Lady showed us to our seats with menu.easy to order at the till.food was very good.I had mac cheese and husband ham egg and chips.perfectly cooked staff very friendly and helpful.

Extremely poor management and service. I can’t imagine a restaurant which has 12 people standing in a queue to order food and the staff not bothered to add another person on the tills. And i can count at least 10 people serving and can see few in the kitchen serving so not like it’s not manageable. A complete disregard to customers. Even if your kid wants just one ice-cream you have to queue for 15mins.

Definitely recommend the large full English brekkie. Absolutely delicious 😋

Very nice, good quality breakfast and good service. Its just a shame that the food wasn't that hot. If we had more time, I would have sent it back.

Visited on a bust day but food and service was great can't believe I haven't been here before great place

Comfortable. Friendly staff. Toasted sandwich was over priced at £7.99 for what it was.

We meet up with some friends, food and drinks were good

I had pie & mash. The pie was tasty, as was the mash. The veg were a delight. The gravy was far too salty & the pastry was soggy. You might say they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. She had pizza. Thin. Tastless. Floppy. As for atmosphere, somewhat spoilt by one endlessly screaming kid. Not their fault. Faultless fast service. We used their online ordering service which worked excellently.

Very busy at Lunch time but for obvious reasons. Great food, always enjoy coming here expecially with my 93yr old Grandad. He loves the Fish and Chips

Oh dear! We are regulars at Pol Hill Garden Centre and so, also regulars at Novells. It is hit and miss with this restaurant. We like the changes in that you don't queue with your food to pay for it, so that it goes cold by the time you get to the till, the new system is far better. We like the open plan, spacious seating, we like most of the staff - who do seem very friendly. What lets it down frequently for us is the food. Bacon like leather, indifferent cakes, prices steep (£6.50 for a coffee and hot cross bun!) Today though, brought an experience of sheer daftness from staff that actually ruined our visit. It was actually quite quiet in the restaurant which made it even more exasperating. I was the only person at the Till when I ordered 2 breakfast dishes that were the same and 2 coffees that were also the same. So the simplest of orders given in total peace and quiet, no one queuing behind me! My aging mother and I sat chatting, waiting for breakfast but both gasping for a coffee. The food however, came first, we hadn't waited long so had nothing to moan about at this point. However, we were half way through our breakfasts when one coffee turned up. On enquiring where the other one was we were told I had only ordered one and I pointed out that it was two, just as there were two breakfasts! The young lady went to speak with the young man on the till, who came up to us to apologise that he had only put one through. This is where things started to go badly wrong. Having realised they had made a mistake I foolishly thought that they had gone off to get the cup of coffee ordered straight away! They hadn't! Time drifted by and realising I wouldn't have paid for the coffee as he had got the order wrong, I asked him if I needed to pay and he said yes, so as my meal was now rapidly cooling and I was still gasping, I paid and thought - any minute now the coffee will arrive! Big mistake, neither the server who knew we were missing a coffee or the guy on the till felt any need (despite having nothing to do but chat to other staff) to make their mistake a priority. By now my mother and I had long finished our breakfast and the table was cleared! So we sat like two idiots awaiting a coffee for another 15 minutes (half an hour from the original time of ordering). At this point I pursued the man at the till and he tells me "sorry, lots of people came in" and I said , "yes (not that we had noticed lots of people coming in!), but they came after and you should have made your mistake a priority as I ordered it 30 minutes ago". But no, by the time my coffee arrived it was 20 minutes after finishing breakfast. The two issues here was the lack of taking responsibility of the situation by 2 staff members who knew I was missing a coffee, and a trip spoiled, as my Mum at 87 gets very stressed with things like this. All she could say to me for the last ten minutes of our "treat" out was "where is your coffee" and to be honest it got to the point where all I could think about was where the hell is the coffee! So a "not cheap" breakfast outing was actually ruined by lack of staff common sense really! We will have a break from eating here - maybe we will go to the cafe at the front of Pol Hill Garden Centre instead for a while before we consider Novells again.

Popped in today for an English breakfast. You can order and pay via the touch screen, and the food is then brought to your table. The breakfast was very nice.

Lovely place to eat. Good selection of food.

Bright, airy and a pleasant place to meet friends. The food was excellent

Excellent food choices. I love the new ordering system.

Handy place to meet up for a snack with friends

Excellent service,value and taste.

Lovely food but they are very popular so expect a queue especially at weekends

Before the pandemic, this 'restaurant' used to be of an acceptable standard, but now it's so laughably bad it's giving Fawlty Towers a good run for its money. You basically can't order any food after 3pm, a cut off time the staff interpret to mean "we're closed" by 2:40pm at the latest. Large numbers of menu items are frequently unavailable, and you can order a cappuccino only to learn, after paying, that coffee isn't available, "but we do have tea". One of those businesses determined to give Britain a bad name by constantly managing down expectations and running down service levels "because we don't have the staff today". Frankly very disappointing for such a large and popular garden centre that receives coach visits from far and wide. Avoid like the plague and go to Otford for lunch instead.

Good food and helpful staff service Good

Had a bacon roll ! worst one Ive ever had bacon completly dried up had obvìously been cooked earlier and left on a warmer for ages !!Husbands egg roll was runny and not cooked properly ! Awfull on all counts !!!

Great place and food well cooked and delicious...no wonder they are always so busy..

Went for lunch with my other half. Chose pizza margarita and cream tea for myself and I was very disappointed. Pizza was very soggy, prevail tomato puree in taste. Scone was dry and crumbled on the knife. My other half had liver with mash and Greek salad and loved it. Like the new service in place and can order either from your table through your mobile, till or screen.

We had breakfast here for the first time and with the app got 25%off. It was good food and a great price. The staff were super helpful too. The only downside was that we couldn't get the discount at the electronic station and had to go to the till instead.

Nice coffee and the roast dinner looked amazing so we're coming back next week for a Sunday roast!

Love this place so much to look at

This restaurant is forever changing, and not always for the best. We waited a couple of minutes to be seated; this was all fine, the lady hosting was friendly, welcoming & explained the routine perfectly fine. We ordered at a tablet like you would at a McDonalds. We ordered minutes between each other, only cold sandwiches, but the wait between our orders being delivered was not expected & annoying. The sandwiches were fine, I had the Brie with the “tomato & chilli chutney” which looked and tasted just like sweet chilli sauce. They come with a full bag of crisps, which was nice, but we had ordered chips on the side not realising. The coffee wasn’t good. I could see a barista machine, and from online research expected a good cup of coffee. It was served with a wooden tea spoon… wouldn’t return in a hurry.

Always friendly and reliable. Food is well prepared and speedily delivered.

I went with a large group of elderly people. We had to queue for tables in the lunchtime rush but the staff were very helpful, the service was great and the food was served very quickly once ordered 👌

Very busy but the staff work exceptionally hard to keep the tables turning over

Poor food quality, cold and took too long. Despite ordering everything together drinks came out and by the time food arrived had finished drinks. The 3.50 bacon roll was small and not worth the 3.50

Nice airy restaurant. Staff were busy but service was quick ,polite, and efficient. Food was tasty and reasonably priced. A bacon,egg,hash brown roll £6.95x2, 1 large latte and 1 refillable soft drink for £20.

Food was lovely. Gets busy, go early. Enjoyed the breakfast roll and chocolate brownie. Big cups of coffee.

Nice little breather from being "Dragged" around the Garden Centre by my Wife...😂🤣😂

Easy to order, good service and reasonably priced.

Service was good, food came out fast and drinks were hot.

This is our go-to place before Christmas. I had the Skinny Decaf Latte with a Vanilla shot It was one of the nicest I have had in a while. It was not cheap compared to most but a welcome pit stop. We also had a hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows and a caramel shot. The portion size was disappointing and no caramel taste. So my advice, stick to the coffee and Biscoff biscuit. In terms of the store it's had a bit of an upgrade so you can order from a site and get table service. This was a bit slow but better than joining a queue like the old days

Clean & efficient, menu has lots for everyone.

Fabulous, excellent service. The food was delicious very good value for money. Thankyou

We met a friend and his 4 month old son, for coffee and cake. It was very busy but we were seated promptly. The lady seating us was excellent, advising how we could order, as we couldn't get the App to work. The food was good and came fairly quickly, as it was very busy. There were plenty ofstaff, keeping tables clean and ensuring tables were available as there was a constant queue.

The first thing that struck me was the dirty trays. I had been in here a few years previously but was not impressed then either. Now they are trying to run it like a mcdonald's. We went to a tablet by a wall placed our order and sat down. 15 minutes later I decided to ask what had happened to our order. The women behind the desk said they was behind on the drinks but we would get it. I said a 15 minute wait for our order was a bit long and how comes we could not just go along with a tray and pick up what we wanted like before. Her reply was if you don't like don't come back. So I replied I won't. Finally after 20 mins we got our coffee and cake. Coffee was OK but cake a tad dry. I will never be eating or drinking in there again. I also noticed the lethargic pace of the mainly young staff. Having been in catering most of my days, I would of gave the place a minus rating . Because it was so poor in service .

Updating my review (Nov 2023) from the previous year (which I have kept below!). They have updated this restaurant now, so that the counter where cakes / coffees were have been removed, allowing more tables which is a good thing. There are now 3 ways to order - your phone, their tablet, or traditional till, which is much better as you have options that everyone can use. The menu is updated with allergens which was great for us (one of us is dairy free), and thank goodness, coffees + cakes came out relatively quickly. Staff much better today as well. Cannot vouch for what its like for the hot food! ************************ Don't bother. Expect to queue without the queue manager explaining anything to you apart from that food is a 25 minute wait, even if you are first for the lunch service unapologetically. Then expect to wait 45minutes. You can't even leave as you pay up front on the cafes app. When you get served expect for your food to come separately and with no cutlery and items forgotten.So frustrating as this used to be a garden centre staple that we all loved to visit, the restaurant cafe at the end of our visit. So disappointing .

We were greeted by a lovely lady who explained the ordering to us and helped us find a seat. Ordering was very easy There seemed to be staff available when ever you needed them They even checked if we needed anything during our meal and had a chat Food was very nice and good value We have visited a few times before the revamp and wasn’t that impressed as it was so chaotic But there’s such an improvement since they have had the restaurant redone. The restaurant is bright and airy. The staff were organised and food was great. We will defiantly be visiting again.

This is a really lovely restaurant. You wouldn't think it was in a garden centre. The majority of the team are young and really friendly. The food cannot be faulted in any way. It was lovely. Was happy with the price of food and drink. Very nice experience 👌

It's just OK. Could be better. Queue for a table, only somewhat shown to it. Order via app or self service device. Easy enough to order. It was busy so some wait times were long. Food was OK, but microwaved to within an inch of its life. Soup bowl was extremely hot, food should be heated then transferred to a cold bowl or plate. The cheesy chips were dangerous, you could really burn yourself on the bowl. Brisket roll was let down by horrible cheese as was the cheesy chips. Overall a typical experience at a garden centre, overpriced for what you get.

Fish and chips today was as good as anywhere. Juicy mouthfuls of fresh fish, coated in a crispy crunchy tasty batter. Accompanying veg very suitable... thank you everyone involved!

Terribly poor all round. We were sat at a wobbly table, which I eventually fixed by wedging a menu underneath. We ordered 2 breakfasts and tea for 2 at over £20 something, at the touch screen thing... After waiting 20 mins we asked politely for an order up date. They were running behind..We asked for our tea,then to at least have something. Tea arrived and was awful, cheap muck like dishwater. After asking again for our order after another 20 minutes(and a visit to the counter to demand a free drink), our breakfasts finally arrived ,minus 1 toast and 2 butter.We had waited near on 50 minutes. The food was anemic and not too hot...poor quality. Never again .Don't bother.

Nice food with nice staff, most are youngsters soo far all have been polite with no issues. Fair prices with nice desserts. Nice that you can order using your phone, hassle free.

Oh dear, what was going on. Long ques to get in your not allowed to just go and sit outside without queing. Had to wait for a table . Order with an app or screen. There is no phone signal, so my code for my food order payment came through as I was on my way home. Luckily, my daughter-in-law has payment on her phone. Gone are the days when you can just go in, sit down, and have a coffee. Food finally arrived after 30 mins. How long does it take to COOK a salad. I was lightheaded by the time it arrived. Allow yourself an hour before you actually want to eat, as this process is ridiculous. Saying that the staff were trying to be helpful and friendly but need organising. 2 staff could be showing people to seats 2 staff carrying orders to tables, but they were all doing all jobs it was chaos. I have been visiting here since I was a little girl. I remember it long before it was camershalized Won't be returning !!!!

Fish & chips swimming in grease. 3 mouthfuls then gave up with dinner. Cutlery diry a nd had to find clean knife & fork. No one to complain to.

My family took me here for a birthday celebration lunch. Would it be cramped and seething with children? I was very pleasantly surprised. It is huge, and the tables are spaced well apart. It was very busy, and we had to wait a few minutes for a table to be cleared, but once seated, it was a lovely experience. The method of ordering and paying is brilliant; either using a QR code or, for dinosaurs like me, face to face at a counter. The food was brought to us very quickly and was plentiful and delicious. The staff were all smiling and pleasant in attitude, and the whole experience was a joy.

We came for a brief visit because we were told that it had been refurbished and was much better than before. We were disappointed because in our opinion it was worse if anything and the prices were more than similar establishments in the south east area. Just another average cafe.

Food arrived quickly but the quality was that of a cheap cafe. All had been precooked and warmed up. Not worth the money, however staff were friendly and helpful

Great experience, greeted by friendly and helpful staff member who showed us to a table and gave us menu's. Lot's of choice to choose from, ordering very easy three options via staff till area, kiosk self ordering and QR code order. I chose the QR code order which was very simple and easy to do from the table. Ps some mobile networks suffer from poor signal in the area they do provide free WiFi to use. Drinks arrived quick so did food which was very nice good quality. Very happy, all staff very helpful/ friendly service excellent.

Good value food,a nice place to eat.

Would have given a five star rating but the Latte was luke warm

Lovely food, great staff, a bit noisy due to school holidays.

Interesting experience! After choosing a table you are advised to order your food etc via an app, but due to either poor signal or IT issues this proved impossible! Luckily a very helpful assistant was taking orders. My food order was delivered speedily & was very tasty but the beverages came from adifferent delivery station & I was halfway through my meal before my drink arrived. Staff efficient &helpful but lacking atmosphere due to the almost warehouse - feel delivery service.

Woefully slow, and staffed mostly by youngsters who don't seem to care much. Like many people there, we waited far too long for a simple order. Seems to me like they've made the self-service process nice and simple for themselves at the expense of customer service. Must try harder.

Nice food but portions too large.

Good selection at a reasonable price

Good food, nice selection and good service

The Beef was very tasty but go cold very quickly Ham Eggs and Chips wa a good size portion but again both meals could have been hotter

They used to serve very nice pizza from big pizza oven. We came here today and realised they refurbished and restaurant is all changed. Expecting the same standard, we ordered pizza bit it was terrible. Its like some frozen pizza from cheap supermarket, it doesn't justify the price as well. Will not eat here again. Such a shame, their pizza was worth visiting miles away but not anymore. Staff and service weren't too bad.

Nice clean easy to use food stop

Really nice reasonably priced restaurant. Had a gorgeous Greek Salad for lunch.