Quex Barn Farm Shop and Restaurant in Thanet

Firstly I'd like to make clear this review is for the restaurant, the farm shop is great, however I wish I could say the same regarding the restaurant. Went inside with the wife in the main eating area on a quite morning around 10am. There were probably 3 other tables seated. The first thing we noticed was the smell, it was pretty bad, I thought it was animal urine smell and the wife said it was human urine! Probably very soaked and dried into the very old wood flooring! (No joke) We placed the order by 10.30 and it took at least 30 minutes to get our basic breakfast. It's wasn't busy! Nobody was waiting, just us, all seated just had drinks. They are very relaxed and in no rush! The kitchen would never handle a busy morning. The only quality thing about the small English breakfast was the sausage, however, definitely not worth £12. Beans tasted cheap and horrible (asda brand is better) The poached eggs were machine made, hardly not runny at all. That's was £7 for 2 eggs and toast! Basic bread. So in general very disappointed, needs massive improvement with the kitchen efficiency, chefs and menu!

The best meal I've had in such a long time. The walnut steak salad was incredible. Service was warm and friendly. And you can't ask for a better setting..

Superb place excellent Butchers, fishmonger, bakers etc. snack bar excellent great cakes. Wish this was nearer to my home. Thoroughly recommended for a visit and shop!

Fantastic service and brilliant food for breakfast definitely highly recommended. Shame I don't live local.

Came for a cup of tea, felt like we were disturbing the rude unwelcoming staff. They need replacing. Tables crammed in a small untidy space felt like we were sitting in a furniture storage. Won't be back.

Nice lunch. Not a huge menu but what they do, they do really well. Thoroughly recommend the walnut and blue cheese salad and the mackerel salad. Reasonable prices and staff really helpful and friendly.

Great lunch today at Quex Barn. Lovely fresh produce and excellent service.

Quex barn has a brilliant butchery team unfortunately no fishmonger anymore.

Just had a lovely Sunday roast at quex barn,wow just the best I’ve had in years,hubby had fish and chips ,that was great too,all in all a really good experience,we will visit again soon,we also took our small dog with us and he was made to feel very welcome,all the staff worked very hard too, compliments to the chef,well done everyone,see you soon.

Quex Barn is a lovely place but sadly the cafe next to the restaurant lets it down with some very rude girls serving. We found them aggressive and not interested in the customer. One staff touched my food with her hand without realising what she was doing and she insisted we sat at a dirty table which we refused until it was cleaned. We also got hair in our cream for the scones ! Been couple of times but won’t be going back . Sad as it has such potential ! Owner you are losing customers you need to change some staff!

Arrived there just after 9, ordered large breakfast and coffee, cooked to perfection well presented, tasted fresh and as good as it looked, really impressed with the vine tomatoes. Many years since I've had a breakfast that good. Thanks

Absolutely fantastic service at the cheese counter, the young girl who the specs, so helpful and knowledgable.

Expensive, poorly-presented food and surly staff. I won't go again.

Great quality food, however service is slow. Restaurant is now shut on Monday and Tuesday apparently- we came for breakfast and were told they don’t do food anymore on Monday and Tuesday!

The food and vegetables and the shop are amazing and the staff are very friendly and helpful

I've had breakfast here a few times and have never been disappointed. The staff are always friendly and it's a welcoming place. It's good food however I've knocked off a star as I can't have a full gluten free breakfast. Although gluten free bread is available, the sausages and black pudding both contain gluten. Gluten free sausages are so readily available so it's a bit dissappointing. If you're anything like me, a full English breakfast isn't the same without a sausage.

Our go to place when travelling through. It has changed hands recently and I have to say what an improvement. The manager Anna ( I think) is an absolute star. Organised, professional and really lovely. Keep up the good work and we shall see you January

Lovely full English breakfast. In great surroundings.

Booked a table at a certain time pre ordered meal .35 minutes late asked how longer would our food be. When it came veg was lovely, beef looked like out of birds eye or findus in gravy. Staff not very happy Won't be going back

What a lovely farm shop and coffee stop to make the experience feel homely and warm. The carrot cake was divine and would recommend if you are in the area to definitely make this a stop in your journey. The farm shop goodies of hot sauces was my little treat and have enjoyed the peach Naga very much.

We visited the area and decided to have breakfast there. This is a lovely farm shop with a nice restaurant. Food was good but the atmosphere was really nice. Loved it!

we go to this restaurant quite often for breakfast, cake, coffee dinner and roast. This restaurant has gone down hill, the service is atrocious, you have to wait to be seated even if you have booked, 10/15 minuets with no one coming to seat you you have to go and ask, then to be told you cant sit at that table because it is booked (yes by us) No one come to serve you although you have already ordered what you want over the phone, The staff are dame right rude. Then to top it all you get some nosy woman come over wagging her finger in your face telling you, you should be patient as the staff are hard working. well it just goes on, so if I were you I wouldn't go there if you like service with a smile because there isn't any.

Lovely little restaurant and great butchers and beautiful deli meats and cheeses!

Nice enough restaurant for a simple lunch but felt rushed through by the waitress

I have heard interesting feedback about this place. Today I popped in to see for myself. A nice array different foods, sweets and other items. Sadly, the service at the till is incredibly poor. My daughter was completely ignored and left standing with an item to purchase. Needless to say. I won’t be back and will favour Gibsons which has a better selection and totally different attitude to their customers.

Really good food at good price, only thing that could of made this 5star is having a steak knife for my gammon. Apart from that, people was nice and kind, area was nice and the food was great.

Never been before Great place to eat friendly staff ,very attentive great value for money Hoping to be back there Again soon

A lovely little restaurant in a great setting. All of the food was reasonably priced and the portions/quality of the food was amazing. Really impressed with every aspect of the experience and can’t wait to come back!

Shopped here for years- its the gem of birchington. Butchers is a* quality and such great service the shop holds so many ingredients difficult to find. Bakery is one of the best.

Dropped by for a bit of light lunch. Wonderfully tasty sandwich but it came with the most delicious home cooked chips I’ve had in years!! Loved it and will definitely be back. You

Although very busy, the staff still had time for you. We had Coffee and cake. Lovely coffee and delicious cake.

For breakfast it really is Full English or versions thereof, so if like me you like something that isn't egg, sausage, beans, mushrooms or any other part of the breakfast on toast ( or salmon or haddock) then maybe not the best choice. My other half loved his FE breakfast and I went to the cake area by the deli and just bought a scone which was lovely for me, being more of a continental breakfast kind of gal. Atmospherea little weird being able to hear others conversations (with no radio or background music) but it is a lovely venue and a great size plate of food, (mostly toast) for the EB lover!

exceptional breakfast, great quality produce, can't fault it. Five star all day long

Lovely shop full of unusual items. Great butchers with lots to choose from. We will be back soon.

Came for my mother's 85th birthday lunch. Originally was going to eat in the farm shop but put off by the young woman at the cash register who was popping cake into her mouth as she stared straight past us. The restaurant was nothing special - my burger was ok, my sister's fish and chips alright, my mother hated her ham sandwich (yes, we know big hunks of bread are what people are after today but it wasn't to her taste and she left it, which was a shame as this was her day). Plus the one type of soggy fried potatoes for all three of the above dishes seemed uninspired. Service was nothing out of the ordinary, just going through the motions. Won't be back.

Fabulous lunch. Couldnt eat it all as usual.

Only had a cup of tea but did notice a lot of cobwebs hanging from the high up rafters and over fresh food counters and on the tops of shelves

We went here yesterday for lunch after we'd been to Quex Activity centre. The food was good and tasty and enjoyed by all of us. The only snag is the service was very slow indeed. We was there 2 hours for a 2 course meal. The restaurant was very under staffed and they all worked very well under this pressure. I thanked them and did mention service wasn't great. However, in these situations communication is good to let people know when arriving there could be a wait. Did see a few people get up and leave as they refused to wait any longer to be served. We will be back as the food was so good. Hopefully service be better next time. Clearly need more staff.

Just read about the staff being bullies and a lad taking his life because of them and apparently the bullies still work there terrible

Reasonable food, but nothing like as good as I recall from previous visits. Service ranged from excellent to incompetent depending whose attention you managed to attract. Left feeling disappointed.

Nice cafe to visit. Lots to do around the grounds too, from paintballing to soft play for children.

Not cheap, but a good place for treating yourself.

Excellent farm shop that literally sells everything, amazing variety of special goods too.

Wonderful cakes and cream teas in the café. Great selections of jam and meat produce to buy. Lots of sweets and chocolate.

A great cooked breakfast, made with quality ingredients and sensibly priced.

Took just under half an for drinks to come, but food arrived straight afterwards, so suspect they timed the drinks to arrive with the food. Food was nice, but perhaps a bit pricey.

Had my mums wake here, the staff were all very polite and friendly and the food was excellent we had a spread and everyone was complimenting how delicious it was so thank you, have been in to the butchers and cheese station a few times also and cant fault it great service.

Scampi and chips. Usually a favorite, but both chips and scampi over cooked today.

RIP Stefan. Butchers should be ashamed. I’m sure this will be deleted.

Lovely breakfast , all fresh and clean , nice warm and good atmosphere, service was good . Would recommend.

Really sad to be told by the owner Ian. That I don’t go there often enough as I dont personally know of him. It would appear my twice weekly visit to the restaurant doesn’t warrant civil behaviour and basic customer service. How sad.. Kind Regards Liza Marchant

Great place to shop Fabulous butchers who all know their trade inside out .. Great café

Had a all day breakfast at the barn restaurant. Really tasty.

Quaint complex. Great products not really available elsewhere. Bit pricey but always good quality. Great place to find a food treat or rare ingredient for yourself or a friend. Even have gluten free products.. bonus

Wonderful setting for the best breakfast I've had in a long time.. great setting. Well stocked busy shop with fresh produce..

Not the first time at this restaurant, food at breakfast very good but it took 20 minutes to place our order because only one of the waitresses seemed to be keen to serve us.

Loved the ambiance and service also the food is too good must visit.

Had a meal there today, asked for my burger to be well done, it wasn't, chips soggy. My partner had ham egg and chips. Ham was thick sliced gammon, not nice. Staff were very helpful. But wont be eating there again.

Today I visited the restaurant with my daughter, neice & children. The food was fantastic however the waitress was very rude & grumpy. On leaving we said thankyou very much but were ignored. Not so much as a smile.Such a shame.

Nice atmosphere, tables set out within shop area for coffee, cakes etc. Expected loose leaf tea in a tea pot for speciality tea - just got a tea bag in its packet and a pot of boiling water! Homemade cake saved the day! Dropped another star as nowhere to lock our bikes in the large carpark. One or two cycle stands would be appreciated as there must be many cyclists who stop by here on a ride.

I love this place. You might think expensive but the quality is worth every penny.

I normally give them 5 stars but the last two times we've been there it has been so embarrassing as we brought friends and family and kept us waiting nearly an hour... Also, the quality of the service and the sausages has gone down... Such a pity...it used to be one of our favourite places...

Lovely place. Friendly Staff. But we thought waiting nearly 30 min for a cooked breakfast was just too long ,considering they weren't busy.

They lost our order so took longer than it should have done.

Good food well cooked very tasty, friendly staff

Beautiful fresh produce meat deli counter fab cheeses. Great fish fruit and veg the list is endless

Not clean, one can had sticky and other dirty stuff on it, the vegetable area was unclean and drab, the farm shop was ok (great amount of vegan stuff), nice vegan sausage roll to go….would i go back. Nope. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. Tiny areas were nice.

I live just around the corner from the Quex barn shop. Popped into the shop it being that local to me, and popped in around 4:30 to grab just a couple of things I needed, I already checked to the refrigerator to see if they had any ham, which they did not. No one was behind the counter so I waited 5 minutes, to be then told by one of there staff members they wouldn’t serve me to cut me some ham, because they have just “cleaned” the meat slicer and didn’t want to operate it. Even though they don’t close until 5:30. The staff member came across lazy and didn’t have a nice attitude.

We have stayed there for long weekend .Accommodation and other Servieces are superb.With just less than 2 hours drive from London .Everything about the establishment was amazing .Very impressed with the shop from where You can get freshest and locally sourced items.Prices where on higher end but given the quality of everything there were fair.Lovely staff .

Breakfast was superb. Beef at the butchers...cannot get that quality anywhere around here..again best butchers. Cannot fault it.

Terrible customer service when overcharged for drinks and food !! Menu at the table stating £1.69 for a can of g&t and was charged just under £4 !!! Kids packed lunch box advertised as £3.50 charged £4.50 at the till! Went back to question these charges and was told ‘it’s an old menu’ sorry what?? Manager William could only give me £2 back for lunch boxes but he was unable to refund for alcohol? As they can not give money back for alcoholic drinks? Is there a new law that I do not know about?? He said-‘all I can say is sorry ‘ 😂no, mate, you can give me my money back! Won’t be coming back! As everywhere nowadays- money grabbing family run business that got no clue about customer satisfaction! Wish I could say to my customers- sorry, old menu 😂😂😂

This is a lovely family-run farm shop with restaurant. They source local produce and its all very good quality.

Sandwiches are great, so full of great fillings, served with a good portion of chunky chips and salad - won't ever have a sandwich anywhere else now!! 😀

Always lovely to drop in for coffee and extra special treats.

Wonderful haven of friendliness and great produce.

Great day at Quex! Bands were excellent. Very lucky with the weather, so families could enjoy the stalls, food and play area.

Quality goods, reasonable prices for speciality goods.

I had a really bad experience with the butcher, who would not cut the fillet steak as required. I complained and the owner of the farmhouse, Ian, personally called me to apologise for the bad service! He called on a Saturday night within an hour of my complaint. Amazing service and very professional. Can’t applaud the management enough! Thank you:)

The outside area is nice, shame the tables were filthy. Nice coffee and good cake selection. The shop was lovely with lots of tempting buys.

If you are looking for a bargain - this isn't the place. If you are looking for quality, variety, exceptional customer service - this IS the place to come! Not only has the place got a fish monger, butcher, deli & cheese counter, it has a pizza parlour and a lovely café as well as a wide range of homemade frozen food and a little pet corner outside. The staff here are exceptional and very helpful. The food on sale, especially on the fresh side of things is expensive, for example a scotch egg is £2.75, however, it isn't a supermarket scotch egg! The products we purchased were of the highest quality and they are well worth the extra £! The staff were brilliant, certainly worth shouting about especially the young lady on the deli / cheese counter today who was so nice. Certainly revisiting - Thank You

Will be going here on a weekly basis to buy our meat from the butchers .. lovely place and staff very friendly 😊

Food very nice. But long wait & missed order. Shame....

Delicious turkey roast enjoyed it and a good portion too! Highly recommend! Local food gem spot! All party of 4 enjoyed the lunch today!

Wow, what an amazing find. We've been coming to the area for years & didn't know about this place. They have a gorgeous farm shop with such lovely staff, a craft shop alley, a dog park & Groomers, loads to do with the kids, a Maise Maze that is open during the summer, paintballing, cafe area & The Secret Garden Centre.

Can't speak highly enough of this place. .... absolutely love it. This is definitely my regular go to for my weekly shop! The produce are all locally sourced at the butchers, fish mongers, in-house bakery and greengrocers. Some of the meat and groceries even come from the Quex Estate itself. The food is amazing..... from the freshly made artisan breads and cakes available at the in-house bakery, through to the freshly made doorstep sandwiches and 3-course meals available in the restaurant. Plus there's also a café for tea's, coffees or even a tipple should you need one after all that shopping! You can also grab one of those made-to-order doorstep sandwiches (all made from in-house items) or a piece of cake to go with your drink should you fancy one. Be warned the size of their sandwiches, along with the salad and chunky chips, are not for the faint hearted! On top of all that the staff in the shopping areas are always extremely friendly and highly efficient. Service with a smile!

The service was not what I would expect for a Mother’s Day meal no special menu no gift for the mums Nothing spectacular Am not sure if I would visit again

Lots of lovely things to buy and lovely and friendly place to visit . 👍

Great food good variety well presented, tasty!

I have been to the barn resturant a number of times, however this is the first time Ive been for breakfast. Ive given this review two stars on the quality of the staff as they amazing and the quality of the drinks, if it was based on food alone they would of been give zero marks. After a long wait of plus 40 minutes this scramble egg and toast arrived, if you can call it that, I sent it back and they brought another one which was cold and not appealing, considering the prices this place its shocking, in the end I left and went hungry. The management need to review there staffing in their kitchen as they couldn’t cope, it was embarrassing for the staff facing the customers. I know the restaurant was taken over in the last year or two but from my experience today its certainly gone down hill, I would rather eat at the Toby Carvery which is much better value for money. Well done to the staff on the front line, you done a great job considering you were put in an impossible situation.

I took a friend to Quex barn for tea as I live local. We waited at the counter for ages while the 2 girls behind the servery continued making coffee etc. Having waited some considerable time we took a seat thinking it was table service, I asked the group on the table next to us if it was and they said they ordered at the counter, so back we went. Having waited 5 mins in total (we were the only customers at the counter) We got served. Imagine my disappointment when my tea came in a teapot smaller than the cup! Consequently the tea was cold by the time it went in the cup, I'm supped up and naffed off. Will not be going back. Very expensive and very disappointing.

First visit after a friend recommended it to us Both fishmongers and butchers had a good selection and the vegetables were seasonal, we will be returning.

The food is fabulous The staff are wonderful 👍

This is purely a sausage roll review. Not sure how much it was as i bought other things too. But it has to be the best sausage roll i've had since the last best sausage roll i ate. Great tasting sausage meat, perfectly cooked and with the correct amount of pastry. Bloody lovely.

Been there many times for breakfast and went again last week. The usual farm shop quality of ingredients had changed to what I would describe as those from a low quality supermarket. Shame because it was always so good.

Beautiful place as always, butchery staff always happy to help me ,and remember me although I don't go there that often, happy and healthy 2022 to you all

Interesting selection of foods in the farm shop. Coffee was average. Disappointing to see that none of the cafe/farm-shop staff wore masks despite it being a government-required public health measure (us and all of the other customers were wearing masks).

Incredible busy but things moved steadily

Lovely! Christmasy sand cosy. Artisan.

Lovely late breakfast, great service, friendly staff.

The farm shop is really good with a very large choice. The cold meats were excellent.