Rowlands Bistro in Medway

Tried last night for the first time, excellent food and service, with a really friendly atmosphere. Will definitely go back again and would 100% recommend.

I recently visited this restaurant with some friends to celebrate a birthday! We had excellent service, from meet and greet as you walked through their front door. Once sitting they swiftly took our drinks order and gave us enough time to browse the set menu before ordering. Food was extremely good and delicous! Our waitress for the evening waa very knowledge about the food on offer within the restaurant. I would highly recommend this place to eat to others.

Absolutely faultless Fantastic food and service Really good value with good portions and a good price from a very good menu. We will be back 😁. Been back for a third time and still can't fault it 👍👍

Excellent venue friendly staff and excellent food

Beautiful food service fantastic definitely will visit again

Great meal, great service with a smile. Thanks you :)

Have not been here for a few years. Was not disappointed. Lovely food, great service and atmosphere. Will be back soon. Thanks for making my Mums 80th such a great night

Great restaurant in Gillingham. Food was really tasty and at a reasonable price. Staff were friendly and accommodating. Will definitely be back.

Had a great evening out staff very friendly

One of the little gems you stumble across. Steak is very good and best in the area. As a little local restaurant top marks, nice staff and good vibe 5☆

Nice steak today in a nice atmosphere. Shame I don't live nearby as ill stay at the bar after eating. 5☆ thanks

Delicious food, friendly service from staff who could not do enough for us and all at a reasonable price. What's not to like!

Love this place, love the fact the menu hasn’t changed since it started in the 80s There’s a real market for this type of food Prawn cocktail, Steak chips onions, mushrooms, onion rings, hot fudge Perfect We got engaged here in 1991

Nick and his staff at Rowlands never fail to deliver an exceptional service. Great variety of dining options suiting all dietary requirements, a healthy selection of Gin.

Very good food,been going there a long time never been disappointed with the food and the service

Had a party of 24 good food great waitress would recommend to any one will be going back

Excellent value for money with well cooked food and a good range on the menu. This was an early evening booking when the restaurant was quiet but by the time we left it was very busy showing how popular it is.

Great place to eat. Food was lovely, good choice and good value. Service from enter to exit was pleasant, quick without being rushed.

Loved the atmosphere here, great menu and drinks selection.

Absolutely blooming marvellous...great food, great atmosphere, brilliant staff. Always have such a lovely time when we eat here.

This is my first visit to Rowlands Bistro and it was absolutely lovely, great atmosphere and the friendly staff were brilliant, the food was delicious and my compliments to the chef for the food, I will absolutely be booking a table again, my older brother recommended Rowlands and I was glad he did so, thanks one and all at Rolands , I won't put down the meals we all had because it was perfect thank you. Best wishes from Paul Brunton. 😋🌝👍

It was a lovely meal, and evening .

Lovely food, great attention to particular food requirements and great atmosphere.

Great atmosphere and friendly staff. Food is well presented and tasty, great value too.

Great fathers Day meal at a great price. The staff were polite and friendly.

Been several times. Excellent service. Not the largest menu but it's all good at a reasonable price.

Fantastic restaurant, really lovely food and great service. Highly recommend

We've been going to Rolands for over 30 years and the standards have never dropped in all that time. Great staff and lovely food. Rowlands is always our "go to" place celebrations with family and friends or just for a meal out.

Just love Sunday lunch at Rowlands. which usually attracts an older age group, and has the atmosphere of times past, a more genteel age, when people were not 'mettled and inked ' so much. Sunday lunches are popular so best to book, by phone ,not internet. I know the menu , and just enjoy thinking about my choice days before e.g. the beef and mushroom pie served in a dish with puff pastry 'hat', or the tender lamb cutlets. then there is my favorite cheesecake with a choice of ice cream or cream. I do not need to see the encapsulated plastic menu card , they could be used as placemats, so always available for reference. The bill comes with handwritten order and till role nicely explaining the charges. Please do visit you will love it, as I do. The visit brings back memories of my childhood when I bought my Dinky Toys from the same premises. please do not change anything !

Very Friendly staff, good food fast service, plenty of time to eat, not rushed to leave table.

We have been coming here on and off since it first opened way back and it NEVER disappoints. The food is always cooked just right and the prices are very reasonable. Mushroom starter and beef in red wine are my favourites. Service is great and it has a nice vibe - well done to all of you!!

Lovely meal for 18 on Saturday night. We were a “high maintenance” table with a severe nut allergy, drinks tab and surprise cake to deal with. Nothing was too much trouble for the lovely staff. We all had a great evening with good service and lovely food. Thank you

Great food, awesome service, can't recommend enough.

A great Restaurant with great service and great food !

Been going here for years and there is always a nice atmosphere. Never disappointed with food or service and prices are very reasonable

Delicious food with good portions, served hot. With a relaxed and calm setting with great staff highly recommend

We attended here for Mothers Day. It was a set menu however there was plenty of choice and everyone really enjoyed their meal. The only downside were the potatoes however everything else was lovely

Good food. Good service. Good surroundings.

I don't know how they manage to always produce amazing food with such a varied menu but I'm really glad they do. Went with friends, 2 of whom had never been before but who now have Rowlands on their list for the future.

Had a meal in this restaurant and all I can say , all I can say it was one of the best meals I have had . The food was delicious and so many flavours and the staff were great , friendly and made you feel welcome

A traditional local restaurant , with a large menu choice .I had the Sunday menu lamb cutlets simply superbly cooked . Will be pleased to put on my list of future venus to visit again

Once again a superb meal at this great Bistro. As one family business to another, Rowlands demonstrates exactly what you should expect from a local eatery. A great welcome, food very well presented and attentive servers. And then there is the price. Amazing value for money. A quality Bistro run by a lovely caring family providing top drawer food. Tony and Vicki Brown Browns the Florist

Amazing, love this restaurant so much Always good food.

The staff were really friendly but alas the food was average. The puddings were great but the mains lacked flavour.

Not great this time, food very dry and overcooked

Such a lovely restaurant. Friendly staff, always welcoming. The food is awesome. Such a choice, even on the set menu. Reasonably priced. The service is extremely good. Never had a bad experience here. Totally recommend.

Great food and service, and a lovely atmosphere. A hidden gem in the Medway Towns - a beautiful French bistro. Had a great meal with family, highly recommend the beef in red wine sauce and the children's burger.

Nice food, lovely staff, a pleasant experience. Will be back.

What a wonderful evening. Good service very attentive Staff, extremely friendly. The food was amazing. Even though we were the last people in the restaurant, we did not feel rushed or any under pressure to leave an excellent experience and I would thoroughly recommend it to everyone. Well done. Not many restaurants left that treat you like an individual ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I haven't been here in a while but omg the food was excellent 😋 staff were friendly and a good atmosphere look forward to coming back ☺

Great atmosphere in this family run Bistro. Friendly and very welcoming staff. Well stocked bar. Excellent food, good portion size, extensive menu, good quality ingredients and well presented. Highly recommend a visit. Will definitely be returning.

Went for a family meal all the food was great and service was amazing good value for money as well for 4 people starter manin and deserts as well as drinks came to about just over £200

Absolutely wonderful, food, staff and atmosphere. 100% recommend

Great night, will return. Chicken satays were a bit mid, the texture was a bit rubbery and the filet steak, personally I have had better. But good hosts, dessert was great!

Delicious food served by helpful waitresses in a warm friendly atmosphere what more can you ask?

Fantastic food Fantastic staff always feel like home

Went there for a late Christmas celebration was amazing

We came for our Christmas Dinner, which as you can imagine was pretty expensive. Having processed the whole thing a few days later, I can only conclude we were badly ripped off. The best thing I can say about it is that the staff are very nice and friendly, there was a fun atmosphere in there, but the food was the stuff of school meals. For starters we all had pate. Pate and toast is impossible to mess up. Following that, came the Christmas fayre, I had turkey with all the trimmings. Firstly, you had to put up with it arriving with gravy all over it, and none extra in a gravy boat. The kids did not want gravy but I wasn't about to start scraping it off onto my plate. The first massive disappointment was the Brussels sprouts, two of which were quite hard, some a little softer, but none cooked enough to be fit for Christmas dinner. I know it isn't the fashion to boil veg to death these days, but neither should it be raw. The carrots weren't much better, large under-cooked slices. There were two types of potatoes, boiled and roasted. If you're going to do two, I prefer mash. However, if it were to continue in school meal style mash would be worse. It would probably arrive looking like it had been put on with an ice cream scoop just like at school. The turkey meat was tough as old boots. Usually the fault with turkey is dryness, but somehow it was very chewy and in thick slices. There was a lot of it. I mean, LOADS. Absolutely loads. The roast potatoes were curious. One of the kids said they were like "Spanish chips" by which she means patatas bravas. And they were. They tasted nothing like roast potatoes. The smell reminded me so much of school dinners. Potatoes from a British canteen. The desserts were alright, after all, you can't really mess up a cheesecake you bought from a supermarket. The blob of whipped cream from a can was less than generous though. On the way home, I started to realise I'd been had. For what we paid in there, we could have had an evening out in a proper French Bistro in San Sebastien, chomping on moules and langoustines cooked by a Michelin star chef. I did enjoy the general atmosphere. It is a very British place and that was pleasant. To share with my countrymen the meal that most represents our national character made it worthwhile. I also hate cooking Christmas Dinner these days. It did, however, remind me not to take my kids reaction to my Christmas Dinner too personally. They didn't eat much of this one, either. At least I do eat my own and it is made to my liking. We may be staying home next year. I'll save my pennies for the next time we're in a country where the natives can cook.

I had the pleasure of eating a wonderful meal here on the 22nd. I was part of a large party and we had their Christmas menu. The food was hot, fresh and delicious. The service was very good. The staff were friendly and helpful. The only criticism I have is the toilets! Alot of the party I was with, we're elderly and some had mobility issues. The toilets were located down a few steps. The toilets themselves were very small and would be difficult to use for anyone with walking sticks or other mobility issues. I understand that the building is made that way but just one disabled toilet upstairs would make alot of difference, not sure how someone with a wheelchair would manage 🤔. Other than that, Rowlands is a lovely place to eat.

This place has everything, from entering, to departure, the front desk is so helpful. The staff are amazing. Been a few times, so my comments are out of experience . The food is amazing, the service is superb and most important, the prices are great . Don't think about going ti rowlands bistro, GO

A Friday night in December, its very busy and there are nine of us in our party. But from the moment that we ordered our first drinks at the bar, to settling our bill at the end of the night, Nick and his team provided top notch service. Our main waitress (sorry I can't remember your name) was brilliant, as were the other members of staff that helped her out when required. The food was excellent, with all nine of us having three courses that were well presented, tasty and hot when required to be. Highly recommended.

This is always a great place to eat, food always amazing and great atmosphere

First time visiting with friends for a Christmas meal. Food good with nice size portions and reasonable cost for what we had. Would go again. Lovely Christmas pudding.

First impressions last and this was a flawless experience. Food was excellent and the staff were very friendly and helpful. I would definitely eat here again 👌

A friend took us here and the food was delicious, plentiful and all tasted great. Great portions at very reasonable prices. Lovely staff. If in this area would definitely come back and can highly recommend.

Part of a large party of people on a Saturday night, organiser book for 14 even tho 16 of us ?? .. the restaurant were fab , on it straight away moved a couple of guests rearranged a both divide and very quickly had the problem resolved. The whole place is run like clockwork, we were 1 large party amongst 6 or 7 other large bookings but you'd never know. Owners obviously employ the right amount of staff to cover the needs, rather than heaping more on a reduced number of staff .. I As a caterer I was very impressed, the food was all served quickly and without delays and was of a good standard and amount . Overall ..VERY IMPRESSED. . From management to all the staff , your doing a great job .

Very nice meal with generous portions

It's always a pleasure to come here cos you know what to expect, tried and tested menu, good friendly service

Great restaurant with a very reasonable set menu. It's not changed a lot here in many years, food, service or decor but in this case that is a good thing as they serve excellent food at a good price. It is nearly always busy, so I like the approach of if it's not broken, then don't fix it. Keep up the good work.

First time at Rowland's bistro. Me and my partner both were amazed at the quality of food and service. Both had a 2 course meal and all dishes were cooked beautifully was never left waiting long for service or food and for the price it's brilliant. Will definitely be going back soon

Been going to Rowlands for over 30 years. Food is really good and we have never had a bad meal here and atmosphere is very calming. Staff are really lovely and it’s run by a really lovely family.

Really loved the experience. It's the first time I've been there and I really enjoyed it. Staff were really attentive, and the service was great. The meal was lovely, Apologies for the fact that I was hungry, so there were no pictures. I would totally recommend this place.

We wanted to Treat my Sister and Husband to a nice meal so we asked them to pick somewhere nice for Dinner before we returned to Australia . They chose to go to Rowlands in Gillingham Kent . The Restaurant is on Watling Street , Gillingham . It is a Bistro with a comprehensive Bar and a Good Menu to suit all tastes . They are also very reasonably priced . My Sister did the reservation and we met at the Restaurant at 6 PM. The Restaurant is a good size and caters for groups as well as individuals . It is a very popular Restaurant judging by the procession of customers coming in after us . Our Lovely Waitress took our order for Drinks and then our Meal orders . I ordered the Beef in Red Wine , my Wife had the Minted Lamb . All our meals were substantial and delicious . The service was Friendly and efficient . The Restaurant has great atmosphere . Highly recommended .

Not bad, a whole lot better than a lot of pub restaurants that serve inferior food

Food was delicious, and at very good prices. Very friendly staff with a very clean and warm atmosphere bistro.

Been going for 35 years, service food and atmosphere always been fantastic!

It was fantastic food can't wait to go back again

Fantastic food, fantastic service with a smile. You will not be disappointed TRY IT !!!

Table for 11: The food was good, service was amazing. Interior was tired and dark. Lovely evening had by all. Restaurant was full and buzzing.

Consistently high quality food reasonably priced with friendly attentive staff. A fantastic family run business. Hard to believe your in upper Gillingham. This gem of a Bistro would hold it's own if placed in one of the swanky parts of London. Frequently vist for business or pleasure and it never disappoints.

Dinner with sister in law 11th August . 8pm . Brilliant service , very busy , food was amazing . Had chicken and toffee meringue . Could not fault the food or the service . 100% return again

My new favourite venue. Lovely food and service.

I have visited Rowlands over a number of occasions over a great many years, admittedly the last time was ten years ago following a move abroad. The place was always a staple for local quality food at a reasonable price. However the lastest visit for a parents birthday was such a disappointing experience. I couldn’t actually believe the place was still decorated the same which is great if the place is looked after , but unfortunately it was looking old an shabby to be honest an a bit sad. Starters were prawn cocktail ( very bland flavour dressing, no lemon) , the mixed mezze looked lost on the huge plate an was very uninspired, cold pitta bread, old olives , the hummus was nice though. The deep fried Brie was also tried a was tasty with the cranberry dip, but at nearly £7 for 3 small pieces is not acceptable. Anyway after the starters we hoped the mains would bring us smiles. Unfortunately only 1 of our group of 4 enjoyed their food a thankfully that was the birthday parent. The veggie lasagne was flavourful a filling a the fries were a good accompaniment for it so top marks there, mother was very happy an so were we 😃. The burger was unfortunately very plain, virtually no seasoning an with just a slice of cheese to partner the beef patty between the dull tasting bun it was “just a burger an not a great one” again the fries were enjoyed though The final mains was the grilled minted lamb. So disappointed 😢 the lamb was grilled far too much ( I wasn’t asked how I’d like it), the portion size for the price was not worth it an on top of that there was a lot of fat. The minting was ok but very light. I opted for the baby potatoes ( they were nicely buttered ) an I went also for the veggies which were over boiled. Time for desert… I’m sorry Rowlands . The hot fudge Sunday wasn’t hot or even luckwarm, there was also hardly any fudge. The cheese and biscuits for £7 you would expect a selection of biscuits (you don’t) an a good wedge of each cheese available however two slices of Brie,cheddar an two very small wedges of Stilton make up this “plate” The cheese was nice however an was not straight out the fridge cold thankfully. The last desert again was mums an she again chose the good one the toffee banana meringue was a winner for her. Service wise the young girl an guy who were waiting on us did a fair job an although it was just them to cover a few tables including a big group at the back they didn’t keep us waiting an were always efficient . All in all we were happy mum had a good birthday meal and that was the main point. I’m sure we will visit Rowlands again but it won’t be for a while I’m afraid. I hope they turn the kitchen and menu around and have a update keeping the favourites an adding some new bits an maybe new styles, slow cooked minted lamb shank for example is so tender an falls of the bone an I would snap that up. Just a thought …

Enjoyable restaurant, nice food, good service, will visit again.

First time here. Atmosphere welcoming and food very good. Go there hungry as portions very large.

Great food and always a great experience. Recommend all the time.

Food and service both excellent

We loved it, food was great, service was great. The minted lamb was lovely

We went for Father's Day lunch it was lovely relaxing, great food, great service. The minted lamb was the best.

A lovely place to eat. Great food at a great price. Why go to a Beafeater for steak when you can come here for a better one

Food quality is very good with good portion sizes for meal price. Great variety on the menu. Very attentive service and lovely atmosphere. There is dedicated free customer parking at the back of the restaurant too. Looking forward to another visit and sampling more of the menu.

Been going here for fifty years always a good meal Had our wedding meal great place

Service and food are fantastic the place is clean and atmosphere was great

Aleayd a hood night at Rowlands , and the service and food never disappoints ..👍👍👍

Had a midweek meal with friends and had an excellent evening.

great CHOICE FRIENDLY SERVICE GORGEOUS FOOD, MEAL SERVED ON NICE HOT PLATES, GOOD PRICES.

Very disappointed this visit. Steak was asked for medium rare and the plate had zero blood and was over done and was very bitty in texture. Also ended up with lots of unchewable fat and grissly bits. I don't like to waste food and I was offered a replacement but I declined but didn't enjoy leaving everything else on the plate. Waitress said she would let the manager know. He didn't approach us once to apologise and no offer to reduce cost of the bill or free drink etc. The manager is usually engaging and friendly but today the whole experience was lacking in all aspects from service to atmosphere and mostly lacking good food which from previous visits over the years it has been. Left feeling very disappointed.

I discovered only yesterday it had a secret dining room. Behind a wooden panelled door! I thought they'd had an extension, but on remarking upon it ,was told it had been there for thirty years. They only use it when really busy. The food is good,honest, & hearty,yet inexpensive. Well worth a visit.

Excellent food and atmosphere. Great service from a family run business. Lovley to be told the history of the business on our first encounter. Definitely come again

March 2023 revisit. Similar group of 9. What's changed? Not much, mostly in a good way. Food still very good and if anything portions too big PLUS cheaper at £20 per head 👍👍👍👍👍 Service; several of the accompanying veg/salad choices were mixed up but the staff were very friendly and the food came from the kitchen very promptly 👍👍👍👍 Atmosphere still very cosy and other dinners. I still feel the decide is tired but other diners were pleasant and enjoying the place too - on a Tuesday 👍👍👍👍 We enjoyed and would happily go again --------------- May 2022 Enjoyable group night out. 12 freemason buddies and our annual end of season supper evening. Good portions, nice food, surprisingly reasonable price per head on the set menu. £23 average, starter, main, sweet and coffee. You won't see that many places. Drinks extra of course but about pub prices so no shocks. Just not 5 stars as I feel the decor is a little tired but that's a personal thought. Service very good and friendly. Proprietor was engaging and very helpful. Recommended 👍👍👍👍