Sundowners Restaurant in Thanet

Visited this LGBTQA community favourite on Friday 25th October. I met bar staff Alfie a breath of fresh air very chatty and it was a nice glimpse through him about LGBTQA community life in Margate. I also met other lovely characters that Friday evening Chrissie full of life and local guy Mark just so open with their stories thank you , These days it’s difficult times and people are short fused about everything but it was lovely to have all these characters in this setting thank you made my evening . I truly felt welcomed and yes you was spot on about the bar Camp I left to go to visit there.

Looks like it's goodbye to Sundowners in its current guise. Can only hope it returns. A wonderful halloween event.

Horrid experience as two staff members Sat right outside toilet listening to my every move. Saturday night was totally empty. Definitely don't go there! Bad music and attitude from security staff. Owner needs to get his priority right and offer a welcoming experience to customers.

Martin has opened the pack and the Charra, he will see what I will do

Staff about as welcoming as an arctic wind. Serving cappuccinos from a packet … in the twenty first century. Such a shame as this is a lovely location. Would not recommend.

Definitely won’t be returning here, bouncer on the door extremely rude and turned us away because there “too many of us”, even though there was only 6 of us and no one was misbehaving. Apparently it’s a rule you can’t enter in groups of 4+. Lots more places nearby you can go, just avoid this place

No drink menu fill like being over charged

This place is a total dump and the staff are even worse. We came for Margate Pride and the service was awful! The staff were incredibly rude, aggressive, abrupt and the manager actually snapped at our group of friends across the bar. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Lovely, friendly owners and staff. Table service on the terrace. Friendly regular customers. Fantastic atmosphere on terrace and in the club. Food is delicious.

Charging people a cover charge to get in here is quite the look. This place needs to up its game. A true indication of what you can get away with when other nearby options/competition is so limited.

Food was absolutely delicious the portions are worth the prices

Great to see a gay bar in Margate and lovely views from the terrace. No drinks menus or prices available and the service is abrupt. We clearly needed a minute to decide (especially without a drinks menu) and felt pressured to order. Would go back for a pint on a hot day, but better pubs in Margate.

Staff where friendly. Had a nice seat outside. 😃

The new food is really excellent. Would recommend the chicken burger with frickles!

Had a great time celebrating my friends birthday

Great food. Lafayettes is sooo tasty. Chef was nice and friendly too. Will come back

Came in for an early tea after a busy Saturday afternoon and needed some tasty food and had heard great things about the new food available at Sundowners. We were not disappointed!!! Great concept, loaded fries, loaded waffles, loaded salads great choices with amazing flavours and the best is you can have each option meat or Vegan and genuinely you can’t tell the difference and the meat eaters had no idea when they were having Vegan options. We had the spicy chick, a Kat named Sue and you’ve pulled all served on vintage Pyrex 🙌🏼 Amazing sides, Frickles with a mustard mayo dip!!! Who thought of that they need a medal. A waffle version or garlic bread!!! They also did sharing platters and it’s all available to take away, we will be back when next at the beach. Last night we had the windows seat and the most spectacular sunset across the beach, perfect.

Local LGBT bar with incredible views across Margate beach. Perfect at sunset as view faces West.

Spectacular view of Margate Beach Side, very attentive staff and good service. Highly reccomended.

A lovely friendly bar and now the added bonus of a restaurant as well. Serving beautifully cooked food thats a little different to the run of the mill stuff. Highly recommended.

We had Sunday lunch today with friends and it was so good, we all ate far too much the staff are lovely nothing is too much trouble, and the sticky toffee pudding is a meal in itself. Fabulous lunch with a fabulous view.

Fantastic place to be. Had so much fun here. Shame I had to come home 😩

Fantastic place to people watch as well as watching the sun go down. Worth a visit if you are in margate.

Amazing place and great location. Staff lovely and attentive so cannot fault this place

Nice to see its still going after the years. Sitting out over looking the beach was nice. The prices seem to be near London prices but guess what Thanet is coming to now

This is a proper lgbtqia+ club. They charge you to go in, but inside there is a pub /club atmosphere with a dance floor and dj as well and the night we went a drag artist. Love it all, and will be back.

My second visit here, everything is great only bad thing I can say was service after ordering was a little slow but I do blame myself for moving seat so was not an issue at all.

Great gay bar in Margate the drag show was brilliant but slow service not to the staff as they needed more on

We wanted to buy an ice cream and the guy at the bar told us to get out of his way. Avoid.

Great Sunday lunch and the service was polite and attentive , highly recommended 👌

Location and view of the sea, nice. Thankfully there are other places in Margate where you can enjoy the sea view! There is a very strange atmosphere in this bar/pub/restaurant that is not welcoming to all people! I would even go so far as to say, there is a hostile vibe from the staff we interacted with. Customer service and even basic polite interactions with customers, appear to be at bottom of the staff/companies prioritise. It's almost as if they didn't want or need the customers 😕 The staff picking and choosing who they will serve or not. An unconscious bias. With the 'cost of living crisis' and post covid times, many businesses are struggling to keep their head above water and genuinely want to open up their business and welcome customers. Not this place! There is no basic ordering system in place. It took about 40 minutes before we spoke to a member of staff. When we asked if we can place an order, we where told "not with me". The staff member walked off. We eventually managed to speak to 2nd member of staff and asked if we could place an order. They said they would be back in a moment. After about 15 minutes later, the 2nd staff member came back. They said "has no one taken your order ?" As we started to give our order details to the 2nd member of staff , who then told us 'food must be pre-ordered'. Completely unaware of this pre-order process. We where disappointed. The staff member didn't seem to register our disappointment and didn't offer us the opportunity to order just drinks (after waiting over an hour for some kind of service). It just really bad business and customer service. The staff member just seemed more satisfied that they didn't have to bother with our orders. There where no signs displayed saying food needed to be pre-ordered. It honestly just seems like staff just picked who they wanted to take orders from. I would appreciate that staff are busy. But some customers seem to have no problems placing their orders, perhaps they where regulars?! And knew about the pre-order system. Please put signs up around the seating area so customers know they can only pre-order food. Customers service in this place appears to be chaotic and rude! I don't see how a genuine business can be ran this way! When even the basic forms of customer service (that all businesses/restaurants/bars/pubs need) does not appear to exist or is only available to a select few. How not to do business! Margate sea-side Town, needs better than this!

Colours and atmosphere was very disappointing, food wasn't great, just in general something you shouldn't even consider 👍 Would look better without the colour

This place is terrible. They charge you to get in and then they won't even let you wear a hat. Avoid at all costs!!!

I absolutely love this place, staff are so friendly, attentive and professional. Food is fab ( especially the prawn cocktail) reasonably priced with Great entertainment, what more could you ask for. I highly recommend

Visited today. Lovely welcoming staff. Will definitely visit again.

Nice place sit in the sun for a few drinks 😊

Nice view of the beach and the staff were nice and friendly on my visit

Excellent LGBTQIAP+ bar with reasonable prices (considering inflation these days) with a good selection of drinks and a VIP spot to watch the sun set over Margate Beach. Staff are wonderful :)

Lovely staff and a great drag show. Will come again.

Best views of the sea and sunsets!

Super slow food service. Absolutely appalling.

Drag queen and a singalong. Such a good night

Great vibe friendly staff - 10/10 for a good pint !!

6 of us were here for Sunday roast and we all really enjoyed the food. It was very tasty with loads of veg and nice mint sauce accompanying the lamb. The desserts, particularly the cherry pie, were excellent too. My only gripe was that the service was a bit slow. There was one other table eating when we arrived but we waited a while to give our order and the drinks were very slow to arrive. When the dessert arrived we had to wait for cutlery and the server took time to wrap the spoon in a napkin instead of just bringing them so we could tuck in. The server was very attentive and pleasant, just needs to speed up a little bit. The view is fantastic and it's a cosy dining area and the prices are absolutely unbeatable for a quality roast dinner. I'd definitely go back for more.

Good place for a peaceful sunset…

One of the best pubs to watch the sunset in Margate. The drinks are an OK price, and I didn't find anyone asking me to pay to watch the sunset as many complained (maybe I was just lucky? maybe not.) The pints are cheap, and it's great to sit and relax for a bit. Margate keeps as beautiful as ever.

Great cocktails friendly atmosphere.

Really lovely Bar in Margate. Popped in for an hour and ended up staying six! The roast on Sunday is incredible value and was delicious, so much we couldn't eat it all! Drinks are really fairly priced and seeing the Bar Team check the glasses before serving, fills my heart with Joy! A truly inclusive venue and the views are stunning.

Nice sitting outside. Inside was horrible!

Staff was a bit rude. They had gay pride weekend So I caught them at the end of a busy couple of days but since it was open they could at least be a bit more friendly since it was my first time but iv heard great things and know ppl who r regulars so I didn't take it personally but if I didn't I would defo not go again. Maybe you should think about customer service rather than jarring up calling us OI what you want? And then asked for the beers on tap they do and got a price list pushed to Me telling me READ IT

Excellent place. Music fab xx great friendly atmosphere

The location and large terrace make this place. The slow service can be forgiven although we would likely have spent twice as much had it been quicker. What rankled though was the ask to pay £5 a head to stay: either to view the sunset or the “show”. I hate to leave a bad review for a community venue but that feels like fleecing. The terrace noticeably emptied after every table was told to pay to stay. What a way to clear a bar of paying punters!

Had a drink and sandwich on the terrace. Table service was quick and efficient. Too much seafood sauce on my prawn sandwich, dripped everywhere. Drink prices ok, £4.80 for a pint of Fosters, sandwiches a bit overpriced. Saw other diners with burger and chips which looked pretty good.

Had an amazing roast and my partner really enjoyed her fish and chips. Great view over the beach.

Have to pay to get in so did not go.

A delightful and friendly bar which is made better with the drinking veranda where you can bask in the sun and watch the Margate holiday world go by. Great selection of drinks, beware the fish bowls! The staff are very attentive and an all round lovely venue to wind down on a warm(!) Summer's day.

Lovely staff who vi the extra mile. Bar staff made sure my drinks were safe behind the bar whilst i used to toilets which I really appreciated. I didn't even ask. The barman saw me ask someone else and he immediately took action and took them and kept then safe. This meant a lot because it reduced spiking risk. Was really thankful and felt like a valid customer

Really friendly, great setting.

We decided to eat outside on the large terrace which was a bit tired looking. Unfortunately the glass of wine was given in a dirty glass. The girls were apologetic however the second glass was not much cleaner. We both had fish and chips which was okay it took a while to come. We were shocked and could not believe that 3 members of staff were standing around smoking. Even as other people came to enquire about a table. We were asked if we wanted more drinks but what with the dirty glasses and the smoking (without washing hands afterwards) we refused. This could be a fantastic restaurant as it has such great views over the bay. So sad that it is run in such a unhygienic, laid back, lazy manner.

The BBQ was amazing iv never had a burger like that before was so worth the money thank you very much UV done an amazing job

If you're willing to wait 20 mins for a drink and 2 hours (literally) for a hotdog, amazing place.

Food good, terrace lovely , upstairs show truly terrible … staff super super lovely!!!!

Casual LGBTQ+ bar with interesting drag acts and kareoke. I would definitely recommend coming during the day to the terrace over looking the sea. We went at night and the day time and ordered a fish bowl and prosecco. Reasonably priced and nothing fancy!

Amazing bar and safe space for all LGBTQ+ peoples!

Never had anything but lots of fun here!..😍

Best Sunday lunch around. Really friendly staff.

Extremely hostile environment, the whole place is off, people running around provoking others to pick fights and the building is not suitable for a club, very old, worn down and dirty. Stay away from this place - it’s not nice guys!

Excellent well cooked family roast dinners with fabulous roasties Yorkshires and plenty of home cooked vegetables. Three courses offer the best value roast lunch in Margate. Fabulous view and music too.

Had a brilliant night at Sundowners Margate to see the incomparable #Joe perform. What a great venue. The warmup act, Drag With No Name, was fantastically funny and talented. The venue has a ton of charm and character. The bar staff were efficient and friendly and the bouncer, Chrissy, was lovely! Such a fun night, would thoroughly recommend!

Absolutely loved it! Went to see Drag with no Name, who absolutely worked the venue in a way that was so natural, and then Hashtag Joe who was so much fun. The owner, Duncan, clearly has a great relationship with his acts and looks after them well. Lovely atmosphere.

Lovely staff, great live music on a Sunday.

Didnt manage to have a drink inside but outside on the terrace it is beautiful 😍 Didnt stay for long as we has driving home but staff seemed friendly and the atmosphere was chilled and welcoming ♡

Nice location overlooking the sea

Fantastic venue, staff and atmosphere

Great outdoor seats to watch the sunset while enjoying a drink

Lovely staff. Great food & live music 😘

Great indoors and outdoors. , Sundowners is always busy and the entertainment they put on is great. You can also eat there I love their Hot dog and chips and the chips are to die for....Delish. Staff are friendly aswell. I always book to avoid disappointment just incase I cannot get on the terrace in the beautiful sunshine.

Great place to go, lots of seating outside over looking Margate’s beautiful beach, stunning views during sunset and the food is very reasonable and always cooked very well, portion sizes are excellent No fine wine but what they do sell is very reasonable and drinkable - the Prosecco is definitely the best. They have decent beer on tap and some great soft drink options, absolutely 100% worth visiting if you want a lovely meal with amazing views that does t break the bank Staff are ALWAYS very friendly and happy, a truly great place to go :)

Lovely atmosphere everyone very friendly

Love the atmosphere and all very friendly bingo Thursday eveing eyes down 7pm something I can do alone if need be

Lovely outdoor space overlooking Margates sandy beach and sea views. Caberat drag with bingo and barbeque, also the staff were brilliant serving at your table and telling you places of interest. Well done Duncan and colleagues. William aka Bungalow Bill. X

Great view looking out to sea, love that the owner walks arpund and speaks with you and they have great live acts!

Awful service, rude staff who laughed at us when we asked how long the food would be even though we had waited over an hour for it, turns out, it wasn’t even good. Do not recommend for a quick lunch!

Very bad service.Been waiting for 90 minutes despite was not busy .Not happy.

We walked into Margate and realised the motorbikes were down so the seafront area was extremely busy. We were walking back towards home and decided to stop for a drink at Sundowners . Lucky for us they had just opened up so we picked our table over looking the bay and some of the bikes. We ordered our drinks and looked at the menu for food which was very impressive and well priced . We ordered gourmet burgers with thick cut chips and salad ,people were now queuing up to get a seat so our timing was just right. When the food arrived we were well impressed and will certainly visit again. The only negative remark was we wanted a dessert and was told we would have to wait at least an hour as they only had 1 chef working . Good food, good price , great staff.

I would have been more than happy to leave 5 stars for the amazing service of the staff and for the location, unfortunately I’m giving 3 stars for two reasons. First because we asked if the cod fish was fresh and the waiter said yes but it wasn’t, because was wet and the consistent was weird also the smell wasn’t good and probably they defrosted the fish in a wrong way. Second because we ordered 4 gin tonic and they charged us more than was aspected and the waiter as a reason told us that menu was wrong. Anyway starters, burgers and the service were really good!

Very nice location with exceptional service, and delicious sea food, including mussels, prawn , crab, along with well presented salads. Great portion size too..

Amazing place! Friendly staff and they have fantastic acts on too.

Unbeatable views, great prices, lovely, friendly staff. And warm blankets which were very much appreciated. The dog loved the place!

Really fantastic and friendly bar, nice staff who work so hard, food good also, great view of Margate Beach at Sunset, and great atmosphere and entertainment. Well worth a look and night out.

I go there quite often have a drink in the sunshine friendly staff food is excellent nice atmosphere 👌

Good pint, friendly service, great view.

Started to look at the menu... but didn't order anything as table next to us was just getting their food. The guy who bring it had so much dirty kitchen towel on his shoulder (to help him serve hot plates) .... but that dirty?!?!! How can looks the kitchen 🙈 ??? One clean napkin or wash the towel time to time would not kill them.... disgusting Beer was OK.... hope the glass was washed 🤷‍♀️🙊

Great area to watch the beach and the sea! Menu food is overloaded with mayo and avoid the chicken sandwich, it was two slices of Kingsmill with a slice of chicken. Homemade personified by all the wrong reasons. Massively under staffed - poor Gareth just looks so stressed all the time. And Gareth just took our bill without offering an option to tip. I have a tip for you Gareth, ask for a tip on your card machine. People don’t carry cash anymore.

Perfect place for a sunset, drink and bite to eat. Friendly staff and very reasonably priced. Nothing fancy but good for people and sunset watching.

Never had so much fun realy great place

A little divey but a hell of a lot of fun

Great little gay bar in Margate. Fun and friendly locals and staff

Absolutely Awful. We ordered our food today at 3.20pm it arrived at 4.45pm, diabolical food and service. Advise anyone not to go here.

Love it here, staff always friendly, great diverse crowd, much fun had