The Charles Dickens in Thanet

We stopped at this pub for lunch while checking lovely Broadstairs. We both chose the Fish and chips. Bar Service was friendly enough but thought it was very expensive, so had high expectations. Sat with a nice view by the window overlooking the bay. Unfortunately there were only a few chips on the plate and my fish was awful(not fresh, mushy texture). My wife said hers was ok. I did mention it to a member of staff but she didn’t seem that bothered. We left disappointed and never to return…

Absolutely disgusting, couldnt wait to get the plates off the table, slapdash, overcharged as working on ' get them in, get them out' as quickly as possible, Let's hope the locals keep you going over winter, we won't be and will spread our experience,

Visited with friends twice in one day Popped in for breakfast which is very good Decided to return for an evening meal in the bar. Great band playing. Lovely staff

Excellent friendly staff. Very quickly brought the high chair over for our toddler. Such a friendly helpful waitress and the food a light lunch for 5 of us was amazing. It has a nice view of sea and a nice bar area too. Food service was very quick and just had such an enjoyable lunch there. Very clean.

Nice pub, food good pub food BUT….. Glass found in one of the meals. A large splinter of glass found in a main meal. Staff were quick over and apologetic, whipped the glass and meal away and replaced it. No real offer of apology, no complimentary drinks or any sort of refund. We are not people to complain or expect anything, but this was a very dangerous piece of GLASS on a meal. Things could have been very different, very lucky no harm was done. All the other meals were tasty and glass free (that we know of). Feel let down by the one very dangerous meal and lack of customer service regarding this incident that could have been very serious.

Absolutely great roasts, and l tried the veg meal 👌

We had crab and brie to start. Both delicious & good portion. Then we had mussels with sauce, yummy chips and bread and butter. Huge bowl of mussels. Apple cider yummy. Service quick and would certainly go here again next time I'm in area.

Lovely views, good food. Recommended!

Delicious beer battered fish and chips meal, pleasant staff and service. Great location close to viking bay and being on the ground floor table was able to view the sea by a window.

We wanted seafood, well we were by the sea. Coming across this ‘pub’ and its menu outside, we decided a visit was on the cards. A bugbear of mine, and this establishment covered it, sign on the door ‘shirts to be worn and shoes inside’. Brilliant. Immediately I was pleased that the staff seemed to be very happy and smiling. Service, throughout the few hours we were there, was perfect, quick, professional but very friendly. We ordered the seafood platter and were not disappointed. Wonderful fresh seafood, fab dressed crab and my favourite, oysters. This is where I gain, my partner hates oysters. All went down too well with a pint, or two. So well that I ordered a further three oysters. They were so good and fresh. A wonderful few hours and thank you guys and gals, you are brilliant. OK, one tiny question. Whitstable is up the road so why Maldon oysters? Not complaining but we live 8 miles from Maldon.

Delicious fish and chips and friendly staff.

On holiday and reserved dinner at 5pm for Sunday Roast. Was told all Sunday Roast was sold out so ordered off the main menu. Unfortunately the food was below average. We encountered a very rude member of staff. We will not return and with an abundance of great restaurants in Broadstairs this pub is all hype and best to avoid.

No roast dinners left and normal menu food very average. Rude manager and overall bad experience on first night on holiday in Broadstairs.

Lovely service, enjoyed fish and chips, mussels very nice but very small, (would have liked to have known if they are Scottish/or local, or other), finger bowl would be better than wipes! Rather expensive, as we had mussels at Rick Stein, in London for less,

Great location and very friendly staff and always quick to serve and will definitely be back.

We booked an early sitting and got the window overlooking the sea was amazing. The choice of food was good - just gutted no oysters for starters as they saved them for the platters. Tasty food good service reasonably priced However we could here the downstairs entertainment and wow we we were leaving it was so so loud live rock. so we didn’t stay at the pub after and went elsewhere

Fast and friendly service. Had the cajun chicken wrap. Nice wrap lots of chicken in the wrap.

As always. Fantastic food and service and always a good place for bands. I’d highly recommend the Sunday roast too

£9.95 a pint of neck oil. In Kent. Just get in the bin .

Food is always amazing especially the steak and mussels.

Great food, great service, and very friendly and efficient staff.

We had a dinner here during folk week, although it was super busy outside, we were in the restaurant upstairs with a wonderful seaview and great for people watching. We had the charcuterie sharing starter which consisted of bread and some meats, unfortunately there was no cheese which was a bit disappointing, none the less, it was tasty. My partner opted for Sausage, mash and onions, he said it was delicious but a bit more mash would of made it more filling as the portion size was more of a lunch than a dinner. I opted for Aranchini (which yes was a starter, but I wasn't that hungry), it was delicious. Overall we enjoyed our meal and will definitely be back!

We had a little office outing, we had a lovely meal and great experience. Service was very good.

Great friendly pub good music .. Good food never a let down.

Visited the Dickens today with my family for Broadstairs Folk week and found the staff to be amazing and so welcoming! The lady in charge welcomed us at the door with a big smile, pointed out the rest rooms and showed us to a table. We felt so comfortable there and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere. Hadn’t visited the pub for ages, but already looking forward to going again - 5 stars for sure!

Had a wonderful evening with the family, food superb and service excellent. Would definitely recommend grab a table overlooking Viking Bay from their upstairs restaurant. Will be back next year when we return to Broadstairs.

Had the scampi here and it was just about edible as it tasted very strange and the menu was quite expensive. You're paying for the view I feel. Service was excellent though.

Very welcoming & attentive service. Good standard of food every-time we go to the Charles Dickens. Loved the tuna ceviche. Prosecco was not cold but it was a hot day. Decent kids meals too. Love the view from upstairs over Viking Bay!

The perfect family dinner. Staff amazing. Food off the scale. This place knows the hospitality industry inside out. Go !!!

My wife and I visiting from New Zealand had a very relaxing lunch in this character restaurant and pub overlooking the sea in Broadstairs. In all respects it was a very enjoyable break in sightseeing and walking the coast between Ramsgate & Broadstairs.

Great food , Quick service.Good staff.plenty of gluten free choices.

Lovely pub overlooking the sea. Very popular and band that were playing were brilliant. Great place to watch the fireworks from.

Lovely place and we were lucky enough to have an upstairs table by the window which had great views. We decided to try the seafood platter for our main but were slightly disappointed as not very filling. We had to order some chips to bulk it up a bit. We did get one slice of bread each but I would suggest a basket of breads or some side chips also especially for the price of £50. The venue itself is very nice with friendly staff and very clean. Just wished I chosen another dish but would come again and order differently as the roasts looked amazing !

Lovely food brilliant Sunday roast recommend the beef chicken supreme was good as well I will try the rest of thirdly taverns

As usual, food was tasty with a wide variety of choice. Friendly staff. Great location over looking the sea.

Fantastic place this, we managed to book a table outside, then when the wind changed and we started to get chilly they managed to get us socially seated inside and had all best plans for keeping everyone safe. Well done to you all, so professionally managed by all the staff. Update. We've just had lunch here and as usual it was fantastic. Thank you. Another update, we've just had a lovely last minute dinner in the restaurant and got to watch the fireworks from the table. Thank you to all the amazing staff that looked after us.

Having beer battered cod & hand cut chips 🍟 & garden peas & tartare sauce overlooking viking Bay sea.

We were let down by another pub for roast dinner luckily the dickens had room. The only thing about the roast we didn't like was the Yorkshire pudding wasn't as crunchy as we'd like but that's minimal. However the potatoes were the best we've had from a roast dinner out. Would definitely recommend

We went for a Saturday lunch, the restaurant upstairs seems a little dated but I must say the staff were very friendly and helpful, the food was excellent quality. The only criticism I have is that we ordered a seafood sharer which it said on the menu fed two to three people, when the plate arrived the portion was minuscule and would never serve 2 let alone 3, how can it be described as a sharer when there is only one oyster? Nice restaurant but portions could be bigger.

Have eaten here before and it was lovely food and good size portions x Just popped in for a drink last night and were greeted by the friendly staff x Great drinks and a great price with fantastic views of The sea x

The food was good but when we had finished eating but were still drinking, different people kept coming round asking if we needed anything else. Eventually we asked for the bill and left sooner than we would have liked.

Expensive. Paying for location.

As usual, friendly helpful staff and good menu choices.

Had a lovely breakfast. Had a minor issue but staff handled it very well and we had a great morning

Service very poor as not enough staff behind bar. Had to wait till glass washer had been emptied and reloaded!!! Also so expensive not good value at all

Always has been and always will be my favourite pub for everything

Lovely meal, staff really friendly and good service

Had lovely snacks , fish goujon sandwich and a Cumberland sausage sandwich coupled with berry and cherry cider. Staff very nice, polite and helpful. Will visit again

Very disappointed with wine. Chenin Blanc was vintage 2019, yellowed and oxidised. Spoilt our meal.

We had a table for 2 for Sunday lunch and wine with lovely sea views. Lunch was mid priced rather than budget but in keeping with expectations given the area and surroundings. Service was very good and lunch served extremely quickly on what was a busy day for the establishment. I have eaten here on Sundays in the past when I have gone off piste and ordered "none sunday" type dinners. From my limited experience, they are far better geared up for you to order from the bespoke Sunday choices.

Always a great place to have a drink, such a great location,a few drinks and some hand cut pub chips, a great way to while away the afternoon, great staff always friendly and the prices for the location are spot on.

A little disappointed. I have been many times but Fathers Day didn't live up to expectations. Every reservation I have made I have always asked for a window table but have never been given one, I queried it this time and was simply told we are too busy, not sure what you have to do to sit in a slightly less busy area, we are always sat by a central post with a lot of people walking backwards and forwards to go upstairs. The service was very fast and the staff were all very pleasant and efficient. The appetiser of focaccia was awful, the bread was very dense and did not resemble focaccia, the bread was literally dripping in oil, the waitress was kind enough to replace it with the soup, but I am sorry to say this was also inedible, I was told it was tomato and pepper, I think the chef had an accident with chilli as it was way too spicy and had very little flavour as the spice drowned it. Two of the other starters were acceptable, but a little sprinkling of green salad would have been welcome as they were terribly beige and actually didn't look appetising. Main course was fair, roast beef was excellent, vegetables were overcooked, soggy and had way too much salt in them, Yorkshire batter was solid and dried out, roast potatoes resembled Aunt Bessie's that you buy frozen and again were way too salty. The Chicken was flavourless and tasted as if it had been steamed rather than roasted. I am sorry to say but for the price, £21 for roast beef and £19 for the chicken, was very disappointing and not to the standards that we have had in the past.

Fantastic experience from start to finish Staff were Fantastic Food was excellent

Fantastic restaurant, fantastic food, fantastic service, looking forward to going back

Great food at a good price. Fantastic views over the bay. Really friendly staff and very good service. Highly recommended to anyone visiting Broadstairs.

Amazing food with a sea view 😍 We will definitely come back next time we are around.

Lovely food , staff and view . Would recommend as a place to eat

Great place. Highly recommend the sunday roast. Great service, food and an incredible view. Interior looks slightly dated but that’s also part of the experience.

Over priced food and very small portions

Really enjoyed the experience, lovely food and lovely place :)

We had breakfast here for 2 days and all of us ordered large full breakfast (good enough for 2 people) and pot of tea for 2 and latte. It was a legitimate English vibe and food was great. Toilets are well cleaned. Location has a nice view.

My family and I happened to come across this pub/restaurant whilst needing to kill time and glad we did! Staff are so friendly, food was great (ordered Full English Breakfast) and good atmosphere. We loved it so much we came back the next morning for another round of breakfast. The restaurant is spacious with wheelchair access, provided us with a high chair for the little one, and overall very clean. Would visit again if we’re ever back in Broadstairs!

I was really looking forward to going here. I ordered the poke bowl with tofu. It was the worst tofu I have ever had. When I cut into it have never ever seen tofu look like that. They need to sort out that or not offer it. My husband had the Dover sole and potatoes,again it was a bit of a joke as no thought had gone into the look of the dish. A little garnish would help. I really feel that I could not recommend going there. Even though they did remove the charge for the poke bowl I feel that that I need to do this review. I’m never one to complain but I feel with the cost of eating out now the restaurants should take more care in what they are serving. Please Please rethink the tofu!!!! Yes I know its not everyone fav!!!!!

So disappointed . Soles were not “dressed” Every mouthful was just bones. They were very sorry and didn’t charge us. However I would have preferred to have enjoyed a good meal.

We were there for lunch on a Saturday. The fish and chips was HUGE and very tasty. The starters, calamari and prawn cocktail, were, however, average at best. Atmosphere was a bit dead, very quiet compared to other places - probably because it was a sunny day.

Wonderful place to eat! excellent service and food

Lovely Sunday roast dinner. Generous kids portions. Unfortunately we were sat in a corner by the till and the waiters kept squeezing past throughout the meal. We have visited previously and would return, but to a different table!

Sunday roast was disappointing. The random puree was cold, cabbage was cold, the Yorkshire pudding was chewy, the beef was not rare as advised on website and was overcooked, broccoli was undercooked. The only enjoyable part of the roast was the potatoes. Not worth the £22 price tag!!! If you are looking for a place to have your Sunday roast - this ain't it.

The chef was able to accommodate my food allergies and cooked separate veggies for me.

Great food, location, service and food. The only downside was the 90s rave music spoiling a nice relaxing family meal on a Saturday lunchtime A simple fix to what would make a very good experience into a much more cherished one. Hope that helps and thanks for taking care of us. Everything else was great

Looked ok from the outside. Just had a drink but I never went in to order. So can't give a true review as we didn't eat

Food was very poor. Original crab starter was inedible, so they kindly swapped it for prawns. Unfortunately the prawns were tasteless. Main meal was extremely salty and made our mouths sore. Did plan to have dessert but skipped this and got a milkshake from up the road. Food aside, the view from the restaurant was stunning.

Lovely place. Accommodated a walk in table for 10! My family from Taiwan were visiting and it was some their first taste of English cuisine and beer. Thank you The Charles Dickens, you made a good impression for their high standards 😊

Great band. However the music website said band starts at 9pm. They started at 8pm and finished by 10pm. Saturday night guys, come on.

Loved this pub, service excellent, sat outside in sunshine for coffee and toast

Excellent service, excellent food! Overall excellent!

Came for Sunday Lunch, had pork belly, hardly any meat although lovely crackling. Only broccoli for veg, roast potatoes, definitely been waiting all day, thick hard outer layer. Yorkshire pud, cold and rubbery. Would not recommend this place 🙁

We come here quite often. Perhaps as a result of bank holiday it was really noisy. There was a kitchen extractor fab competing with the loud adults and crying children. We all had roasts. Food fine but knives for cutting were poor. Twice I lost roast potatoes flying off my plate and onto my lap when trying to cut. Staff were pleasant

Booked a table for my birthday had to change the booking to downstairs something went wrong and they hadn’t got my message, they were amazing we had drinks at the bar while they sorted the table, very attentive service but not in your face, excellent food best roast potatoes I have had ina pub that turns over many covers - I had an amazing Birthday meal they all made me feel special from the moment I walked in - thank you

The service was very quick. I came in to have a sunday roast with my partner. I had the sunday roast lamb . It was nice but i did not like the veg underneath the meat. The veg wasnt very fresh and i thought the veg will be on a seprate plate. The yorkshires wore very hard ( been kept under the hot plate for along time) Overall the meal was nice but could of done with some seasoning on the roast pots . The pudding was very nice . I had the strawberry sundi . The staff wore very polite and did ask how our meal was .

Best saxophone night in the British Isles

Excellent location by the sea, wonderful menu, extremely tasty meals. Staff were super friendly. We are already looking forward to returning.

Visited yesterday and the whole visit was top notch. Food was outstanding, biggest pork chop I’d ever eaten and so tasty. Our waitress Taloola was outstanding. Will certainly be back.

Another great visit to the Charles Dickens, we all tried the Sunday roast. The quality of food and portion size was first class. Really enjoyed the whole experience.

I’m never usually one to complain but for the price we paid , the quality did not match at all and was quite disappointed. The potatoes was undercooked , the only veg we got was carrots and overall was just a moody roast and was quite annoyed considering how much we paid. Just a shame because I’ve had lovely roasts elsewhere that cost cheaper and thought I’d try somewhere different and ended up being disappointed

We ate here twice during our stay in Broadstairs. Service really friendly both times. Good selection of food on the menu including kids meals. Nice quality food and amazing sundaes for pudding! The view from the upstairs restaurant over the bay and the sea is a really beautiful backdrop for dinner.

The Charles Dickens is in a lovely location and we had a great table overlooking the beach. The service was good, but it was a very quiet night, so not sure how it would be if the restaurant was busy. The Food was ok but not great considering the price. Where the restaurant really falls down is the shouting from the kitchen, I have never been to a restaurant where all you can hear is the kitchen staff's conversation. I was there with my young son and do not expect to hear the staff swearing.

Great place, staff service,ambience, menu/food. Everything works in great clockwork order. Restaurant provides wonderful panoramic views of the bay. We will definitely be returning.

We didn't eat food. We just went in for a drink, and it was a lovely pub. The atmosphere was very relaxed and cosy. Very friendly staff.

Really lovely location and service. A vegan dessert would have been nice. Otherwise superb

Food and drinks overpriced. Roast dinner was poor, sloppily presented, roast potatoes undercooked. The poor staff were rushed off their feet , too many

One of the best roast dinners I've had in a long time!! Had the roast lamb on Easter Sunday and every part of the dish was tasty and flavorful. Also would like to mention Lottie who booked me in and gave me a window seat upstairs, her service was warm and friendly. The whole experience made my little solo trip to the Kent coast really special. I found this establishment via Google as I googled the best roast dinner in Broadstairs and this place comes up tops and definitely lives upto it.

Food is very good if a bit overpriced, but it's right on the seafront so you are paying for the location too. Service was a little slow to start (it was a busy Easter Sunday) but food and drink arrived promptly once ordered...

Really attentive and lovely staff. The food was excellent and reasonably priced. Would definitely return.

Nice restaurant and pub near to sea. Staff were pleasant but unfortunately the food was not. Had roast and was Luke warm.

I booked a window table upstairs on Good Friday for 5 at lunchtime. The pub was therefore very busy. The table was ready, the staff were very efficient and helpful, there were things ready for our six year old to do. The menu was extensive (a bit limited for me as a vegetarian) and reasonably priced. The service was a little slow (see the day and time above) and the food, when it came, was delicious. Really, I couldn't have been happier

Go there regularly and have the same experience. Great food is served by excellent staff in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Really can not fault the place.

My brother moved there had steak really nice place is great coming bk in June

Perfect for having lunch or dinner. Delicious fresh fish I will return for sure

Fantastic hard working crew in the kitchen. Four of us for Sunday lunch- service and food was five star