The Garden House in Medway

Really good food but the hygiene overall needs to be improved. The chairs and floor were covered in stains, dust in the corners and the kitchen looked like a mess.. can’t fault the food though and the service was great as well.

First time at this restaurant today, was really lovely food, nice and chilled and service was great :)

What a lovely hidden gem, food is amazing! It’s very rustic with no thrills, but the food is very good and always very friendly….

Incredible panini (I normally don't even like panini, but their stuff is out of this world), sweet little garden at the back. A very special little place.

Had the best Garlic Mushroom in the UK here. The other main dishes were also top notch. Will come back again.

Lovely food, great and friendly, personal service, small, relaxed and a little old-fashioned in the best way. Nice outdoor sitting space and semi-outdoor roofed space. Highly recommended and very reasonable prices.

Excellent and quirky restaurant. Very warm service and good food.

Excellent food, genuine service and homely relaxed atmosphere

Great authentic place, lovely and warm staff and the food is fantastic! Thank you! 🚀

One of the best Tiramisu I have ever had, it beats even the many that I have had in Florence and Rome. The coffee is really really good too, but the best part of the visit was Paulo, his smile and honesty towards his work was absolutely refreshing.

Very friendly service and pizzas to die for at a reasonable price. Highly recommend

Amazing pizza! Authentic Italian amazing taste. Very friendly staff. Cozy atmosphere.

Amazing food, excellent service, cute little place for authentic Italian.

Best pizza around! Lovely staff and really delicious authentic pizza. Couldn’t recommend more

Food and service were great! Inside is a bit drab, but the kind gentleman serving made up for it! :)

Great place to eat pizza. Proper ones not like the stuffed or thick base ones from other high street ones.

Incredible food, would highly recommend the pizza and also the homemade meatballs! Cosy Italian home-style cooking vibes for sure 🔥

Friendly, attentive staff, tasty food clearly made with love. had pizza, olives, roast potatoes.

Quality food with quality ingredients, a proper taste of Italy couldn’t recommend enough!

Our whole table was very disappointed with our meal. £19 for a bowl of pasta which was bland - I make better pasta dishes at home. I will not be eating here ever again.

Dirty, no atmosphere, over priced, over rated, photos very deceiving menu on the night very poor. Could have cooked better pasta at home

This restaurant has to be the best Italian restaurant in Rochester High Street. Fantastic staff and owner's were so friendly. The food was delicious and the best I've had in a long time. xXx

Excellent! you'd be forgiven for walking past on the high street, but it's exactly the experience you'd expect from a family restaurant in the back streets of Sorrento or Rome. Flavour to die for and attentive servers, but not shiny surfaces and bling

Hosted our entire football team for a set meal with only 30 minutes notice. Excellent pasta and super team. Thanks again.

Brilliant service and the food was amazing too.

Nous avons mangé des pizzas et pris un apéritif, c'était vraiment bon et le service était top. Nous en avons eu pour 26€ par personne, un peu cher car ce serait une bonne idée de remettre un coup de jeune au restaurant. Nous avons eu la chance qu'il parle français. Nous vous remercions pour les conseils.

The restaurant may look unassuming but it really is one of the most authentic Italian restaurants in the country. I am usually very wary of Italian restaurants as the flavours are never the same as the genuine dishes, but this place definitely has outstanding flavour. I would highly recommend the spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) and the homemade lasagna. Portion sizes were fairly large and filling, but we wanted to sample the dessert so we shared one dessert between four people which was a perfect end to the dinner. I cannot recall the name of the dessert (image is attached to review) but I cannot recommend it enough. It is not too sweet and the flavours work incredibly well together. Staff were very friendly and pleasant to chat with, prices were very fair for the quality and quantity of your meal. We will definitely be back to try more dishes!

The best Italian restaurant by a mile. I highly recommend this place.

Delicious pizza and great customer service!

The most authentic tasting Italian food in Rochester. The service is typically Italian, a little slow by British standards. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, if the weather had been warm I would have believed we were in Italy. The hosts were very hospitable both spoke Italian as dis the chef, so genuine cuisine.

Unexpected when walking past, it may not look much, but the food and service is excellent. Don't line up for standard Italian, this place is a gem.

Booked a table for lunch during the Rochester Christms Market in the first weekend of December. Surprisingly bigger than it looks from the front, but service was great, food was fantastic, and the atmosphere was beautiful. Starters were plentiful in portion size, with lots of choice for all. Our group had various starters including garlic bread, garlic mushrooms, garlic prawns, bruschetta and a causer salad. Main courses eaten included chicken with cream and mushrooms, various pastas, pizza, ossubuco, ravioli, along with various sides as desired. The wine chosen complemented our meals perfectly, and even the kiddies had drinks that satisfied their wants. Dessert was easy for the kiddies, gelato, and as for the older guests, coffee was our chosen after dinner go to. The customer toilet was a wooden garden shed in the courtyard that was delightfully decorated and insulated, etc, complete with smooth plaster walls, etc, making it a wonderful addition to the beautiful restaurant. I cannot recommend the restaurant enough, and the visit was made extra special by the staff and the owner taking the time to respond to our needs, without it being a chore or an interruption to their busy busy lunch time. Will definitely be back!

A fantastic little restaurant with lovely staff, great food and reasonable prices! I took my two daughters for dinner after a couple of days at the Rochester Christmas Fair and we absolutely loved everything about this place. A definite must if you want a decent Italian meal

We come here to pick up their amazing freshly made panini sandwiches, fresh ingredients and large portion sizes. The rest of the food looks really good too and will definitely come for dinner in the near future. Really friendly owner too!

I am not Italian, however I felt like home here. An amazing experience with great food and lovely people.

Absolutely lovely food. Staff are lovely too. Thank you!

They say you should never judge a book by it's cover, and that is the case with this restaurant from the outside. But once in, yes it is not flash inside either, BUT, the homemade food is fantastic, the portions are very generous, the prices are very good, and the staff are excellent. Will definitley be going back again..

Delicious handmade pizza and great service! You have a new regular!

The best Italian cuisine ever! Quirky little place with cheerful friendly service. Don't go anywhere else!

Lovely hidden gem, very friendly staff and food & drinks were absolutely brilliant.

Terribly over priced for amount of food. I ordered a main expecting more than one small chicken breast rolled flat and half a tin of button mushrooms in cream,even just one slice of bread for the source and so cold inside as staff would leave back door wide open even after another customer got up to close it..

best Italian chef and best Italian food. fresh food is served. good recommendations of food and wine. special menu is provided to include a bigger variety of dishes. friendly staff with comfortable hospitality. Supreme sea bass and creme brulee are my favorites but all other dishes and deserts are delizioso :) we had a very wonderful time there during our three different short stays in Chatham. definitely a must go if you are visiting nearby Chatham.

The best Pizza in Rochester by far, very friendly owners and staff. Highly recommended.

Amazing food again. Never fails to turn out a real experience of Italy.

Friendly owner but I missed the fresh mushrooms.

I've dined at the Garden House five or six times, now, and it's becoming a firm favourite of mine and my family's. The food has always been great, and decent value, too. Don't be fooled by the appearance of the place...it looks a bit rough and ready in some ways, but this is a decent little Italian restaurant.

Beautiful food and excellent service. Please don’t walk by this place. Proper hidden gem. I love this restaurant. Really nice fresh food.

Lovely family run italian restaurant.

Authentic Italian food and quality ingredients that taste like home. Welcoming atmosphere, excellent service and reasonable prices. What else can you wish for?

Nice atmosphere, good food, friendly environment

A beautiful family-owned hidden gem! I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and portion sizes of their homemade food although the front of the restaurant doesn’t say much. We had the Lasagna, a salad and a Margherita pizza. Staff were lovely and welcoming and we were blessed with a sunny day to enjoy their back garden. Highly recommend.

Very nice, family run place with an amazing house wines

Amazing food, well priced and exceptional service. A little piece of Italy in Kent.

We had only been in Rome a few days before, and can confirm the pizza here matched up to the real mccoy!

Fabulous food, warm service, good prices. Tonight, they made great pizzas for us to take away and enjoy in @threesheetspub which lets people bring in food from any Rochester High Street outlet.

Very good food and excellent customer service. Salima Charif

I'm half Italian and I know what the real stuff taste like. After trying other "Italians" on Rochester High street, we have been left in dispair to find the good one. A local friend recommended the garden house for its outstanding homemade food and attentive service and we haven't been dispaponted. The dnuja spicy pizza was delicious, and to finish our meal we had an indulgent tiramisu to die for (even better my mum's one). I cannot praise enough the staff for their attentive service. See you next time.

May not look much from the outside but the food and service more than make up for it. Can't wait to go back for another truly delicious meal. Easily the best restaurant in Rochester.

Amazing food. Great service. Really good value for money. Loved it, would highly recommend and revisit

This place is a little jem . Small, welcoming with a nice lay back atmosphere and to top that off we had great food, really good food. My wife and I are here from Australia, this is our 4th visit. So go visit this little jem.

It is under new management and is now a beautiful sweet little authentic Italian place with homemade spaghetti and pizza. Everything tastes just like Italy and the staff are very helpful and nice. And they have their liquor license now !

Went in the middle of last week. Ordered the tuna mayo panini. My wife had the mozzarella pesto, with 2 coffees. We both commented on how big the paninis were. Mine was so full with unbelievable portion and the point itself was warmed lovely. So glad we went as haven't been in since it changed hands. We will definitely return. Additionally the service is second to none with the manager being courteous and very friendly

Freshly made food and a great service. Definitely a perfect spot for lunch. The pizzas are so tasty and the salads are great too. Perfect after a walk around beautiful Rochester 😊

Feels like your in someone's kitchen in the best possible way. Excellent service and the sort of food your Italian grandmother would cook for you

I had a Calzone (not for the first time). It was absolutely delicious.

Very nice!!! Cheaper than others, the food is wonderful and the waiters are very friendly. Highly recommend this restaurant to tourists and others.

We visited this cosy little Italian for a late lunch today and it was delicious.We were given a warm welcome and the food was proper Italian home cooked.The wine was also delicious.There is work in progress to improve the space and this did not detract from our experience.So nice to have authentic Italian food and excellent customer service .

Unbelievable and great quality and service . Home Italian cooking in the middle of Rochester!! Would never recommend so no one knows my secret I can enjoy it only by myself!!! Only joking, what a hidden gem!! I will only dine in there now, sorry chain restaurants…

Everything we've had is delicious. Fresh and tasty. Great pizzas, amazing cannelloni and the best chicken parmigiana we've ever had. Our go-to pizza and Italian restaurant!

The food was delicious with a varied menu, and the owner was friendly and lovely. We were a large group (8 people) and this place is not suited to large groups. They brought out the condiments (salt, pepper, parmesan) after serving everyone's food which took a while due to us being a large group, which meant that most people were more than halfway through their food by the time these were available. We also had starters, and the waitress was piling more plates on the table but taking the bare minimum of plates away. As these were lots of little round cafe tables put together, it got full and difficult to manage very quickly. I'd recommend this place for groups of up to 4 people. Everyone very much enjoyed the food, and there was a daily specials menu also which we ordered from.

Best pizza on the High Street. Great service and great food. The tiramisu is also a must-try!

The restaurant isn't much to look at but fantastic food and really excellent service at a decent price. This place deserves to be packed. One of the nicest meals I've had in a long time.

The food is great. Service is really good and the atmosphere is amazing in the garden.

Just popped in to this small place and sat out the back in the sun.all I can say the food service coffee top notch.it is has been taken over 2 months ago and is now an Italian being done up as we speak .best Italian I have had highly recommended.

Lovely food well presented, staff are very friendly and helpful. Extremely quaint cafe worth a visit

Called in as we were visiting the Cathedral to see the Moon display. Both of us had the root vegetable soup ( absolutely delicious) and then chicken breast panini again delicious. Service was quick and the man serving was very pleasant prices are very reasonable.. We will call again when we visit Rochester.

Lovely small cafe; can't believe it has taken me so long to try it out. Prices good , food and coffee excellent and the owner and staff very friendly.

Pricey coffee £ 2.65. NO Thanks.

yet another pleasant visit to this quirky cafe with a lovely array of salads and sandwiches - congenial owner - believes in making everything from scratch - very good value

Microwave warmed up "food". Salad from the tesco bags and dirty cutlery. Sticky laminated menues and greasy tables. Come on 21 century. My stomack is on rollercoaster, loads to improve. Avoid.

The food is good although the service is a little haphazard occasionally

Lovely coffee and the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten! I had the homemade homous & avocado and it was amazing. The man serving us was really lovely and very knowledgeable about vegetarian food which always makes me happy!

The bree, gooseberry, coriander and walnut toasty is one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. Three incredible toasties and three hot drinks for only £23 so excellent price. The hot chocolate and berry tea were both excellent. The atmosphere was cosy but for a noisy coustomer. And finally, I saw a sign saying they do take out food. If I lived local, I'd want to eat my lunch there everyday.

Beautiful food with a nice variety of healthy but tasty and filling options. I had poached Chicken and avacado salad, it was beautiful, would definitely recommend and will be back soon!

Absolutely love this little place the food is beautiful,always so fresh.. 5 stars from me.

Nice place with a sense of uniqueness, but getting a bit run down and the menu hasn't changed in 10 years.

The Garden House Cafe is my favourite place to eat in all of Medway and Maidstone. The food is always fresh and delicious and the portion sizes are generous! Homemade soups are fantastic. Great value for money, very nice owner and staff. Whenever I have a visitor, this is the place I take them to. I'd recommend it to everyone. :)

Very fresh food and generous portions for the price; mainly breakfast, sandwiches/baguettes/paninis, salads and cakes. A LOT of cheese options! Inside seating is a bit limited so not great for large groups, unless the weather isn't too cold and can sit outside under a gazebo. Owner is very friendly, some of the younger staff are a bit rough around the edges e.g. didn't know what the vegan options were. Definitely make the effort to go here instead of subway next door!

My favourite quaint place in Rochester. The owner is intentional in his care of each customer without smothering any! Easy social conversation and quite up to date on current social issues and politics. A definite re-visit soon.

I got food poisoning from a panini here

This is among my favourite spots to lunch, a fresh bespoke salad made to order every time with slight variations depending on what i fancy. I have chrohns illness so i have to be very careful with what I eat and the owner is a always so kind and diligent. The food is also first class, never had to send back a meal! And I'm fussy lol. A****

sunday afternoon visit, nice menu, i had cheese and meat platter and found it very vefy nice and filling, lovely atmosphere and friendly owner. will definitely call again

Loved it here , great down to earth customer service and great quality food ,meat and cheese platter is particularly lovely Cant wait to go back..

Quaint and enchanting, delightful service, great food. Lovely little rear garden.....