The Poacher and Partridge in Tunbridge Wells

Inedible food, very poor value for money. £78 for a medium sized very burnt pizza tasting only of charcoal, a portion of fish and chips and two cokes. Oh, and I nearly missed these: half a sliced radish and 8 spinach leaves masquerading as a salad and a cheeseboard with 4 microscopic slices of generic supermarket cheese and two Jacob’s Cream Crackers. I’ve had a stomach ache all day since. Avoid at all costs.

Had a lovely meal here last weekend, food was amazing and service was spot on.

Slow service, not great food, the team needs training.

Booked for my Dad's 60th and we were served a fantastic buffet with glasses of fizz and hot drinks. The afternoon was excellent and the staff were amazing. Thank you so much to all involved.

Staff very nice.. food was too quick to arrive (4 mins) looked and tasted like it had been kept on a hot plate until it was ordered,, not asked if any sauces were wanted when our meals were served, had to get someone’s attention to ask , wouldn’t rush back

A lesson in how not to run a pub on a busy weekend… Popped into The Poacher and Partridge on Mother’s Day weekend, drawn in by its nice-looking exterior and decent-sized garden with plenty of seating. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives ended. The place was clearly overwhelmed, hugely understaffed, and completely unprepared for the weekend rush. I spent 20 minutes queuing at the bar, only to be told they weren’t taking food orders for another 30 minutes because they were too busy. Fair enough, but it would have been helpful if someone had mentioned that before we wasted time in the queue. I grabbed a couple of menus and headed back to our table to sort out the order. After 20 minutes had passed, I returned to the bar, ready to order, only to be told they still wouldn’t take food orders and I needed to wait another 10 minutes. Instead of just taking the order and informing me there might be a delay, they insisted I come back later. By the time I’d have queued again, they would probably have been taking orders anyway. Incredibly frustrating – it just felt like no one had thought through how to handle a busy weekend. To top it off, the bar staff were rude, which just put the final nail in the coffin. We finished our pints (which, to be fair, were decent) and decided to cut our losses. We’ll find somewhere that actually wants our business. Wouldn’t recommend unless they seriously sort out their staffing and customer service.

Lovely country pub set in beautiful Kentish scenery. Lovely food and country setting with loads of outdoor space. Service was good apart from the 1 guy on the pizza making station who had a seriously rude with a huge attitude to a simple and pleasant question. Apparently when I informed another member of staff he told me.. 'yes sorry about he can be rude and he can get very angry' 🤔 prob the wrong job for him then working in a family pub. 🥴 Other than that though it was a nice chill afternoon.

Always had good service here and Saturday visit was no different despite being pretty busy. Wide choice of meals, all cooked to a good standard and usual array of wines and beers...

Beautiful place,food was fantastic and reasonably priced. Staff were lovely and very attentive and knowledgable.

5/5 all around. A great size pub out in the country side with a great sized menu to suit all!

Really nice place set in lovely countryside. Great atmosphere, staff couldn't do enough for you and the sane high quality food as others in the Elite Pubs chain we've previously tried. Always ask for the set menu if not initially offered it. The set menu is fantastic value and offers things like 3 starters for £20.

Lovely dining experience. Great kids meals. Pizzas really good too

Lovely restaurant, lovely location. Bit expensive for what it is though I would say. Service was very friendly. Sunday is incredibly busy.

A lovely place, service was a little slow but the choice for vegan food and the atmosphere was great.

Due to our silly mistake we booked for the wrong day, when we arrived to the fully booked Poacher, the lovely manager Alex helped us quickly and efficiently suggesting a shack this was great and allowed us to see the kids while we enjoyed a quiet and stress free lunch. It was worth the fee and we will book one again in the future. Roast was incredible and lovely portion sizes and drinks continually filled.

Nice environment. Enough space. Very average food.

Amazing food and outstanding service from Al. We're coming again.

Food is fabulous. Lovely family pub. I'd recommend booking. Service was great.

Cavernous busy place Incredibly busy noisy place. Ordered our main and had to wait a while for its delivery. Roast lamb was ok, but the slices were far too thin. Potatoes were very hard on the outside. Brocoli tastes and red cabbage needed more flavour. Name "elite" doesn't quite match this crowded venue with tables very close together for maximum covers. Food ok but not "elite" either, pleasant enough experience with friendly but very busy staff. Toilets clean if s bit utilitarian.

We went for dessert but it wasn’t great at all. We got the apple crumble, which was like sawdust. The crème brûlée and the cookie dough. Although i understand it is not a desert cafe, it was pretty poor for the price. Lovely interior and great service.

Great family meal to start the festive period

What a way to start 2025, we were seated in the outside terrace area for a lovely set menu for New Year’s Eve, food was incredible and we all commented how good the portion sizes were for the price. Our waiter Alex was top notch, always refilling glasses, clearly as he went and always checking on us throughout the evening. We had opted for this table as they had a DJ inside so we wanted to be able to enjoy it as and when we wanted. The terrace was warm and had a great atmosphere and we shall be returning again for the next New Year’s Eve.

Went for Xmas work meal. Was so dark in there that we used the light on our phone to see what was on the plates. Waiting staff kept knocking into one of our party members' chairs and lent across her to give food and drink to another person in our party. It was a 3 course festive meal and all plate's were returned with food on them.

Alex absolutely made our Christmas! He couldn't of made it anymore magical! Best Christmas Day ever

Good food and lovely beer garden

The perfect Christmas party over the weekend exceptionally organised and looked after by manager Alex. No glasses left empty, tables cleared neatly and promptly and incredible menu knowledge. Will be booking again for next year. Merry Christmas to all the wonderful staff at the Poacher

I popped in here the other Sunday for roast beef, well what can I say the meet was nice the vegetables were a little non exsitant, & hard the roast potatoes were not the best ,the Yorkshire pudding was rock hard ,will not be going in there again for roast dinner very poor, you could do better

Lovely service. The "if you please" was cute. Nice staff

We were the until 930pm and the was a child having a tantrum otherwise it was a lovely time why do parents have their kids out so late

Staff Christmas Lunch Lovely food but portions were too big.

Lovely shack this weekend, very relaxing and amazing service from Alex Will be returning very soon and cannot wait to tell everyone about the food and service at the poacher. Nothing was too much bother and even with the dark and rainy English weather Alex always had a smile and happy in anyway to help make our experience that much better. Wildshark wine came highly recommended with a story to go with it and cannot wait to try the new wines coming soon

Came here for work Christmas meal. Food was delicious, and service excellent.

Great country pub food, best one so far.

We had a birthday, and, it went very well 😄

Went today to celebrate a family birthday. Food was fantastic and service was friendly and not rushed. Will definitely return, roll on the next birthday!

Great place for meal with mates or family gatherings, this is part of a chain of pubs all doing very similar food which is locally sourced wherever possible.

Not the cheapest the food and service are terrific

A great pub set in beautiful countryside, superb food and very friendly staff. Good value for money. Recommended. Booking a must.

Always a great place. Had Christmas dinner here and it was excellent. Pizzas are always amazing. Service and atmosphere excellent too.

Had a great lunch here with the family, the kids loved the large garden and play area. The outside bar is fantastic in the summer. The mexican skewers are a favourite! Hoping to book again for Christmas time

Lovely pub and a lovely location, the garden bar is a very nice touch .

Very busy Tuesday which says it all. Quick food / drinks. Amazing fresh food that tastes unreal worth every penny. Great outdoors on all occasions. Served by an amazing member called Alex who is recently new to the place coming from another branch. Amazing customer service. Always served with a smile and treated so well. Thank you to Alex for making our time fulfilled and enjoyable highly recommend. & Alex you are a credit to the team. 15/10/24

A lively pub with good food and loads of space 😋

Fantastic countryside pub and restaurant with wood oven pizzas, Sunday roasts and amazing local beers and wines. Everything you need for families with kids and also private dining groups. Cheerful and bright staff. Go for it!!!

Fantastic food served served in a delightful restaurant

The decor is lovely and welcoming. Lots of care and attention is given to their meals with high quality fresh ingredients. Staff were efficient. The location is great in a secluded small Kent village. We enjoyed the experience

I had a lovely dining experience here. The building is trendy and the views are beautiful. The food is absolutely brilliant and the waiters are very kind.

Disappointing, and expensive for what it was. The front of house service can best be described as 'deliberate' and why the 4 of us were sat on a table for 6 and there was only one other table of people in the restaurant was odd, more so as he left all 6 chairs at the table forcing us to either be squished together, or for one person to sit with a chair on either side! The food was 'okay', and, in my opinion, small portions for the price. The table service was good and our waitress was friendly and efficient. Adding a 'discretionary 12.5% service charge' automatically onto the bill is putting the customer in a very unnecessary and uncomfortable position. A tip for service, including the amount, should be at the discretion of the customer based on quality, not a guilt-trip percentage imposed by the establishment!

One of the best pubs in the area. Fantastic local produce on the menu. Hard to beat

Lovely busy foody pub, only issue is noise level with hard floors makes conversation quite hard work.

Only been the once and not tried the food. But garden is great for children and the pub grounds generally takes up a lot of space that works well. Unfortunately fruit juice is £3.50 a bottle but ale is £5.10.

Nice country gastro pub although service can be a bit on and off.

Excellent evening with wider family on a table for nine. Excellent customer service from Cameron and particularly from Eli who served our table.

Value for money - you be the judge …. ; Cod fillet on right is 6x smaller and nearly£6 more expensive - “that’s the dish Sir I can’t change it ….” I asked if the rest may have accidentally fallen off the plate “No” was the firm response from our waiter.

Over priced pub food. Expected much more for the money but the dining area is a large noisy room more like a canteen. We had three items from the sharing menu, two of us were given one small kebab, two pieces of hallumi and three very cold tasteless prawns. A very strange amount for two people to share and it cost £20, the paella rice was crunchy at the edges and the the burger and chips overpriced at £18. Service not great and service charge already added to bill and payment card machine. For £80 I would expect much better.

Staff maybe over worked , but not that friendly. My husband and I had the Sunday roast. He had lamb, and I had the beef . The meat was not cooked how we like it but you cannot please every one . But the roast potatoes , well they were definitely not roast more boiled with a covering of oil. If someone said you may have to wait for the roast, we would not of minded or given another option as they should not of put them out. The setting and the pub /restaurant is lovely, but we will not be back again or recommend. And definitely will not eat in the garden/ playground .

Would give a 0 if possible. Booked for 14 people for a 25th birthday which they 'lost the booking for' even though I had all the emails to confirm. The lady on the phone tried to be helpful but said the only way I could now get a booking same day was paying £45 for a shack… Will not be returning again, which is a shame as used to be a really good pub!

Amazing food particularly crab salad, flatbread and hummus, lamb. Gf pizza bitvunder cooked in middle. Cheeses lovely. More expensive than expected. Own vineyard white wine delicious 😋

Delicious food ! The Cod fillet & beetroot risotto was excellent. This was the 2nd time dining at The Poacher & Partridge in the last month and both times the food was spot on.

Delicious food, staff were friendly and helpful.

This was a gorgeous Sunday roast! Plus, they had Harvey’s on tap!

A great pub with lots of different areas for eating so despite it being quite big it feels cosy and welcoming. Friendly helpful staff and excellent food. Highly recommend.

Everything about this place was lovely even arriving for a booking at 8:30... would have loved to see it in the daylight as it was so magical in the dark. Hope to visit again soon before winter sets in... serves was amazing... food was superb 👌 highly recommend

Amazing little pub / restaurant in thr countryside. We visit each time we're driving through back from Kent to Essex. Always a lovely atmosphere, great staff, excellent service and food and the ground themselves are so lively. Highly recommend.

Lovely pub inside and good menu selection. Food served very quickly and really enjoyed our meals. We had thai beef skewer and prawn paella. Staff were really good, attentive and proactive, friendly and helpful.

We have been to the poacher for years. Last night was disappointing, service was below standard, not particularly friendly. Food was disappointing, 3 scallops for a main! My daughter vomited twice last nice, either the burger or crème brûlée, and I nearly vomited too. What a disappointment as the food used to be excellent

Brillent service & quality food at a reasonable price 👌 highly recommend venue 👌

Great place for a family catch up. Food was great and there was a good play area for the children. Lovely couple of hours here and would recommend.

Great food, super friendly staff and divine coffee that I will be back for. We were riding our bikes and decided to stop in for dinner and made the right choice. We were sitting outside and really didn't want to leave but we had to go home to feed our animals. :)) We will definitely be back!

Great place for kids. Absolutely massive inside and out. Food is great as well

Went to the Poacher with my family for lunch today, plesent friendly staff, lovely outside space, inside was clean and well kept, clean toilets, ample parking, reasonable value for money, drinks average priced, nice atmosphere, nice pub with food, will return 😀 thanks

We stopped off for lunch while on a cycle from Greenwich to the All St. Church @ Tudeley. This pub was busy with Sunday lunch trade but service was quick and friendly. We’re vegan. There was a good selection to chose from. The food came promptly and it was really lovely. And no problem at all the fill up our water bottles @ the bar. Highly recommend these guys, especially if you are vegan and looking for a place with Sunday lunch choices.

Food substandard unfortunately on our visit. Great atmosphere, perfect for kids and dogs. Needs more umbrellas outside as there's not enough by half for the amount of tables.

We love The Poacher! We regularly visit, especially for the pizza! The restaurant and the garden both have a lovely, warming atmosphere and we particularly love that it's dog friendly. It's a great place to visit with family and friends.

Really good food went in as soon as it opened and they where very accommodating

Had a really relaxed and enjoyable meal here at the weekend. Staff all very helpful and there was a good variety of food on the menu. I am dairy free and there were plenty of options, including a delicious vegan chocolate mousse for dessert. I love that you can order a larger portion from starter menu for your main meal.

Very nice informal place at the beach to have something to eat and drink as a family.

Beautiful location, unfortunately the service was shocking, and the food was below standard. Over price for what it was

Stopped here as was passing and wanted lunch. There are vast seating areas inside and out. The food we had was excellent, moderately priced and served really quickly even though it was quite busy. Would certainly go again if in the area.

Great pub, very busy with an amazing beer garden

Lovely spot with a large choice of seating, food and drinks.

My walking group and I visited for a mid-walk drink as we passed by. The wine was excellent, the service was brilliant and the atmosphere was amazing.

Odd menu but the venue is lovely. Beware the sharing starters. The skewers contain only one to share! Crazy!

We had a lovely family meal and our large group was very well looked after by Andra and Cameron. They took so much care with our order and nothing was too much trouble. Thank you!

Nice place to go when finishing a walk

Too busy for a Friday night, parking xlmost impossible.

In the summer it's one of the only pubs you can just rock up to and get food without booking

Great venue for family lunch. Good space… playground for kids to run around…. Decent booze and food selection albeit slightly on the pricey side. Service could have been better but appreciate we were outside and not in the dining area.

Had a fabulous lunch with family yesterday. Food was delicious, staff are friendly and helpful, Al looked after us and he was great! Knowledgeable about the menu, friendly and welcoming. Will definitely be back, but a couple of suggestions……. You have to offer custard if crumble is on the menu! Couldn’t find disabled parking, definitely need spaces near the main front door and clearly signed. Would be helpful to have a more sturdy chair with arms for people less able to get up and down, chairs at our table were comfy but not easy for me to get in and out of. Definitely recommend the scallops, prawns, steak, paella, in fact whole menu was lovely, took ages to choose!

Staff always welcoming. Beers well kept and beautiful pizza

First time here and very impressed. Very friendly and welcoming. Great food and a good choice. Great environment. Plenty of parking and outside spaces, should any decent weather arrive!

Food was good. Service hit and miss depending on who you dealt with. To be honest the place is too big...

We arrived for lunch and were promptly attended to by Al. He was very friendly, hospital and efficient in taking our orders There were 7 of us but the food arrived without much delay and it was very good, no complaints. The setvice generally was very good. We will visit again

Horrible place and attitude- didn't even bother with the food

Always such delicious food and the service is so friendly. I love that it is dog friendly and perfect for children too. 10/10

Loved having a few glasses of house wine, nice quality too. The food was amazing, I fancied the fish and chips and that was really nice, great quality and cooked to perfection. It was a nice sunny afternoon so we were able to enjoy the sun, food and a nice chat with other customers who had brought their nice dogs with them. I will definitely be back.

Lovely pub with very nice food. The fish and chips is spectacular, with excellent chips and the best tartare sauce!

Lovely venue, nice food and ok prices. HOWEVER we had 3 or 4 items added onto our bill adding nearly £30. When we raised it a few minutes later we were told it was added in error from a table nearby however no table nearby was having the items shown. When we asked for the money back we had to stand and wait and eventually find the waiter again who again short changed us. I gave up and left. I therefore had topped 12 1/2 % for items we didn't have. Such a shame for such a great place.

What a great place to eat. The atmosphere was fantastic. They are dog friendly too. The food was excellent and the service was just as good. The prices are not too bad either.

Gorgeous pub. Especially if outside on a sunny day. Great food and kid friendly.