The View Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

It is staffed by the students so you need to make allowances for them. But they are friendly and try hard.

The food was amazing and the server called Alfie knew his stuff and was great to catch up with friends and old tutors, the restaurant hasn't lost its touch.

Great food and service provided by trainee chefs and hospitality students. Broad menu with vegetarian and seafood options. Lovely views.

Good morning , I attend on most of your evening dinners . I've always thoroughly liked them but last Thursday's experience took it to a new level The quality of the food was beyond all previous excellent visits. The courgette flowers were as good as a couple of the finest spanish tapas restaurant in London . Then came the mains-- really high end fine dining -- my fish stew was beautiful , with varied fish - i was in heaven whilst my partner had the porcetta .That was probably the dish of the evening -- i almost ordered it all again it was that good . As always the whole experience was wonderful . Your front of house students are an utter delight. Ive had such great times at your restaurant over the last few years but last Thu was better food than anywhere in the area . Much much better than Thackerays (and i like thackerays). It takes a lot for me to write a review. thank you to you all --staff and students . Matt

The View restaurant is a lovely setting and the food prepared and served by the students is amazing! My daughter is generally quite fussy but we both enjoyed the food. The choices were great and all looked and tasted delicious

A great experience with very polite students, great service and exceptional food. The restaurant had a lovely calm, open atmosphere and was great value for money.

First time visiting The View, it exceeded expectations! The food was so good you forgot that is was cooked by students. The services was fantastic and nothing was too much trouble. The décor is also of great quality and all topped of with a wonderful view! Will definitely be back.

Took a friend for a birthday lunch and we had a lovely meal. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. Not over bearing portions and presented to a fine dining standard. Great value for money and my friend enjoyed her birthday treat. Would highly recommend!

Lovely, lovely food and loads of it. Service was great, attentive without being intrusive, superb value. Great views as well. As it's all done by the students, I went wanting it to be good, and it exceeded my expectations. Will certainly be back, and thoroughly recommend it.

We went for the Xmas dinner. Tasty amuse Bouche gravadlax moist Turkey with pigs in blanket sprouts red cabbage parsnips roast potatoes delicious xmas pudding and mince pie. Fantastic enthusiastic service

My second visit to the restaurant at the catering college. Wonderful food. I had haddock fish cake with a soft boiled egg pork fillet in a superb sauce with parmentier potatoes and then lemon posset. Fantastic and great service from enthusiastic trainees. Good wine at a reasonable price.

First visit and absolutely blown away by the standard of the food and the service. Lives up to its name for the views over the countryside. We were told that the college wants to close the restaurant next academic year so please try it quickly! Anyone employing graduates from this college will be getting enthusiastic and well trained young people for their hospitality business. Very good value.

I have known this restaurant for years. It is a traditional Italian restaurant and consistently good

If you’ve not been here… you must visit. Wonderful food very affordable and lovely staff who are being trained in hospitality, so the service is great. Being a customer helps the college and the experience helps your wellbeing! Thank you to all the staff who make this possible.

This was my first visit although I have wanted to go for sometime. I had smoked mackerel crevice followed by smoked haddock rarebit and pear and almond tart. This was washed down with Australian shiraz. The bill for 2 was £53 which was extremely reasonable.The meal cost £19.50 and the wine was £14.The staff were enthusiastic and friendly. The portions could have been more generous but the presentation was good. It is only open for dinner on a Thursday night during term time. This being a catering college. The lunch menu is even more reasonable.

enjoyed a superb three-course lunch at The View on a charabanc outing ! As well as superb food, the service from the catering students was delightful. Very impressed with the efficiency of the students dealing with a large number of diners. Couldn;t fault any of the experience. Would definitely like to come again.

Delightful venue with terrific views, helpful staff and delicious food. Portion sizes meant we could enjoy 3 courses where in other venues they are so large, 2 courses is all we can manage.

Really enjoyed this experience, Haven’t been for a couple of years and will do it more often. 3 courses well executed both service and food faultless Very limited opening hours though

Mark and he's team looked after us so so well lovely food and a great atmosphere and the ladies really enjoyed themselves. And will be back for afternoon tea this year. Keep up the good work as this place is a real gem.

I guess you’d call The View a hidden gem since it’s not well advertised but, on arrival, it’s a hive of activity. If you bear in mind it’s a training restaurant, you will be very impressed. The price reflects this. What the servers lack in experience and confidence they make up for in diligence and tasty fayre! We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner from the seasoned soup to the trifle served in a cheeky jar. We plan to return for Afternoon Tea.

A festive dinner at The View was a great way to start of the Christmas celebration with friends. £19.50 for 3 courses, followed by coffee and Mince pies. Each course was well presented, good portion size and absolutely delicious. We were made to feel extremely welcome by the restaurant manager and his team. The team were attentive without being obtrusive, nothing was too much trouble. Will definitely return and highly recommend.

A really lovely two course lunch. The students were polite and helpful. Well done and thank you!

Visited the View one thursday evening and had a great experience, The food was great and superb value and the waiting staff made a real effort and managed to be attentive without being obtrusive. Please use this restaurant, open for lunches as well, as it is helping the next generation of chefs and hospitality staff who are desperately needed.

They use a little too much salt in their cooking but otherwise acceptable.

Great. Students coped brilliantly with a large party and food was properly cooked and just the right portion size

Very tasty food. Fabulous view. Attentive servers

The mushroom soup I had for lunch today was the best I have ever had. Absolutely delicious! I will be back soon.

Food good service quick. Well worth a visit. Lovely atmosphere. Mark was very helpful. Do give it a visit. Parking good.as well.

Very good quality food at good prices staff were very friendly and helpful

A great venue run by the Students. Delicious top class food

It was great to return for dinner at The Artisan, only the third evening they have opened this year due to the lockdown. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable - the food was excellent, the setting is great with its views over Tonbridge from picture windows along one side of the dining room, and the service is charming. Guests must understand that the waiting staff as well as the chefs are all trainees studying at the College. They can be nervous and maybe get a few things wrong but helping them to learn is the whole point of the experience. We tried to put them at their ease and to draw them out a bit. It took no effort and was very rewarding. The menu is a steal - 3 courses for £12 - with vegetarian starter and main options, which I chose, while my wife had the fish starter and pork main course. All the food was delicious and we really didn't need the sticky toffee pudding dessert! (With excellent coconut ice cream.) The small selection of wines is very good and good value too. We even got a very nice complementary aperitif as well. Well done to Elsa and Danielle, our waitresses and everyone else involved. We have already booked to go again!

This is a nice restaurant in the college to eat a meal and you have a nice view to look out onto.

Very friendly, fast service by staff in training. Tasty food, well presented and affordable. Will come again. Perfect for lunch with mates or colleagues.

We were a table for 5 for lunch. Staff are friendly and attentive. Food was well made and full of flavour. A good vegetarian option. Will I return? Yes of course! 😃👍🏿

Good food and the customer service is great i would love to invite my family and friends over i will recommend this place to people

the chairs and doorhandles tasted scrumptious

The food we had tonight was outstanding especially from first year students, the blackened cod was was excellent!

Having read the reviews of the Artisan at West Kent College we ventured there for an evening meal and had an excellent evening. The food was very good (we had fish cakes, confit duck and pork) as was the excellent bottle of Shiraz. The staff were very attentive without being overbearing. All in all a very good evening!!

Great vegetarian Christmas lunch, the students were really attentive and made a huge effort to ensure our visit to the restaurant was enjoyable. Would recommend.

Great time with family and friends. Students were very good and efficient. Lunch menu suited vegans, meat lovers and children.

A family evening with ages from 8 to 80+ proved to be very enjoyable as we sampled the festive 3 course menu. All the food was well cooked and tasty and the service charming as on previous visits. You will not eat a better value meal in Tonbridge and we do recommend you give it a try as you will not be disappointed if you go with the flow!

After a gap of 2 years we decided to have lunch in this restaurant for college trainees. Once again we had a lovely experience for which I have given 5*. The food was all very acceptable and quantities generous. After a starter and main course I could not take dessert! I loved my prawn and chorizo bruschetta starter (delicious) and my wife’s sticky Asian style pork belly went down well as well. Mains could have had more seasoning but this is better than being overseasoned. My wife enjoyed her pear and chocolate frangipane tart. They have a short but high quality wine list - super South African Cabernet Sauvignon! But the best thing was interacting with the trainee waiting staff whose first week of serving this was. They were all wonderful - well done Flo, Tyler and Scarlett. If you go you must appreciate that they are learning and you will observe Mark, the sociable Maitre D, teaching them as they go. Seasoned wine drinkers like us take it for granted how to pour without spilling but there is always a first time........and it was great to see how comprehensive the training is. Before we left I popped my head into the kitchen to thank the chefs for their great work. We paid £43.50 which included our bottle of wine and coffees. And we have booked for a Christmas dinner in December! Please go, you will not be disappointed!

We’ve visited twice in the last two months, both times for lunch on a Monday. We’d be keen to try out one of the establishments offering the students a chance to practice their skills. And this was a fantastic little find. The experience starts downstairs in the reception area which is a little strange, and one of the hospitality students comes to collect you and escort you to the restaurant area. This is set up as you would expect as a restaurant and offers lovely views over the surrounding hills. It’s smart and clean. We’ve been really impressed with the standard of the food. On our first visit visit we had Tempura vegetables to start which were absolutely fabulous, and garlic bread with a glorious soup gorgeous. The stew for the main was nice, and the mashed potato well made and we finished it off with a brownie with cappuccino custard, which was really nice and not something I’ve seen before. For our second visit there was another glorious soup to start and crab cakes, which were served with an excellent chilli dip. Cordon Bleu Chicken and Lemon tart. Again all lovely, and fantastic value for money. It’s a definite lunch time favourite for us. The students are learning on the job under the watchful eye of a restaurant manager/tutor and we’ve really enjoyed witnessing this aspect of the experience too. The only negative has been that the coffee machine was not working on both occasions but there was plenty of other choice. We will definitely go back

Always a pleasure to see young people learning life skills and very good food too

Great food. Wonderful staff. A delightfull place you eat.

You quickly forget your being looked after by students, the staff are so dedicated and the food is so good any failings fall into insignificance. The wine list is very good and very well priced. This is an absolute Jen that shouldn’t be missed

Food took along time to arrive at the table

Pleasant surroundings, good food and service excellent value

We had a lovely 5 course Christmas meal, the student were attentive and lovely, bless them they forgot to take our order though as it was a set menu for vegi or meat eaters! but great value, great vibe and they should be proud of themselves!

We visited today for lunch, it’s a fantastic place with a great view. We were served by Ryvah who was very polite & professional. The food was top quality and we couldn’t fault it. What a great opportunity for the students to learn about the catering industry. We will definitely be back!

I am ashamed to say this is the first ever visit for us to the West Kent College in-house restaurant, manned by trainee chefs and waiting staff under supervision. First the good points: Our food was all really good with only one or two blemishes, aspiring to fine dining standards of cooking and presentation. We had the Christmas 5 course menu at £20, accompanied by a lovely white wine from Biddenden Vineyard. (All their wines are local and sold at very keen prices!) The venue is really elegant, simulating a fine dining establishment, with muted music playing. All the staff were really friendly which goes a long way. On the negative side, the service was very patchy and slow at times. The young staff needed prompting several times. Our "petit fours" with the tea/coffee never materialised and we had to ask what had happened. Apparently not enough were made and the chef who does them was not in. Really we should have been pre-advised of this. However we did enjoy the experience and will certainly go again in the New Year, maybe for lunch as the value for money is great!

A huge thank you to our fabulous host (Monsieur Brad Pitt David Jason) and the superb team of staff who looked after us.

Este restaurante es una visita obligada. Este lugar fue recomendado por amigos. Nos encontramos con ellos para comer y era servida por Stuart y un hermoso joven llamado Riaca. Ambos nos hicieron sentir muy bienvenidos y entregado un excelente servicio al cliente. Podría ver claramente por qué nuestros amigos de visita regularmente.

Tengo que decir en primer lugar si tu después de un bocado rápido este no es el lugar para ti. Sin embargo, el servicio puede ser lento de la relación calidad/precio lo compensa. He comido aquí varias veces durante el día, lo que fue bien sin embargo yo también he estado en un par de eventos que son los temas estrellas del espectáculo. Bien vale la pena una visita en cualquier momento del día!

La primera vez y una joya, sin duda volveré.

Pasamos una noche fantástica en la vista, la comida era excelente, el servicio era bueno. Disfrutamos de cada plato, que estaba muy bien presentado. Por desgracia, la alarma de incendios no paraban de venirme, que era un poco de un problema más de 45 minutos. Pero, aparte de eso, una gran noche.

Los manteles de lino y reluciente cubertería dar una gran impresión. Por desgracia la comida es más café de alta cocina Joe's. Los jóvenes aprendices intenta pero les falta profesionalidad. "No vayas" no es qué decir cuando realice su comida en la mesa. Las porciones son bastante malvado, pero entonces los precios son muy bajos, aunque puedes gastar en una copa de vino, ya que en el plato principal. Yo tenía cordero al curry y arroz hoy. El arroz era adecuado como una parte pero el curry un poco deficiente tanto en cantidad y su variedad. Aún así, no es una comida barata pero no esperes las normas de un verdadero restaurante profesional. Volveré, aunque sólo para ver si la calidad del servicio mejora.

Excellent service and very professional attention to detail.All the staff were happy and helpful. The food was afternoon tea, this was delivered well presented and we enjoyed all the sandwiches and cakes especially the scones.

Me fui con un amigo para tomar el té de la tarde del viernes, nos pareció que la comida era excepcional , servido, y preparado por los estudiantes en el College. Era tan buena relación calidad-precio , £6.50 . Estaba muy bien presentado, mucho para comer, y no podemos esperar a volver.

Amazing value, provided and served by trainee chefs and chef-esses. We ate in for an incredibly low price and it was very very good. Lovely views and all round great value for money.

If you find yourself in the quiet backwater that is Brook Street, Tonbridge; make sure that you visit The View.It was a busy Tuesday lunchtime and after booking a table for two my colleague and I arrived stressed and hungry.We were warmly greeted by the Maitre D and his charming waiter. Soon after we were ushered to a table with a spectacular view of the Weald covered in a generous dusting of snow. As we do not eat Carbohydrates we both ordered chicken chasseur without the carbs!!! Our waiter was keen to please and offered us more veg to compensate for the lack of carbs. Our tea arrived promptly and was swiftly followed by our lunch.The chicken was succulent and was accompanied by a delicious sauce and well cooked and presented vegetables. We would highly reccommend the friendly service, relaxed ambience and the well planned and presented menu. I would also add that at under £8 per head it was excellent value for money!!

Another hidden gem. Well worth a visit, the food is superb and the students are keen.We went Thursday evening, 10 pounds for 3 courses, you can't beat it.Beer and wine were reasonable pricesAnd you are helping the students, what more could you want :-) It's on the 3rd floor so you get a view, of...... Tonbridge.

We have eaten lunch here three times and are very anxious to give this facility publicity as it deserves public support. Kent College (now simply known as K College) provides no end of courses for young people and includes training for waiters and chefs.The restaurant is staffed by students and lunch is available on a weekday basis with Thursday set aside for an evening meal plus some themed events such as Halloween, a Pie and Mash Night and of course Christmas.The bistro menu comes in small bites (starters) big bites (mains) and various sweets all home cooked. We have gone for 3 courses as portion size is average but the prices are exceptionally reasonable. Two can lunch with a bottle of wine for under £30.There is a learning curve for some of the students and sometimes service is slow but there is a very relaxed atmosphere and friendliness and overall the experience is good and a visit is thoroughly recommended ..