The best restaurants in Dover South East

When in Sandwich…. Yes, we totally went there to experience the home of the humble bread and filling. So this café is not exactly the very place where the sandwich was invented, but the staff were lovely and we’re happy to share a story about its origins. The sandwiches we had - the Earl of Sandwich roast beef, the cheese and ale chutney and the tuna mayo - were all lovely and fresh with generous amounts of ingredients.

Hope and Lane serves fair coffee and good vegan and non vegan hot snack options (not meals, more like sausage rolls and small pies and sweet snack.) This was a busy Saturday so it was full and not very easy to move around (too packed with furniture making it hard to move around if you had a dog or a pushchair) I’m afraid as they have tried to fill the place with seating both upstairs and downstairs. The staff were doing their best but there weren’t enough of them and the space behind the bar is not big enough for them all to work and sufficiently serve the customers on a busy day. It’s a shame the business hasn’t got that right. It also meant that tables were left uncleaned as the staff simply had too much on their plates. Success shouldn’t come at the expense of customers. I wasn’t sure what the reference to 1800 Columbia was upstairs then realised they simply hadn’t bothered to check how to spell Colombia 🇨🇴 as opposed to Columbia… always a sign of a non curious coffee business. What a shame - I had higher expectations. Low level of customer service, and when I reviewed with my experience on another channel I was met with defensiveness, sarcasm and they suggested my standards were too high (oh dear) and overall I was told if it was too busy for my liking I should go to Costa up the road (hey?) It was just a very unprofessional response from the owners. In today’s market if you can’t handle a less than perfect review it smacks of an outdated business model, making excuses for lazy management and a business culture that can’t look at itself in the face of customer feedback.

The best Jerk burger EVER. Lovely people amd absolutely fantastic food. If I could give more than 5/5 I would! A hidden gem.

Went for lunch with my husband and my Mum.Beautiful sunny day so the view was amazing. Very busy but the staff were spot on. My Mum had a lovely Ploughman's,I had a jacket potato with beans and cheese, and my husband had cheesy wedges and a sausage roll. One thing we all noticed was one member of staff called Cody.Very pleasant and polite young man who seemed to be doing everything ie bringing out meals,clearing tables,serving ice creams, and ensuring fresh cutlery was available. A delightful lunch made so by this young man

Not the first time i have been in here but will be the last. Always loved the "real fish and chip shop vibe" now it's cold beans and frozen skinny chips.

Booked for a Christmas lunch with my parents, on arrival was told they had no booking for us and Christmas lunch was for a minimum of 6 people, I was not informed this on the telephone booking. Was offered anything of the normal menu, which we declined as we did not go for a burger and chips. This was a special event for my father as he is an ex miner from there!! Customer care could have been better, no manager currently in position, hence we left disappointed, went to a lovely country pub for our meal which was more than accommodating.

A fabulous overnight stop in our campervan. We had a very warm welcome from Dylan who looked after us very well. The bar & restaurant was very busy however Dylan’s professionalism as a server made his job appear easy! Our food was served in a timely manner, piping hot and so delicious! The pastry on the vegetable tart was so tasty with added herbs. The gammon steak burger with an egg was very moreish. Now to the sticky toffee pudding with piping hot custard, a decent size portion, thank goodness we shared! Believe me when I say this is a lovely pub with scrumptious food, & fabulous service from Dylan

Very rude lady behind the counter serving - dark hair - didn’t want to be there - so don’t !! No smile , no friendliness. Your not doing us a favour we are the customer - the young girls bringing drinks out were smiling and attentive please take a head out of there book - disgraceful behaviour treating customers with such disrespect

Came in today for Mothers Day, did have to wait 15 mins for our table as the table we were allocated was just being finished off by the previous booking. This was absolutely no problem whatsoever. The staff were apologetic but so helpful and accommodating and to be honest, we enjoyed relaxing as a family and enjoying each others company! The food was beautiful, I’m vegan and time was taken to provide vegan gravy and a delicious vegan meal - The sausages were cooked to perfection which is rare for veggie sausages! We heard a couple of tables moaning which we found really sad. The staff were all so lovely and I don’t think the people complaining took into account just how busy they were and how hard the staff were trying. We saw the landlady after and considering she had just cooked for 200 people she was so bubbly and friendly - with her, the staff, the food and the general atmosphere, this is definitely somewhere we will visit very frequently. Thank you and well done!

Our favourite Chinese around. Lovely people, delicious food, and great prices - they just get it right.

Rev We ordered from Saffron for the first time and were really impressed! We chose the set menu and appreciated that they were happy to accommodate a change to one of the dishes. The portion sizes were generous, and every dish was fresh and full of flavor. Everything arrived hot and well-packaged, and the quality was excellent. It’s great to know we have such a reliable and tasty Indian takeaway nearby. We’ll definitely be ordering again! Highly recommend.

My wife and I booked here as the Michelin app said it was worth visiting? Well yes the buildings and surroundings were beautiful in a rural setting. We eat out a lot in many Michelin recommended places and I have to say apart from the main course it was very average! My starter the tagliatelle was nice but it said on the menu that it had chillies in it but I think they missed my dish but to be fair it was still nice, my wife’s buffalo mozzarella dish was something that I could could easily recreate at home in 5 mins? But the main course of Dover sole which we both had at £34 per dish was beautiful, we both looked forward to an amazing pudding but there was a choice of 1 on the menu plus cheese ??? We have never been to a Michelin approved restaurant with only 1 pudding on the menu, when we asked if that was it we were told there were some sorbet flavours or ice cream ?? So we tried to spend a bit more money on a nice coffee and my wife drinks decaf and we wanted a cappuccino? But we were told only cafetière coffee ?? Again never at this supposed level of dining has that has never ever happened! So we gave up trying to spend money and asked for the bill. We had five drinks between us and a bottle of water, two courses each no coffee no puddings and including service £208 for the two of us ?? We really don’t care how much things cost if it’s all good but this wasn’t we both felt that this place needed someone who had attention to detail when it came to the menu and food . Also at this price we really didn’t need a screaming kid for the 40 minutes of the 70 mins we sat there, we appreciate that people take kids out now to expensive restaurants but when it can spoil the atmosphere for so long it may need the manager to go and have a word it’s not McDonald’s? My rating of 3/5 is on the generous side I think and we won’t be back quickly which is such a shame as we loved the place and setting. Regards Phil &Angela

I enjoyed my full English breakfast here .My favourite is the hash browns,however you must note that when you come here you must carry cash because they don’t accept cards .

Staff Sarah when we arrived & Nicky who served breakfast very nice. Carpark very small, beer & evening meal good. Room good although bed not very comfortable could feel the bed frame though the mattress. Party Music in the bar went on until 12.30 noisy people leaving went on until 01.00. If we had been told that there was going to be a party when we booked we would have gone elsewhere as we expected the pub to close at 11pm.

Lovely English breakfast! The staff was great! Thank you for your excellent customer service and welcome! It was the beginning of a great day!