The best restaurants serving British food in South East

It is such a shame that this brilliant chef is supported by a team of people who have absolutely no idea what is going on. This was our fourth trip back. Each time we have been here since the refurbishment, the quality and flavour of the food has been amazing but each time, we have had terrible service. This was the last chance and I'm afraid we won't be going back. We put in our order for food and drink which just disappeared off the face of the earth. Our lunch wine was served before the pre–lunch drinks, had to keep looking at the staff for any sign of food to which they panicked on the realisation that we were STILL there with no meal. One of the young male waiters, who actually was on the ball, couldn't apologise enough and genuinely looked very embarrassed at the whole shambles. Credit to him, credit to chef but the rest of you, sort yourselves out! It's just not good enough.

Very lack lustre lunchtime experience here recently. Sign said wait to be seated… which we followed. Eventually managed to catch a server’s eye and asked where we could sit, to be told ‘you can sit where you like’. The tables were sticky and needed cleaning - not sure why these hadn’t been done as it wasn’t busy. Waited ages for someone to take our order… he really would benefit from some basic training in hospitality skills as these were severely lacking. The food was passable but expensive for what we had. The quiche and salad consisted of a microwaved quiche resulting in soggy pastry - and the salad was more like a garnish - not good value at over £10. Plenty of other better value and nicer eating experiences to be had nearby.

I arrived just before 11.30 and fancied an early light lunch / snack. There were no menus on tables. After long wait in fairly short queue, I asked if they were serving sandwich’s or similar. She said not until midday. Seeing a breakfast menu I said, ok I’ll order something off of here. To which she said they stopped doing breakfast at 11.30. So the only thing on offer was cake. Madness. Been here before, always slow service and overpriced. Far better places you could go in the area.

Horrible slimy strawberries and hard red blackberry on pancakes wrong coffee latte not cappuccino, not a good experience

We decided to have a bite of lunch here while looking for plants. Really disappointing and won't eat here again. The young girl at the counter was polite but didn't seem interested in the customers or her job. My husband went back to the counter to ask for butter and because she didn't bother to look at him instead of putting them in his hand they dropped on the counter. They had run out of napkins so customers had to take sheets off a roll of kitchen towel. Tables were slowly being cleared by another young girl but not one table was wiped clean. They weren't overly busy so there was no excuse other than poor hygiene. This could be a goldmine but there was just apathy from the staff.

I bought cod and chips from the Gordon chippy and ate them from a box, on a bench in the grassy area opposite the little shop. Had to wait, so they were piping hot. I really enjoyed them. At first, I thought the chips looked grotty--but it was only because they were browned. But chips don't have to be golden, and they had fresh white potato inside and lots of flavour. The cod was decent, with plenty of white flesh, in a rich batter. Friendly lady served me, old enough to remember how fish and chips should be.

It was lunchtime, the cafe was nowhere near full. There were no clean mugs, the teapots definitely need a good clean/descale and then there is only one hot water/coffee machine in working order. Speaking to others in the queue the machines have been out of order for many months?!? It's not expensive but surely one should expect a decent service?

Took ny mum here for lunch. She ordered scampi with peas & chips. Have no idea what took so long to produce, & when her plate finally arrived, the peas where like bullets. Staff are friendly enough. But we won’t return.

Friendly staff, good fish, but the chips were soggy / oily and tasteless (cooked to order) Chip portion size not commensurate with price either. I understand fish being pricey, but potatoes? Not the greatest overall, room for improvement.

Went as a group to include tribute and nightclub. Food was appalling and they couldn’t get the order right as 2 ordered sweet potato but got ordinary chips. The excuse was it was the chefs first night. Drinks expensive but tribute act was ok. Went to the nightclub and I’ve never experienced a nightclub where no one was buying drinks or dancing. A truly dreadful place, don’t waste either your time or your hard earned money

The food was awful, disgusting and shouldn’t of been served. Nothing nice about it.. service was shocking aswell, didn’t have any sauce. Way over priced. Do NOT recommend

Ordered large bag of chips. Posh thick paper bag but contents soggy, greasy, thin, possibly not freshly cooked that day but reheated. Not cheap either for small portion given (£3.95) and only take cash. Avoiding tax for NHS, roads, water supply, sewage, rubbish collection? Had the runs the next morning. Avoid

Visited during the Car Festival. Just a basic bar in a large building serving in plastic cups. Cheaper than expected.

We happened on this place for breakfast on a Thursday morning. We had wanted to go somewhere else, but hadn't booked. It was big and deserted at 10am. We had two standard full English and a bacon buttie and a sausage sandwich and a hot chocolate and a latte. Everything was nice and the breakfasts were a sensible size. The food arrived fairly quickly.

Food served on plastic plates. Expensive. Argued with owner that tempura is a batter not breadcrumbs, said I would change for something else which was a £1.00 more expensive and she made the young girl go get the card machine before I could reorder! Dreadful customer service and food very poor