Elite Pubs Reviews 46

had lunch at the potting shed today and was served by michaela and andreea .both these ladys were very attentive polite and helpfull .one of my party was in a wheel chair and it was no problem to re arrange the table to acomodate the wheel chair. the food was very fresh and very enjoable. thanks to all staff.

Super excited when our new local pub the wishfully thinker opened. Having been to the potting shed for 5 years and navigated the menu many times. I turned up to the wishfully thinker expecting a refreshing menus to match the wonderful interior.

But sadly it was pretty much the same. And I had already seen much of the food if not all on the other elite menus. If I see another bit of meeting hanging on a piece of metal I shall scream.

I guess having the same menu in all the pubs might help save money with buying produce. But to be subjected to the same again on turning up to the wishful thinker drained the life out of me.

Being so close I had hoped to visit many times but to order the same food over again has presently stop me from going and other people in the area have said the same.

Even the specials at the time of visit was the hanging meat main course they just dragged across.

Such a shame. I hope elite pubs try to make the menus a little different to encourage return visits. Please.

Went out for a meal at the Wishful Thinker. The service provide by Zoe , was excellent and she was very attentive without being overbearing. Great all round experience, would definitely cone again.

Beth and Jade were both really friendly and smiley and efficient which was great and also quite rare! Relaxed and good food, had late lunch and then drinks in the bar. It's a really nice restaurant with lovely garden and big rooms to eat in, you don't feel like you are sitting in a rubbish bit. Just easy and nice.

I visited the wishful thinker for the second time my first just for a drink was wonderful. The staff were brilliant.
I now decided to try breakfast food wis very reasonable, three pots of tea and a basket of toast cost £47 including tip. For 2
I find the charging for three pots of tea is it outrageous I think if you’re having breakfast at this sort of money, certainly Unlimited tea and toast would be a reasonable thing to ask Nowadays we really must think about value for money and £47 for two people for breakfast. I don’t think is value for money. Lovely surroundings and great staff but not value for money.
£23.50 per breakfast, basically for full fry up cup of tea and toast.

Had a lovely Father’s Day lunch today. Even though they’ve not been open long they did really well with such a busy Service. Our waitress Riannon was very friendly and made sure we were all well looked after. Another successful venture.

We booked a table for two for lunch at the Great House Hawkhurst. When we arrived looking forward to a relaxed meal as it was my birthday but we were greeted with a funeral wake. There were over 100 people filling the bar.
I found the manager eventually and complained to him that we should have been warned when I phoned and booked. His reply was very negative and very matter of fact.
My wife and I felt we didn’t belong there as the funeral party had taken over.
I am very disappointed as we have been to the Dirty Habit many times and have spent considerable money and always been greeted with curtesy and professional attitude.

Thank you to Jasmine at the Farmhouse in West Malling for looking after us on Saturday 17th for lunch.
Yes it was busy but she was very helpful - thank you also for refilling our water bottles.
I've had the fish cakes before but then saw someone with the roast turkey dinner and that was me sold! the Pizza and fish starters (ordered as a main course) hit the spot
and we made room for pudding which was also extremely delicious

Will be back again in the New Year
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Jess, Lucy & Mich.

Had lunch at The Vineyard, Lamberhurst on the way to the Hastings area.
I ordered the chefs special of Tuna Salad with potatoes. It was amazing, and so good that we went back again same day for an early dinner as I wanted my partner to try it, and I wanted another one :).
Please keep this on the menu if possible, it’s so nice.
Staff and service were great too.
Monday 30th May ‘22

Disgraceful customer care after a traumatic experience.
Appalling treatment after an allergy flare up to a dessert with no warning that ‘may contain nuts’.
My daughter visited with a friend for a meal, which was ok. Dessert was ordered where after one mouthful my daughter felt her tongue tingling, throat tightening and nauseous. She asked the waitress if there were nuts in the cheesecake, to which she replied, “I don’t think so, I will ask the chef”.
On returning, she delivered the response that yes there are nuts throughout the dessert, would she like a glass of water? My daughter by now was suffering and needed to pay and go. They asked for the bill which did not come so they had to get up and ask for it. The guy who took their payment was not interested in the slightest that there was an issue with my daughter’s health and when she mentioned that maybe there should be a warning on the menu next to the dessert, he just replied with “well I wouldn’t know, I didn’t serve you”!
On returning home, she was violently sick and spent the next day recovering which triggered me to email the company to express my disappointment at how this had been handled.
3 days later I had a phone call from Mr Challenger from Challenger Food & Safety, Heathfield who spoke on behalf of The Vineyard, explaining that all the correct procedures had been followed by staff and they are all fully trained regarding allergies and health & safety! This I find difficult to believe given that the staff seemed clueless. We were also told that it was my daughters’ fault for not mentioning to the waitress that she may be allergic to nuts (she’s not had a reaction since the age of 2 and she is now 18), fair point but to have in small print at the bottom of the menu to speak to the staff about dietary requirements just isn’t satisfactory. He then repeated twice that his own daughter has a severe seafood allergy, totally irrelevant!
So, in a nutshell, if you want customer service, do not eat here. Staff are not interested.
Who would have known that a cheesecake would be full of nuts!

Visited The Lazy Fox at Marks Cross 11/3/22 the food was very good, the service was pretty awful...there were 12 of us sitting in the bar area, I run a meetup group for the over 50's and always struggling to find a big enough pub for m events...so after NYE here at The Lazy Fox...we thought we would come back for a Friday evening meetup..I had 16 going I received a phone call from the pub asking fora deposit of £10.00 per person I went on to explain that we are all not guaranteed to eat so the agreement was to pub us in the bar area which was fine and in fact better as lots of kids in the restaurant that evening, this is when it started to fall down so there was no table service we had to go up and order ourselves at the bar and this wasn't a problem, at the end of the evening we all paid individually for what we had chosen to eat and drink as we were bout to go one of the bar staff said there was and outstanding payment of £31.00 which someone had to cover...firstly they couldn't prove what food or drinks hadn't been paid for so being responsible people we coughed up and paid the missing amount, since then I have contacted everyone that was with me at the lazy fox and all had paid..apparently you do not have to pay the service charge if you are eating in the bar area...now to cover the odd drink or coffee or desert that one of my members had missed fair enough but it was a cost of a meal..so sadly we will not be returning to The Lazy Fox

We have visited Elite Pubs on numerous occasions especially the Poacher and Partridge. We have always found the staff to be friendly and very helpful. Not so today when we popped in for a drink. My wife likes her beer in a stem glass but we were told that this was no longer possible as management have decided to withdraw all half pint branded glasses. We were served by the deputy manager who had a rude take it or leave it attitude and said it is either that glass or nothing. When one is paying over £8.00 for drinks then surely you should be able to have a drink in a glass that you enjoy. I did see a stem glass but was told it was a cocktail glass. Very reluctantly and with a bad grace the drink was then poured into a stem glass. We found her attitude and rudeness unacceptable. The pub was also cold and very unwelcoming.

Absolute nightmare trying to book Xmas Day lunch. You have to make a provisional booking (no deposit taken) then wait to know if you are successful. They are only interested in large party bookings because they can seat more people and get more money. If you try and book for say a party of 3 by the time they let you know they are full you are unable to book elsewhere. I have tried to book at 2 of these pubs and its just been a total joke. Stick to private individual pub/restaurants, they seem to put themselves out for you.

Always great food and service in the elite pubs. We’ve Visited most of them previously. Our first visit to The Pheasant Plucker at Ide Hill was fantastic. Amazing food and fantastic friendly and helpful service from Oscar. Highly recommend.

This was our first visit to The Vineyard, but certainly will not be our last. We had a great evening celebrating my wife's birthday, with our sons and their partners.
We were well looked after by Meg, who made sure that everything was just so, the food was excellent, as was the wine and the meal was topped off with a surprise impromptu birthday sweet complete with candle, a nice thoughtful touch.
Well done Meg and all at The Vineyard, we'll be back!!

Was celebrating my friends special birthday . Had the lobster meal very nice . Our waitress Laura could not do enough for us . Fabulous service 👍

I went for a meal out with family on Tuesday 29th June the food was amazing 10/10 for your chef.the front of house really could do with taking a leaf out her book as there serves was well below par.
Julie

This is just Shameful
Stealing someone else's ideology
And marketing as your own
This business is not to be trusted
No scruples or morals
Disgusting

Well I wouldn't normally leave a review even as I have found the quality of food disappointing and overpriced on my most recent excursions to the Potting Shed. I have used this particular establishment many many times but will now, unfortunately, be boycotting all their establishments due to their failure to honour a gift voucher for their dinner and bed and breakfast that expired during the lockdown last Year!! I called at the time and was told to call back when I wanted to avail of the Voucher once the pandemic has blown over. Just ried that and was told I only had until last Christmas to take up the opportunity and therefore it was now void. So although I wasn't told this I was expected to take up the offer during the period that there were restrictions in place and a limited timeslot of a ffew months. So the person who purchased the gift may as well have throown their money away. Like I said I have noticed that the food quality has dropped lately and is over priced anyway and as a regular patronage I will take my money elswhere in future and spend it somewhere that doesnt basically take money and provide no service whatsover for it.

farm house, you guys need more blankets outside we get cold lol