Seaside Pub / Former Beach Hotel / Dog friendly — Restaurant in Borough of Swale

UPDATE - My original review is below however later I thought it actually unfair to judge a restaurant based on one poor assistant (I would hope not the manager) and that actually we never know what is going on in someones personal life to make them act in this way - this lady may actually usually be a lovely person and we caught her on a bad day. However when I came to edit my review I saw the reply from the manager whose only response was to quote our Queen 🙈 This changed my view slightly especially given I know what happened and this is disappointing but I understand the approach to dismiss the comments as exaggerated and I'm sure I would react the same. But I hope my comments have still been taken on board by the restaurant and other customers will have a better experience as reserved signs or instructions on a board to ask for a table would avoid any upset for customers and I'm sure less stress for staff 😊 No one wants to feel they are in the headmasters office.

We popped in for a drink and food on a visit to Minster. On walking in there was no signs saying what to do and being a pub we sat down and asked a lady who worked there with a pony tail how we order. She then very rudely told us off that we couldn't just walk in and take other peoples tables, that we should have booked and that we 'cant just behave like that.' Rather shocked we then apologised and asked if there was a free table (there were many empty and no reserve signs anywhere) to which she started looking at her piece of paper rolling her eyes and sighing that this was clearly a lot of trouble for her. At that point we politely told her we felt she had a bad attitude and would eat elsewhere. Incredibly disappointing and put a sour note on what was already a difficult day. It costs nothing to be kind - something that obviously hasn't been picked up on by this pub. We won't return and would advise others to give your money to somewhere who appreciates the custom and speaks to people with a little more kindness...

Everything was ace here tonight, starting with the young lady on the phone who managed to squeeze the two of us in on a busy Saturday night. The staff were all very nice and friendly, the new guy poured a nice pint.

But WOW were we blown away with the quality of the food. Well done the chef 👏🏽 I don't think I've ever had such perfectly cooked fish in batter. I wonder if he/she filleted the cod themselves because it was such a hunk and so fresh tasting. The batter was so crispy and didn't go soggy for the whole meal - a real feat of culinary skill.

Hopefully the picture shows how succulent and juicy it was.

The chips looked a bit pale so I was surprised how delicious they were. Lots of peas (so I could pretend I was being healthy).

Really very generous, you could definitely share one portion with a salad if you weren't ravenously hungry! (We were)

Take care as there were quite a few little bones in the fish which is also why I think it might have been a fresh piece and prepared by the excellent chef.

We didn't have dessert as too full, no surprise there. So we had a few games of pool which was great as the atmosphere in there pub was really lively and fun.

Several families, a few dogs, friends meeting up to socialise and lots of beautiful young people looking beautiful (and knowing it lol).

Highly recommended with a nice outside space...

The owner of this place is the rudest person I have ever had the displeasure of meeting.

We had been in here for a while, and at 12 O'Clock he came around and shouted at everyone to get out, drink up, get out, leave.

He stumbles down from his lair upstairs, in his stained t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms looking like Jim from The Royle Family, gets himself another drink, gives everyone a stare and stumbles back upstairs.

The owner is not the only issue, the watered down spirits is the biggest issue. I had been ordering double spirit mixers all night and noticed they did not taste very strong, the barman was defiantly measuring them correctly. I then ordered a spirit on its own, and it tasted dreadful, either they are watered down, or they are knock-off drinks put in real bottles.

It's a shame as this pub could be lovely, the lady behind the bar is friendly and nice to talk to, they have a lovely cat that wonders about and the outdoors in the summer is nice to sit on and...