The Woolpack Iwade Public House and Restaurant — Restaurant in Borough of Swale

As posted on Tripadvisor Disappointing birthday dinner On Saturday evening (10/2/18), 8 of us visited The Woolpack for a meal. I had previously heard some lovely reviews but now regret not asking or checking updated reviews before booking. What was meant to be a special evening turned out to be rather miserable and we will not be returning any time soon, nor recommending the establishment to anyone.

I arrived with my husband and children first and we we offered some drinks by our lovely waiter. He then informed us of approximately 4 or 5 dishes that did not have. I was a little surprised that the evening started off like that. The remaining guests arrived and we ordered some drinks from the bar. My son asked for a chocolate milkshake and to be honest this was just horrendous. It was so watery he did not want to drink it and we changed it for something else.

Our waiter then came to inform us that they had also run out of another dish. We placed our orders which included some fish platters as starters. After a short while, the waiter came to inform us that these platters were also out of stock and we had to change the starters.

Shortly after the starters arrived the waiter once more approached our table to tell us that the meal my sister ordered, the salmon, was not in stock either!!! My husband then requested to see the manager. Some time passed and our waiter came back to tell us they would not charge for my sister's meal. By this time the manager has still not showed his/her face so my husband said that is fine.

The food in general was ok, I had the chicken breast with cream and mushroom sauce that was extremely salty. But by that time I was so over all the problems we had I could not be bothered to order anything else. I also feel the chicken a la creme is very expensive for what you get. £11.99 for one chicken breast with a creamy sauce and some sliced mushroom on top, mash and vegetables. There was really nothing special about it.

All in all it was a very disappointing evening and I found it rather unbelievable that the manager would not show his/her face from the kitchen to come and personally talk to us about the situation. Although my husband told the waiter the manager can leave it, after offering my sister's meal for free, I feel that a professional person would still come and speak to the guests and apologise or at least offer some explanation. The young gentleman who was our waiter, was unfortunately forced to come and give us the bad news time after time and it's really not his fault or place to have to make excuses for a badly run kitchen.

I have a feeling that the kitchen was well aware the other items were not in stock either but if they had listed them all at the beginning of the evening we may very well have gotten up...

Nice pub, good food. Only downside is the novelty “ diy” steak cooking. Everyone in the place comes out smelling like they work in a burger van.

Update. 6 people on the restaurant 6 in the bar. 5 staff. Still a 40 min wait for food , and when chased the response was “it’s only 30 mins I will show you the ticket” and “the girl is new”. That was after having to settle for 3rd choice on the menu because everything else was “sorry we don’t have that”

How about “sorry - will have it with you as soon as we can” not defensive and blaming the waitress who was actually really friendly and welcoming unlike the owner.

Keep on the way you are and you won’t have to worry about customers much longer. The building will be turned into flats and everyone will say “what a shame”.

It will be a shame because it can be so good there.

Not cheap and that’s ok if you are good. But this feels like it’s all a bit too hard, waiting too long to get food you didn’t really want whilst waiting in vain to get some service to buy another drink to be told “you have waited is 10 MINUTES leas than you guessed” and than paying over the odds for the privilege….. think I will spend the money somewhere else next time.

I tried to explain that if I didn’t tell you you wouldn’t know but that also seemed like that was unwelcome.

My mistake....

So you know them pubs where you stumble upon them and instantly fall in love well this is one of them pubs. Clearly a family run business because you feel the love and warmth as soon as you set foot inside. Now add into the equation our current covid crisis and this pub shone even more. Very professional in making sure track and trace was completed and social distancing was adhered to, whilst still keeping up the welcoming warmth ouzing from here. I went with my family the wife and 3 children 1 of which is asd and I tell you know it was such a relaxed happy atmosphere that everyone was at ease and was able to sit back and enjoy our experience. Plenty of open space for the little ones to explore giving us parents the perfect time to engage together after a nice hot day. The inside was immaculately perfect and the garden setting was beautiful. We all had a meal and everydish was as good as it sounded reading from the menu 😋 huge portions of hearty food served with love goes down well no matter where you are. A very good experience and cant wait to go back for some more! A big massive thumbs up from the Weeks family #woolpack will see you...