Birdies Restaurant — Restaurant in Canterbury

I was looking forward to having lunch here. It was my first time (and my last). My husband ordered the set menu with oysters and steak I ordered the mushroom stroganoff. When my plate arrived I could not find any mushrooms so unfortunately I had to send it back to the kitchen. Whilst I was waiting my husband finished his steak since I didn’t want him to eat cold food. So when he was finished my meal arrived. It was very salty, too creamy and a mediocre amount of food to be honest (£ 22.95 really?!) I tried to pick a little bit of my plate but stopped eating it was horrible. At first I did not want to complain again but when a friendly waitress asked me if I’d enjoyed my meal I felt I wanted to be honest. She appreciated my honesty she said and she was going to try to arrange something with her manager/chef. I did not see her back and the bill was presented by another member of staff. We had to pay the bill in full. No attempt to offer any reduction or offer a complimentary drink even. When we queried this the answer was the chef had replaced the original and that was enough according to the management. I expressed myself and told the lovely waitress who appeared again that I was not happy to say the least. All members of staff looked at me and showed me that they were not the slightest impressed with my, our discontent. I said its treatment like this that makes you want to write bad reviews. The all of a sudden not so nice waitress said: you do that! Write a bad review…well here you are. Management has to reconsider what they are doing. I think in hospitality you have to honour, serve and appreciate your customers but I am slightly afraid they do not care about what we experience as long as the money comes in. Bad attitude…. PS Its been nearly a week now since I have written this review about our unpleasant experience…no reaction whatsoever from Birdies. Mind boggling rude but I was not expecting...

We booked in at 7.30 for dinner for the two of us. Unfortunately our table was only one metre away from the ladies toilets. Not sure why a restaurant would put a table there, off putting to say the least. Consequently for the entire evening people were walking by us to use the facilities. Food choices were very limited, a total of 14 dishes covering starters and mains which included 5 dishes of cold salad/minimal preparation, e.g. 1/2 dozen oysters advocado/bacon salad. Fine to have choices to cover all tastes but when we dine out it is nice to have something that isn't easily prepared at home. We ordered 1/2 dozen oysters and the potted lobster for starters. The oysters were delicious, the potted lobster average. For mains fish stew and skate which were served with julienne courgettes and carrots and a small timbal of rice to go with the skate. Would have been nice to have crusty bread with the fish stew. The stew was tasty although did have a few mussels which had not opened and the only langoustine of the dish was either previously frozen or over cooked. The broth however was delicious. Skate was average. Out of the 7 desserts on offer, 2 were not available, not great considering the limited choice to start with. Ordered 1 cheese platter, pretty unremarkable and what seemed like supermarket crackers, no fruit, celery etc, just a small pot of sickly chutney. A forgettable experience not to be repeated. All in all £124 for a mediocre meal sat next to the toilet. Save your money and go to Wheelers - far superior, see my...

After a disappointing night out at the Seafood Shack we booked two dinners here during our stay in Whitstable.

It's a smaller place, so better book ahead. It's a very nice, charming restaurant. A bit of Brasserie/Bistro style. Feels very warm and welcoming.

Owner and staff were wonderful folks. Friendly, helpful and welcoming. Our Bulldog was welcome here as well.

First night we've had the baked oysters (Rockefeller Style) and goats cheese salad. Both wonderful dishes. Fresh and tasty oysters, creamy flavourful goat cheese.

For the mains we ordered mussels & shrimps and Beef Wellington with sides (veggies and potatoes). A bottle of wine with that. Both shrimp and mussels very fresh again and of high quality. The Beef Wellington was a real treat. Amazingly done! Kudos to the cook!

A creme brulée for dessert. A really great dinner for a fair price.

Happily we came back to other day and had another wonderful dining experience.

Raw oysters and Terrine for starters. Both fantastic, they got great oysters here. Tasted a lot better than the ones at the Seafood Shack. Terrine was my thing...really like it.

For the mains a chowder and shrimps...and another Beef Wellington. Beef was a great as the other night. Beautiful. Chowder was nice and creamy and the shrimps another winner.

A winner was also the wine: Villa Des Croix. Nice, fresh, crisp.

This is really a fantastic restaurant. Great food quality, wonderful staff and owner. A cook who knows what he's doing. Highly...