Street Kings Smoke Shack Whitstable — Restaurant in Canterbury

*edit to respond I mentioned price because it should match the quality of food. Yours does not. I mentioned that some of the food was bad so don't tell me it's a price issue when I gave feedback on every item. For example, Your pork chop thing is not bad because it is expensive, it is bad because it was tasteless, the exterior is like leather, and the inside was like biting a stick of lard

initial review: We went in for the "bottomless BBQ" and had an unpleasant experience.

For £28 pounds per person you get a platter of BBQ. Sides are all extra (about £6 each) which surprised be because £28 a head is already a LOT of money, especially as you are only allowed the bottomless offer for "1 hour" starting from your booking time. Bear in mind the food took 10-15 minutes to come out so this is in fact 45 minutes of bottomless BBQ.

Here's what we thought of each item Ribs - I think there were two types - smaller and larger. The small was actually very good. We could really taste the smoke on them even if there wasn't a huge amount of meat on them. The larger type were quite grisly and not particularly flavorful. Chicken - Chicken thigh was one of the best things on the platter. A little smokey and very juicy and moist. Chicken wings were a bit naff in terms of flavour and not much meat on them but that's the chicken's fault not the restaurant. Pulled pork - was absolutely fine. It was standard middle of the road restaurant quality which was only a disappointment as we expected better from a BBQ restaurant. pork chop thing - I have no idea what this was but it was nasty. It was like somewhere between pork belly fat and crackling but the fat was flavourless and quite cold so didn't exactly melt in your mouth and the exterior was incredible tough - like needed a steak knife tough. Coleslaw - was darn good. Fresh and tasty. The bad thing about it is that it was one of the best items on a meat platter. Beans - dreadful. bordering on flavourless and I suspect undercooked. Also, they were barely above room temperature. Cornbread - nope. Dry, crumbly like a 3 day old Victoria sponge. Pretty flavorless too. I also prefer cornbread warm but that's entirely subjective. Also, nothing was hotter than lukearm and the front door was propped open on a cold day so anything that had a touch of warmth didn't for long. After we finished the platter we were asked if we wanted another one but that for every 100g of waste left on the platter we would be charged £5. I get the need to deter people wasting food, but like, what?? With how much gristle and bone we ended up with after the first platter how is this enforceable? So it's a bottomless BBQ for 45 minutes with (mostly) under seasoned and tepid food but god help you if you don't finish it. What a lovely experience for £28 per person - not including sides, dips or drinks of course. Just bizarre. Honestly with the temperature, flavour, and quality of the meat it felt like eating someone elses leftovers. Suggestions: *more butter or buttermilk in the cornbread to help it stay moist. upgrade it to jalapeno cornbread which is pretty easy to make. *get food to the table warm if not hot. *Sort the horrendous pricing out. Either drop it or include a choice of 1 large side per platter and 1 dip. *Take whatever that pork slab was off the platter or make some major changes to the recipe. *Sort the beans out. Cook them for longer in more seasoning and maybe do an upgraded alternative with burnt ends. *Keep the door shut on a cold day. Keep the heat in and the flies out. *Have think about your bottomless rules. If you are hell bent on the 1 hour limit then it needs to be from food arriving. The waste rule thing needs some serious thought too because its odd. *Consider a more flexible platter because there was a lot on there I didn't enjoy. What about If you (or the server) had a little print out with checkboxes for each item that you say if you want or not. That'll help keep the waste down and ensure everyone enjoys their platter more. I will not be either returning or recommending this...

UPDATE: as the owner has responded. 1) The Birthday Girl is a local visited before so was very generous giving a 5 star, even though they were the first one to raise the complaint to the manager on the night and refused to pay full price, 2) the sticky table situation - funny how all the other restaurants I have been to sanitise the surfaces and don’t have the same issue?!, 3) I can assure you I am real - what a strange slogan!, 4)not sure who tipped as we definitely didn’t, and rest of the party walked out complaining, 5) restaurant is about experience AND food, and quite frankly the service was SHOCKING, if training was up to scratch maybe your waitress and manager would have done a better job, 6)) the food was good, not great so don’t get ahead of yourself - general food standards today are high, so service is really what sets a place apart nowadays especially if there is a service charge. I appreciate you feel disappointed with the review, but better you are made aware and can look into addressing them going forward. Luckily for us we dine out often so know good/ bad service when we see it. Of course people can experience for themselves!

Whitstable place is TINY, and meant that there was only one other party (of 4) dining in the restaurant alongside our party of 7 adults and 3 children. This was a squeeze as anyone leaving the restaurant had to scrape past my chair just to open the door. Tables were very sticky which kept catching our clothes - not pleasant.

Food was good (had it all arrived in the 1hr and 15mins we waited), though for some hours after my partner and I could not satisfy our thirst. I am guessing high levels of sodium in the food?

Service was AWFUL. Food came out at different times with people finishing their mains whilst others hadn't even received their starters. Some of us waited well over an hour to receive the first dish. We ordered a side of Fries and Slaw. The slaw made it's way out when we were 75% done with our main, and the fries, well they simply never arrived. To top it off, the party of 4 had arrived and left within the time that we were waiting for food. This was very infuriating. Ordered a top-up of alcoholic drinks which NEVER ARRIVED. The "still water" was two bottles of tap water which was meant to be shared amongst a table of 10 (stingy). The water was not once replaced during our time at the restaurant.

PRICING was way off given i) service was just abysmal, ii) food/ drinks didn't even arrive, iii) prices excludes sides (though do include a side salad which we never received as we were told they had run out), iv) 12% service charge added to the bill - for what? See attached picture of king platter which cost £49.

The WAITRESS was TERRIBLE and clearly lacking any experience or consideration for guests. This included serving food without cutlery which we had to remind the waitress about several times and meant that we were left staring at our food for 5+ minutes. When the cutlery (and paper napkin) did arrive the waitress leaned over us and our food to place the cutlery on the table, nearly poking my 3 year old in the face with the fork. Ridiculous.

Complained to the manager at the end of the meal who apologised before saying to a member of our party "you know how it works here" and that "as long as the food is good". Terrible apology and clear lack of understanding of the concerns we were raising, especially as some of the party (including myself) were first time diners at the restaurant. As a "treat" the manager removed the SERVICE CHARGE which is automatically added to your bill at 12%. Trying to dress this as a "gesture of goodwill" is just farcical given service charge is discretionary and the service was non-existent.

RUDE and unprofessional manager. When a member of our party jovially said "we won't say no to a bottle of wine next time", the manager responded with "bring a smile next time". Not at all appropriate and just plain offensive.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. Food is not enough to make up for the terrible service and attitude...

Highly disappointed with the service received at street kings today. We made a booking for 2.30pm and arrived promptly. Upon arrival we were asked if we had a booking and we said yes. The waitress said the table had just left and she could clear it for us in a couple of mins. While she was clearing the table, a girl with a pitbull type dog walked in , a lady came out the kitchen told her to sit at the table that was being cleared for us. As she passed us, the dog jumped up at my 3yr old startling him and neither lady apologised. A table of 4 at the front who were leaving ( not having eaten due to an issue of their own) offered us their table and we sat. The table wasn’t replenished or wiped when the waitress came back over to us explaining how the menu had changed. She explained that the normal menu wasn’t on today and our only option was the bottomless brunch that is no longer bottomless . It is £28pp for minimum of 2 people. As we had already sat and driven quite far for this meal, we were hungry and agreed. Within 5 mins a platter of warm food was brought out to us. My toddler was able to eat straight off the platter without saying it was hot. I told the waitress that the chips were stone cold and handed her one, she took it to the kitchen and soon after a plate of hot chips was brought to us, making the rest of the food even colder than it was compared to the now hot chips we had. When my partner called over the owner to explain the situation, the lady from the kitchen came running out and started shouting at us . She got all up in my husbands face so bad that the man who was dealing with us had to physically restrain her and tell her to go back to the kitchen. I believe if she hadn’t acted like that, he would have been able to try to resolve the issues with my husband but as my toddler started crying because the angry lady scared him, after he was already startled by the dog, we decided just to leave. If the service was better and the food was served hot, I believe we could have had an enjoyable meal but to be shouted at told we were wrong and that the food couldn’t not be hot and that we were disrespectful to their business means we won’t...