The Drapers Arms — Restaurant in Canterbury

Went here on the off chance on a semi busy Saturday evening We ordered 12 garlic soy wings, the £70 sharing tray, a pork ramen and 2 filthy fries. When I say this is the most disgusting meal we have had in AGES, I’m not lying. The wings wear coated in grease and pink inside, with no flavour. The pork ramen had absolutely no taste except from the broth that tasted like it had been sat out for days. The sharing platter had duck pancakes - the duck leg was tiny with fatty meat and the pancakes fell apart. The rice on the tray made a member of our party throw up instantly, and continuously throughout the night. It was mush, full of water and oil. The spring rolls were cold. The ‘satay wings’ were normal wings with a few peanuts put on top. The sharing tray itself was tiny and wouldn’t have done enough for the two it’s meant to be for, let alone the 4 they suggest could share it too. The dirty fries were so stodgy that they were stuck on the paper they came on. Everything was tasteless and greasy (even the bowl the ramen was in was full of grease on the outside of the bowl). We barely ate anything before deciding that we literally couldn’t continue. We complained and worked with the bar staff (who honestly we felt so sorry for, as it’s not their fault) to come to an agreeable price. We ended up paying for our drinks, but was told before that they had removed the pork ramen and THEN comped it 75%, and they were still charging £60?! So for what we got, god knows what the price would’ve been if we had paid the whole lot, but it would have been absolutely extortionate especially with the size and quality of the food. Wouldn’t have paid more than £50 without drinks in the first place.

The place itself is fine. But even if you were to go for drinks, it’s averaging £7 for a beer and £10 for a cocktail, so outrageously expensive. Honestly avoid like the plague. Wouldn’t wish this horrific food on the...

Service and staff are pleasant enough but the food is awful. The Korean fried chicken turned up as just luke warm chicken balls liberally slathered in a sickly sweet Naga chilli sauce (which I don't believe is a particularly Korean 'flavour'). The Korean fried cauliflower was much the same. Both dishes a tepid soggy mess, with no hint of the double-fried crunchiness promised in the menu. The only suggestion that these items might be Korean were the sesame seeds. Those were very good.

The Asian slaw and Buddha bowl, unfortunately did not fair any better. I'm aware that Asian style 'slaws' and salads are supposed to be a bit 'tangy', but I reckon half an inch of vinegar at the bottom of the bowls is possibly a little excessive. It's not all negative though; the sesame seeds, once again, were delicious.

The fried rice was tasty (with its garnish of yummy sesame seeds...) but I think I might have accidentally ordered the one from the children's menu as it arrived in a tiny bowl one might use for dipping sauces.

A tempting menu that offers so much more than the kitchen can deliver.

We left our meals mostly uneaten. I know this is a pub and not a restaurant but even the likes of Wetherspoons can manage to microwave up a tolerable plate of food.

And the gents' toilet smells like it needs a good scrub with a...

This was our first visit and it was a mixed bag…. It was fairly busy but not packed but there certainly didn’t appear to be sufficient staff on duty to deal with the customers that were in last Thursday evening.

We waited nearly ten minutes for menus and a drink order and that was only because we went and asked for them.

The food came quickly and was on the whole good. The ribs were the star of the evening, the chicken wings though, whilst substantial were bland even with the hot honey. A couple of them were borderline undercooked at the bone.

We had to ask for more drinks and then chase them when they didn’t come. Likewise we had to chase the bill at the end.

The single gents toilet was pretty grim and had not been looked at or cleaned for hours by the looks which is inexcusable really.

We’d wanted to like the Drapper’s Arms but left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed that something in Canterbury that could be really good, actually was pretty mediocre as an overall experience.

For the total cost it didn’t provide great value and the 12.5% service charge for fairly minimal service was too much - I do hope this reaches the staff who were at least trying their best.

A three star review that would have been two and a half if that was an option unfortunately from this visit and probably not one...