The Pound — Restaurant in Canterbury

Amazing concept and I was immediately impressed with the building and decor. Although we had to queue briefly to be seated the front of house staff were very nice and professional. Couple of things that made the experience not so great. I ordered a rare fillet steak which comes with chips and a side salad. My brother ordered a medium rare fillet steak. My brother in law ordered a chicken burger. Our food arrived promptly however my steak was done as a medium and my brothers looked rare. My brother had his coated int he smoked butter and I ordered a peppercorn sauce so it’s not as if we could swap and besides he orders a medium rare. My brother decided to eat his anyway but I decided to ask the staff to send mine back. The waitress took it and then came back to say that it was in fact rare. I’ve eaten many steaks in many restaurants it wasn’t rare. I sent it back and said I wanted another with a different member of staff. By the time my new steak arrived I’d pretty much eaten my chips and side salad (which was probably the best part of the meal because it was so tasty) and so had the rest of the table. Except my brother in law found a hair in his fries. We didn’t say anything as at this point we just wanted to get out of there. The music also was way too loud for a restaurant. We love our music but it’s sometimes nice to have your food And a conversation without having to shout. We asked for the bill but we just got the waiter with a card payment machine so we didn’t get an itemised bill but he told us that they had taken the discretionary tip off the bill. Gee thanks. This place could be amazing just a few tweeks and definitely some guidance for the chef especially when it comes to food hygiene and waiting staff that do not question a customer when they...

After reading the reviews of The Pound online i had high hopes. Unfortunately they weren't realised.

We was seated upstairs in the "parade room", my wife ordered chicken nuggets as her starter, when it arrived it was merely chicken chunks (no breading) in copious amounts of extremely strong soy sauce, im a fan of strong flavours but these "nuggets" were simply sickly. I ordered salt and pepper calamari which were oily and tasted in no way of salt and pepper, but sweet and...just oil.

Next our mains come, my fish and chips arrived, and my wife had sausage and mash which she said was okay, not amazing, just ok. My fish and chips however... again very oiley, a horrible after taste to the fish (which i suspect later made me feel very ill).

This place just doesn't seem to be prepared for diners, our knives and forks were taken away after the starter, we had to replace them with others stolen from another table for our mains. There was no salt or vinegar on tables, how can you offer fish and chips on a menu without providing at least salt?... i asked for ketchup for my chips, the waiter returned with mayonnaise... i couldnt be bothered to complain at this point.

For what you get and the service that is delievered it's definitely overpriced, they seem to have paid so much attention to the theming that they've forgotten the basics and that's making sure that the food is up to standard, im not sure why there are so many good reviews? Where have these people eaten in the past?

All in all for a place that seemingly has a lot of potential it was...

I used to come to The Pound all the time but it’s not really worth it anymore unless you’re coming really late at night since it’s the only decentish place open till 3. The layout and place itself is lovely apart from the tiny bar and waiting about 30 mins to get a drink when it’s packed! Personally, I think the bar staff are slow and you can tell that they pick and chose who they serve first rather than serving whoever arrived at the bar first. I get that it’s a cocktail place so there has to be a bit of flare, but most the lads behind the bar just show off unnecessarily and means that it takes longer for drinks again. The doormen are relatively friendly however I have been challenged by a certain doorman when showing my CitizenCard as ID. Never have I had a problem with his as my ID - it has always been scanned/scrutinised etc like other forms of ID. However this particular doorman was insistent that it can’t be accepted because they can be easily faked - if you look at mine properly you can see it’s not fake and it has the PASS hologram so it is widely accepted. As a bartender myself, I already know this and continued to tell this doorman but he was very rude and shut down was I was saying immediately. Luckily, I had my provisional on me so I could show that but he decided to mutter under his breath as I left - next time use that and get rid of the other rubbish. Sorry mr doorman but that is your personal opinion - if you do your research you know that it is one of the most widely accepted...