Wildwood Restaurants Canterbury — Restaurant in Canterbury

We arrived at a busy time but managed to be seated outside. The service to dinners sitting outside was fairly slow but acceptable.

Our starters arrived and I had mushrooms in cheese and walnut with spinach. I was happily eating away when my wife said "what is that moving on your plate" as I looked down there was a maggot. I felt physically sick.

Due to the fairly slow service outside there was no one I could speak to, so Instead of creating a song and dance about it, I silently walked in with my plate to the counter and spoke to a waitress quietly about it. She called over the manager who apologised and said she would bring out another one.

I went back to my seat and waited. When the food came out she was still apologising and I said I was surprised it was still moving since the skillet the maggot had been in was scolding hot. At this point the manager gave me such a look as if I had planted the maggot. I was fuming at this.

This was to be a treat for me that my wife was paying for, I had no need to plant a maggot to reduce the price since I wasn't paying. Anyway since we were being treated like scum after that, no tip was forthcoming. My wife paid full price with no offer of concessions on drinks or even a free dessert (which most other restaurants would offer as an apology). In all my time I have never been left feeling so angry after leaving a restaurant.

I really wish I had made a song and dance about the maggot and informed all their clients that the kitchen in this place has maggots in the spinach.

An absolute disgrace. I have even left writing this review for a few days so that I would calm down after the incident and give a fair review, but just thinking about it and more about the way we were treated makes my blood boil.

Do not go to Wildwood. Go to the "Weavers" adjacent to this restaurant, the food and service was much...

On or around this street – the one that ambles through the heart of old Canterbury, jostling with tourists, students, and the ghost of Thomas Becket – there are enough Italian pizza restaurants to feed Rome. Twice. And still have leftovers for Naples. It’s competitive. It’s carb-heavy. It’s mozzarella madness.

So how do you pick? You do what any self-respecting, indecisive, middle-class family does when surrounded by too much choice: you look for the busiest one and elbow your way in like it’s a Black Friday sale on burrata.

Wildwood, then.

It was heaving, which bodes well or terribly, depending on your faith in humanity. But in this case, thank God, it turned out alright. The food was nice – not “tell your friends” good, nor “write an ode to the truffle oil” good – but decent. Perfectly edible. If your Nonna made it, you’d be proud. If Ottolenghi served it, you’d be disappointed.

But where Wildwood earns its crust is the service. Genuinely lovely people. The kind of warm, attentive, unfussy staff you rarely see outside of a Soho House training manual. They even clocked the ridiculously expensive shoes I was wearing – a moment of shared fashion-based frivolity that sparked a proper conversation. I’m not sure if that makes me charming or tragic, but it does suggest the staff are born hospitality people – not just actors killing time between callbacks.

There was a vibe here – an ease – that you don’t get everywhere. A hum of happy diners, a feeling that someone’s actually trying. In a city saturated with identikit pizza joints, that counts for something.

Would I go again? Sure. Would I take a photo of the food? No. But I might photograph the staff – or at...

Wildwood Canterbury is a fantastic Italian restaurant with a warm and inviting atmosphere. We recently had the pleasure of dining there, and we were blown away by the quality of the food, the service, and the overall ambiance.

For our main courses, we ordered the "four season" pizza and the "Philly cheesesteak" pizza. The "four season" pizza was topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, roasted artichoke, mushrooms, red pepper, anchovies, black olives, and basil. The "Philly cheesesteak" pizza was topped with thinly cut strips of marinated steak, roasted red onion, chimichurri dressing, mozzarella, cheese, and baby plum tomatoes.

We also enjoyed a few ice cold glasses of beer with our meal. We received our food quickly, within about 10 minutes of ordering it. We were seated at a nice table next to the window, which gave us a great view of the sky and the outside seating area.

The "four season" pizza was a delicious and flavorful combination of toppings. The artichokes were perfectly roasted, and the anchovies added a nice umami flavor to the pizza. The "Philly cheesesteak" pizza was also excellent. The steak was tender and juicy, and the chimichurri dressing added a nice tanginess to the pizza.

We were very impressed with the service at Wildwood Canterbury. Our server was attentive and friendly, and he made sure that we had everything we needed. We were also impressed with the speed of the service.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience at Wildwood Canterbury. The food was excellent, the service was top-notch, and the atmosphere was warm and inviting. We would definitely recommend Wildwood to anyone looking for a great Italian...