The Plough Beefeater — Restaurant in Dover

Me and my wife found out they had a new menu. I had the ultimate mixed grill ( it had ribs with it and was recommended by chef). My wife had the usual rump steak. The steak was cooked perfect. We also had the succulent new "fried up fries".

Now... the food 12 out of 10. BUT... Service.... me and my wife was seated and waited for the waitress to attend. After 5 minutes we were asked for drinks. Then we were given 10 mins to think of food. Now that's good. After around 10 more minutes are dinner was served and I couldn't believe how well it was arranged on the plate. It was worth the money. But the waitress kept asking if everything is OK everytime I had a mouthful of food. After we were finished with dinner my wife tried the chocolate cherros and that looked amazing. And my wife told me she would have another one if she could. However, as my wife was half way through eating her dessert I asked the waitress for a coke with no ice and a lemon or lime and she put it in the till and started to collect glasses from other tables. I waited 20 minutes for the same coke that I ordered but it looked as though the waitress forgot. Which I would understand if she didn't go straight to picking up glasses after punching the coke in the till. Also at that point we were there were only two tables occupied. I asked to pay the bill and noticed that when I got home the coke was on the bill. So I paid for coke that I didn't have. £3.09.

But other than being charged for a glass of coke that I waited 20 mins for and being asked if everything was OK at every mouthful. I loved my experience. And I will order the same next time (if its not a Christmas only thing).

I think my waitress was...

We've been here quite a lot of times in the past and its generally pretty good. My wife, her father, my mother and I went here for my mothers birthday meal. It being the end of November the festive options were of course all available.

Laura was working our table that evening (Friday 25th November) and she was helpful and pleasant throughout. This tracks fairly well with my experience at this Beefeater even if we have had the odd person who clearly would have rathered been anywhere else (but then I'm sure we've all had a day at work like that).

The general atmosphere was, and usually is, pleasant here. We were seated in the upstairs sectionw hich hoenstly I do prefer mind you so that helped. Although this is a family friendly place, the noise was still at a pleasant level.

The food came out at basically exactly the right pace. We were not kept waiting overly long for the starters, and the mains came out after a long enough (but not so long it was annoying) pause that it didn't just feel like they were trying to flip tables. As much as I like getting my food fast, its still a little sad when it almost feels like a restuarant is trying to rush you out to get more bums on seats, but to be clear this was not the experience here this evening.

I went with festive options - and although the roast potatoes are never going to be AS good as at home it was all very pleasant. One or two of our sides did seem to get forgotten, but after a breif reminder Laura ensured that they were brought out promptly and they were hot and fresh still, as you would hope.

All in all, a pleasant evening. Again, I've been here plenty of times int he past, and I ahve no doubt I shall...

I visit Dover regularly on business staying at the Premier Inn next door and this place is like Fawlty Towers at times, it really lets the hotel down. For nearly two months at breakfast they have been unable to poach or boil an egg because of some technical issue with the hob. The mind boggles. The coffee machine is the latest casualty, so you have to make do with tea. It seems constantly understaffed, when it’s busy things get missed from orders or you end up with extra items you didn’t ask for. Maybe it’s the cook not reading the tickets right as the waiting staff just tick boxes on a pro forma, who knows. I’ve even had it where the cook has forgotten to do my order so have sat there waiting for 20 mins to be told I’ll have to wait a bit longer as it’s been missed!

I wouldn’t recommend eating there in the evening either, it’s just very poorly managed, understaffed and the food is mediocre. The service is so slow, you can wait 30 mins for your drinks order to come some nights. It’s not the waiting staff’s fault, they just need to have more staff or manage it more efficiently. They regularly run out of some menu items, my top three incidents would be no chillies for the crispy chilli squid, no sweetcorn, and no sausages! As the manager would you not just drive to Tesco and buy a few bags of chillies, some sweetcorn and sausages to see you through the shift? Honestly, save the money on the hotel meal deal and head in to Dover, there are some nice local places to grab a bite to eat and have a drink; Cullins Yard, Aspendos, The White Horse, The Nelson just...