The Toll Bridge Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Dover

I booked a meal for my husband and me with my daughter (it was her birthday). The website made it look clean, atmospheric overlooking the boats on the quay, and with top class food well served. On booking, I was told that they would make it special for my daughter. What a disappointment the reality was! On arrival, there didn't appear to be any record of our booking, we were taken to a table away from the quay (although we had specifically made this request and it had been pledged on booking). The tables around us hadn't been cleaned, there were three full and dirty ashtrays on our table, and we were told that there was only one person on serving duty so we would have to order our food and drinks at the bar ourselves. Drinks came in dirty glasses. The meal was just about okay, but nothing more. I wouldn't blame the waitress, who was overstretched and was polite. Neither would I criticise the chef. But this was meant as a special occasion to mark my daughter's birthday and we felt the whole experience was a let-down (and of course her birthday was NOT acknowledged). We will never visit this establishment again and would warn other customers to stay well clear. Simply not good enough! Amateurish and poor management!

My husband and I have just read your response to my comments, which is frankly offensive. A little humility and politeness on your part would not be misplaced. This was the first restaurant we have ever submitted a review for (we were hardly waiting to make an online complaint, as you suggest), but with my husband having managed over 40 eating establishments, our experience told us that yours is not up to standard, and therefore required the feedback.

In essence, you accuse us of lying. This is not acceptable and is poor practice for any customer-facing business. I submitted our review in good faith. You welcome reviews, apparently - well, we gave the family's'; honest, and not sugar-coated or exaggerated. We stand by all the comments made, and intended to leave the matter there. However, in light of your rude response, we will tell you a few more home truths: deceptive website sticky menus flies and dirt around tables seats next to bins long hair in food, We could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture and these issues are presumably known to you.

Your waitress was polite and helpful, however was rushed off her feet. Complaining to her on the spot wouldn't have been fair to her. It was clearly not her fault, but that of management.

Your aggressive stance hardly encourages a discussion off-line. I intend to leave our comments here and that is the end of the matter. I accept that our £90 spent is gone, that we had a poor experience, and so it is ultimately our fault that we made the booking.

Our advice to you is that management is about listening to your clients, taking on board valid criticism and making improvements where you can. It is disappointing when you receive a poor review, but that's life! Don't be rude to customers who pay your wages and who may affect your future business. In general, step up...

Was really looking forward to spending our 10 Year Anniversary at the Toll Bridge, called in advance to try and book an nice table and tell them the reason for the visit.

The restaurant itself is very nice and we were given a window seat and a little sign saying happy anniversary.

The service from the upstairs waitress was awful. Being served by someone that couldn’t care less if you was there or not. Waited ages for drink and to order. We ordered the T-bone (£80) with 3 sides. The waitress did not write anything down or ask how we wanted the steak cooked.

An hour and a half later (after being told numerous times the food would not be too much longer) the chef comes to cut the steak at the table and spends the whole time apologising about the wait and that the steak was not cooked properly, he then went on to offer complimentary sides but we told him that we had already ordered 3 and they arrived 15mins after the steak. No where for the steak to go on table as the waitress had not taken the menus or any old glasses or plates. We end up just wanting to leave after several apologies from other waitresses, we got the bill of just under £100 for steak and drinks they didn’t charge us for the late sides we left on table. The review is not about wanting anything other than for the owner to now what horrible experience we had and at no point during or after has anyone tried to resolve any issues (I emailed you before this review to ask your opinion on the situation) I’m sure this is normally a nice place to eat but for us a very arrogant and dismissive attitude, also for a £80 steak 20/30% was just fat. Very disappointed in the...

We arrived for my friends birthday meal on Saturday evening and was shown to our table by our waitress who came over to ask for our drinks. We ordered some cocktails, a jig of water for the table and our food. after 15 minutes the drinks came ( minus the jug of water) The 2 cocktails we ordered were the pink fizz, which we had we we came last month and they come with candy floss in the top. When they arrived, they didn't have candy floss in the top, and we mentioned this, and she said the sugar around the rim of the glass was the candy floss? I questioned this and said we had them a few weeks ago, and she said "oh we haven't got any then," trying to play us off as stupid really backfired on the young girl. Anyway she retook our drinks order and waited. And waited. And waited. To the point that some of our guests had been waiting 45 min without a drink. Absolutely poor service. Staff looked like they had fallen out of the school gate. No personality. Atmosphere was flat as the table next to us ordered an hour previous and them to be told they had lost their order. Everyone seemed unhappy. We decided to walk out. I recommend this place to people although high on price and portions could be more generous it was a really nice meal.......now I won't. I won't come back again. We ended up going to the Key Side Bar and Grill on the other side of the Toll Bridge. Half the price, outside eating, friendly staff and music Playing what a find that was and completely putt the Toll Bridge and there Staff to Shame. Well done for nearly ruining a...