Torbay Of Hythe — Restaurant in Folkestone and Hythe District

I visited here for the first time today, 20/9/17, and can honestly say I will never go here again. The food was passable, but the customer service was terrible, and extremely confusing. The till staff got out orders co fused, a man who seemed like the manager got into a full blown argument with another customer over their order being placed incorrectly by the staff member, which was inexcusable. We wanted to have a "sit down" meal in the restaurant, but as it was full, we asked the staff if we could sit at the tables provided outside. This was fine, they said, but when we asked about plates etc, we were told because of their insurance they couldn't have cutlery or plates outside in case someome got stabbed.... I thought it sounded like a ridiculous excuse and pathetic claims over liability insurance. We were happy to pay the cover charge but were told this was not possible. As disabled customers, our needs were not met- even though the food was fairly warm(there was confusion over our orders, so one dish was boxed up for ten minutes before the rest of our order was completed. If it wasn't for my friend I was with, I would have told them to forget the whole things and get a full refund, which I wish I had done now, but after seeing g how confrontational and rude the manager/owner was with a customer, I didn't want any more stress. This is how you lose customers- I cannot believe they have lasted as long as they have done with so called "service" like this; I shall tell anyone I know who plans to visit your "restaurant" not to bother and take their chances elsewhere. In my professional role, I am a customer service trainer, so when I am treated with contempt and seen as an annoyance, rather than a paying customer, I find this attitude disheartening to say the least. I was polite, courteous, so gave the staff no reason to give me shoddy service. So if you want OK barely passable food, abysmal "service" and want to be made to feel as if you are a nuisance, and want to be verbally intimidated, then go here. Otherwise, don't waste your money lining the pockets of those who don't deserve your custom,...

Lovely fish & chip Restaurant plus take away that cooks beautifully in the daytime with good quality fresh produce, this was my 1st cod & chips meal in Kent and I was NOT disappointed, but sadly going back the very next evening to the take away was a total let down!

I decided to eat in the Restaurant due to the sudden rain, initially it was full, but when I came back after visiting the nearby 11th Century Church, seating became available, I took a seat & looked at the menu before placing my order with the lovely young waitress that gave me ample time to choose what I wanted & had no problem with me having just a glass of tap water.

As I waited for my Cod & chips, everything coming out to the other diners looked delicious as everything is freshly cooked to order, then when my meal arrived it was cooked to perfection, the cod pure white & flaky, plus still moist inside the delicate golden batter with melt in the mouth golden chips, overall a great meal cooked by somebody who takes pride in what he does, unlike my take away meal that was cooked by a different chef where the medium cod was ultra thin in a tasteless batter with almost stone cold chewy hard chips, very disappointing that the high standard is NOT consistently kept up, as I thought I had found the place that knows just how to cook & serve up the Nations favourite seaside meal, was I wrong, or is the food a different quality in the Restaurant compared to having the same meal from the take-away section, either way, inconsistent & NOT nice, as the chips were ...

Firstly the quality of food can be good.

Next service - Take away - Get in there at the right time and the timing is passable. However they struggle at busy times as they only cook to order and aren't well organised, only use a few staff, and have the restraint side to cater for. it can take 8-10 mins just to get your order placed which you then find out will then take 20 mins wait for food minimum, sometimes longer.

Update July 2018. Reduced by one star to two. It took the usual time 7-8 mins to get served then 31 minutes to receive my food at around 6pm. All this from a queue of just 5 or so customers when I arrived. By the time I was served the queue had grown to 11. There just aren't enough staff working.

Compared to another local place a serving of large chips is about 2/3 the size.

Other places in the area can do it quicker or I've just walked to an alternative choice before close by eg curry or fresh pizza from the pub nearby sometimes.

Update 2023 - a couple of young kids taking and serving orders got my order wrong about 2-3 times lucky I checked My receipt. They corrected the issue with a refund at the till as I collected which was appreciated but it was hard work getting my correct order...