Three Crutches — Restaurant in Gravesham

Fantastic since new refurb - Def be back

Haven't eaten in here for over a year, since before refurb, due to poor food, poor customer service, unfriendly staff, filthy broken toilets & a useless manager, who took no control or interest in the place. Prior to that we had eaten here almost monthly, but had got worse & worse.

We were on the way back from a busy days shopping, when saw the sign at the roundabout, stating new refurb & owners. Decided to treat ourselves & give it a try & see if lucky to be squeezed in, on a Sunday at short notice.

We were pleasantly surprised at the bright, fresh, modern & clean decor & spacious layout, yet still with the warm, aesthetic appeal of a traditional pub. The restaurant was heaving, which is always a good sign & expect on a Sunday at 2pm, so we didn't think we stood a chance of getting seated.

However we were greeted almost instantly, by a lovely, smiley, young lady, who explained they were fully booked, but would speak to her manager, to see if could squeeze the 2 of us in, if we were happy to wait & take a drink at the bar area. We said we were happy to wait for a while.

She joined us again just a few minutes later & said they could squeeze us in about 15 minutes later, if we were happy with that. We were. So glad we waited, which ended up just being 10mins later. The waitress was friendly & attentive at all times, checking all was ok etc, asking if we needed another drink, at the right time. The manager was walking about, keeping things running smooth & they also managed to squeeze another couple like us in shortly after, without too much hassle.

We had planned on just a main course, but the menu & other diners plates, looked so yummy, we opted for the starter also. I had the traditional prawn cocktail which was not too over sauced & had plenty of prawns on a bed of crisp lettuce & fresh bread & my partner had the pate, which he said was really nice. For mains I had the beef & chicken & my partner had the pork & beef. The meat was cooked lovely & there was a good amount of fresh vegetables & lovely crispy potatoes, as well as stuffing, a big yorkie & a lovely cheesy cabbage thing! Which was really tasty. The beef wasn't at all chewy like I've had before & my only disappointment was that I didn't have the pork, as my partner had a nice bit or crackling, that he wouldn't share. We were going to order a pudding too, as looked yummy, but were too stuffed. The food was served hot , as it should be, within a reasonable time frame, a little longer on the main roast, but we were told this was due to all meals being cooked fresh, so were happy to wait as were enjoying the atmosphere.Also we were nice & snug as seated by the blazing fire.

I used the toilets too & was so happy that they were clean, all worked, the sinks were clean, both taps worked, had a hand dryer & even soap that was filled up. Also a welcome change from before.

All in all a fab 10/10 visit & we will definitely be back, not only when I cant't be bothered to cook a roast, but to some of the up coming events & tribute nights which look great value for money. Well done to the new owners, managers & staff at 3 Crutches. Credit where credits due, Keep it up! and...

Went as an anniversary treat full of hope and expectation, but left feeling the experience just should have been better. We perhaps should have picked up on the early signs; our booking was for 7pm on a Friday evening and there were only a handful of other diners there.

We had to wait a while for our food order to be taken, but not a problem as we weren't in a huge rush. There were three of us and decided to just order three mains as we were looking forward to a pudding. Our food came out after a short wait which was great, but we were left puzzled. We'd ordered a burger, chicken caesar salad and fried halloumi which came with chips and peas. It was this last order that didn't look right, three small bits of coated halloumi with a dip, We pointed this out and said we were expecting more as a main. Our friendly waiter went to the kitchen to investigate, only to return and inform us that was how it came as it didn't come with chips and peas. When we protested it wasn't a main we were asked if we wanted any sides so we ordered a portion of chips. By the time I had brought up the menu on my phone to show the staff that what we had in fact been given were three haloumi sticks as a starter we'd received our chips and were tucking in, so we decided to plough on and just forgo the dessert.

We carefully checked the bill and fortunately were only billed for two mains and the starter and side, but when pointing out again from the bill and my screenshot of the menu we were just told 'sorry'.

The food we did get was very nice, particularly the salad and burger, but the occasion was let down slightly by the wrong order coming out. We still don't know if the fried halloumi main was simply not available that night, or as seems more likely it was miscommunication but it would have been quite easy to check and let us know that it had been a mix up over starters and mains.

Update..... We have been back to the pub since for drinks and have found it to be very friendly and it is a...

Went there this evening with ten ether female work colleagues. Nobody ordered a starters, but our main meals we had to wait for 50 minutes from ordering to arriving at our table. Only five orders came and then another six should have followed. These came in dribs and drabs over ten minutes later, leaving one girl without any food whatsoever who ordered the same time as the rest of us. Waitress apologised and said that her ticket had not been put through and her dinner would be five minutes (more like twenty!) Waitresses were lovely and couldn't fault them. Don't know what was going on in the kitchen though!! We observed another large table who were seated before us and we timed that they waited an hour for food. I personally don't think this is acceptable with so much choice of eating places nowadays. In our party one girl asked cheekily can we have some money off for the later dinner arriving later than everyone elses? The waitress replied I don't know about that, and it's my understanding is the final bill was not reduced. Some of our party had been there before and said it used to be good. It did look clean and modern and we hear there had been a major refurb. It was my first time here ever, my food and others said it was mediocre, I had lamb chops, tasty but very fatty, and the chicken burger someone else had opposite me was horrible they said. Someone else in our party had fruit crumble who mentioned afterwards there was very little crumble on top and the fruit was too tart. I had the cheese and biscuits which was quite nice and a big plate full. There was no music playing or very little ambience and we all said our experience was quite average. Summing it up we all felt the wait for food was far too long, there should be chefs on to cook the food in a timely manner and because of this I don't think anyone in my party would be rushing back to this...