Thai Orchid Maidstone — Restaurant in Maidstone

As I wanted somewhere local for my wedding reception following my wedding at The Archbishops Palace Maidstone, I thought I would go to The Bridges Restaurant situated on the other side of the river from the palace. My partner liked the look of the place from the outside and we had heard good reports of the food. On entering we liked the ambience of the place and the staff were very helpful. I spoke to the owner and advised him of my requirements. He advised me that he could provide what I required up to a maximum of about 80 people. Over the next couple of months and a couple of meetings he advised me of the cost which I accepted. On the morning of the wedding we arrived with a few personal touches to the tables balloons etc. I was taken with the look of the tables which were set perfectly! It looked great. When we arrived with our guests following the wedding they were met with a glass of champagne and were all shown upstairs to the restaurant. The food was served when I wanted it and it was served quickly and efficiently. There were not enough high chairs for the children so one was sent for and arrived shortly afterwards. I have never seen a prawn cocktail the size of those served. They were delicious! The other choice, vegetable soup, was also delicious and piping hot. The service throughout was efficient and attentive. Every request was catered for. The main course, a roast, was superb and the portions more than adequate. The vegetables were hot and plentiful. By the time sweet arrived I could hear groans as everyone was full up! The sweet was sherry trifle or treacle pudding, again both delicious. The buffet later was again excellent. What I'm trying to say is that I could not fault the location, the food, the service or the staff. This restaurant went out of it's way to make my big day one that all my guests will remember for all of the right reasons. If you are getting married or need a function catered for then try The Bridges Restaurant. It wasn't cheap but you get what you pay for and I could not fault this restaurant. I would strongly recommend it to anyone, and we will become...

Only order from here if you like fish that tastes like pork, and potential anaphylaxis due to undisclosed ingredients! We ordered a family meal from here through their website. Two of the dishes we had were fishcakes and Gai Krapaow. 3 of us tried the fishcakes and agreed that whatever was in them certainly didn't have the taste or consistency of fish - it was more like pork. My uncle ordered the Gai Pad Med Mamuang and my aunt had the Gai Krapaow. Unfortunately, these two dishes got mixed up because they looked very similar. This shouldn't have been a problem, as they were essentially the same - both were chicken and vegetable dishes, with no chillies. My uncle is on medication for stomach problems, and cannot eat spicy food. After a few bites, he went red and was sweating. When we looked at his meal, it was full of chillies! He'd had the Gai Krapaow by mistake, but this should only have contained chicken, basil, onions, peppers and spring onions. I emailed the restaurant to complain, and was told it was definitely fish in the fishcakes - they even sent me a photo of the mixture to prove this! (As it just looked like sludge with peas, this didn't help much). They also said that we had probably mixed up my uncle's food with another dish we had ordered - the Gai Krapaow - which was indeed very spicy. They hoped they'd cleared up the misunderstanding, and we would order from them again... I replied to say that neither dish was supposed to be spicy, and sent them the screen shot of their web description of both chicken dishes we had ordered. They agreed that I was in fact right - in the restaurant the menu states that the Gai Krapaow has chilli oil in, so is very spicy, but the website developers had left this off the description for some reason. They are going to amend it. I replied to say that that was great, but it didn't help my uncle who was unable to eat the food we had ordered for him. NOTHING. So... we won't be ordering from them again, and I'd advise others not to either. It is fortunate my uncle was not taken ill as a result of the incorrect...

Visited with an associate on the afternoon of easter monday. We ordered tea and scones and two savoury snacks, namely vegetarian springrolls (had before and delicious) and chicken wings. We went to sit outside overlooking the river. After the tea arrived, the young barmaid/waitress arrived with sesame prawn toast, which we hadn’t ordered (I cannot eat prawns). She changed it for the springrolls (rather bland this time). The chicken wings took some time to come. When they arrived, my associate bit into his and blood came out (though they appeared brown exteriorly). I took them back into the young Lady barmaid/waitress who apologised and promised to bring replacements. When the replacements arrived, they too, were brown exteriorly but raw (with blood) as we’d cautiously cut into them to check. Upon taking them back a second time, the young Lady was again apologetic and offered something else but we really wanted wings and I just, politely asked her to have them cooked further until ready. At this point, a young blond man who’d been at the bar (with a male associate) chatting to the young Lady; as in friendship, said to me, “if you think you can do better, why not go cook them yourself?” I’d asked him to please mind his own business, to which he stood up to me and said “what YOU going to do about it?” My reply was “As I’m anti violence; nothing” and I went outside and mentioned it to my associate who said he’d prefer to leave and suggested my writing this review. We spoke to the barmaid/waitress and she kindly refunded me the tea and wings and we left. I returned a day or so later, to inform the owner but she was out but a Lady manager said she’d inform her; I left my card for a call and possible explanation before writing this but nothing and so have pressed ahead with this review. The incident left us (associate and self) with a very dim view of the...