The Stag — Restaurant in Maidstone

I was so excited to see a vegan menu from The Stag, we definitely need more veggie friendly places in Maidstone. I also liked the sound of the food on their vegan menu, it sounded very appetising.

When we arrived at The Stag we were served by a lovely upbeat waitress and the decor seemed quite nice. The lady took our order and all was good. Then we waited over an hour for our meals, I wouldn't mind waiting so long if it seemed that the restaurant was busy, but it wasn't. We were one of two tables eating on a Sunday afternoon. They already had their food so the staff must have only been dealing with our order at this time.

As we had waited so long, I expected the food to be freshly cooked and thought this must have been why the service was so slow. Unfortunately I was wrong. I had the mushroom Wellington roast. Now, the Wellington itself was fairly ok. I was a bit put off by the tough flat mushroom in the middle, I think it had been reheated as it had a tough rubbery texture and little flavour, the pastry was good and the filling around the mushroom was ok, although some might say that the mustard was far too strong as it was very overpowering, however I didn't really mind this. The potatoes, veg and gravy were terrible. the potatoes must have been cooked in a ton of oil and then reheated, they were so greasy and not how you would expect a roast potato, they almost seemed deep fried. The veg was barely cooked and seemed frozen. The vegetarian gravy was like water, no flavour at all, an attempt had clearly been made to thicken the gravy as there was some sort of flour floating at the top of the gravy in a jug. I would have much preferred a Bisto gravy as this is actually vegan.

The waitress did explain that the Wellington had recently changed so maybe it was better before? I don't know, but I was really disappointed at the quality of the food. I would love The Stag to pull things together and improve the food as it is a nice setting with a good menu and friendly staff...

Arranged to go With a party of 16 (adults and children) and booked a week in advance. On arrival the tables weren't ready, and took 15 mins for this to become available once they were cleaned and properly setup. Had to ask for our orders to be taken, and was advised of approx 30mins weight on food. After 45 mins we had still it recieved the 5 starters, pate, Camembert and prawn cocktail. Not the most complicated dishes to make. Camembert was served with Jacobs crackers!!! Toast from the cocktail was burnt. And at the end of this was all very underwhelming. As we had children with us we requested there meals be brought out ASAP as we ha waited over an hour now and was informed these were being plated. After constant requests for the next hour we got the same excuse that they were playing the food!! An hour after starters this is!!!!! After the 5th time the kids got theres. Gravy was water, meat over cooked and veg looked well not inviting. Finally the adults got theres although I requested mine not to be served due to a 2hour + weight from time of sitting for food to arrive. When it did appear I was glad I declined as beef looked like old boots and what was suppose to be veg and gravy was well i pass on what it was.

Staff not apologetic Food was very poor Service sooooo slow (I cleared our tables of plates and empty drinks)

Shame as ruined a good catch up with friends.

Do not recommend The Stag for food, very...

I was really excited when I heard about The Stag opening, the idea of a split Vegan / Meat menu sounded great as a vegetarian; unfortunately on my visit the food and speed just wasn't up to the standard I had hoped.

On my visit it was quiet, a few people in the bar and a couple of tables of two in the dining room, I was in a party of four - two vegetarians and two meat eaters; drinks came out quickly and were fine, however food took over an hour to come out and when it arrived we were all disappointed.

The vegan wellingtons included gravy that was more like vegetable stock than a nice gravy - it looked as if someone had added flour as an afterthought to try to thicken it up, which didn't work and resulted in a floury mess on the surface of the gravy. As for the wellington itself, I personally found it had way too much mustard and not enough going on other than a portobello mushroom.

The meat eaters in the group both had pork, which came out with soft pork fat - the disappointment in their faces of missing out on some crackling was self evident; I can't comment more than that as it wasn't my meal. Their gravy looked much healthier than mine however!

All in all I hope The Stag can work out a stronger menu and improve service speeds as I was really excited to visit The Stag prior...