Bentley's Smokehouse — Restaurant in Rother

Some friends and I went here expecting good barbequed styled food and got what we all thought was akin to school dinners, in terms of quality.

We got the shared platter to share and a plate of brisket each. Whilst there was lot of meat, I can't say that I'd recommend any of it.

On the platter were overcooked chicken wings, some very dry pulled pork, with little flavour, ribs that were okay but were lacking in flavour, some garlic bread which was good, and some pork sausage which wasn't too bad.

The above platter cost £20, but we added gravy for an extra £2.50. Split between three grown men, the portion size wasn't too bad. However, the dish overall was very poorly put together in terms of flavour. I highly doubt that there was anything smoked on the plate and instead the meat was cooked and covered in sauce - a sauce that I'm sure would be readily available at any supermarket. The main flavour of this dish was sugar, really. Very disappointed, to be honest.

The main dish, which all three of us got, was the brisket. I thought this was very poor and almost certainly had not been smoked. This dish was most deserving of the "school dinners' label, in terms of quality. The brisket was thinly sliced like beef on a Sunday dinner, with and quite fatty. There was also very little smoke flavour, which leads me to believe that again, the meat was cooked and a barbecue gravy/liquid smoke was added after the fact. In my experience, which is admittedly limited, brisket is usually served much thicker and has evidence of being smoked, and the fat usually melts away to nothing or very little. The fact that there was a noticeable amount of fat leads me to believe that this was not smoked at all. The price of the dish was reasonable at around £20, but the execution was very poor.

The selection of beers was limited, with only lagers being available. I can't comment on other alcohol drinks.

Based on the fact that the primary flavouring ingredient was sugar, I'm sure the desserts would be quite good, but we didn't order one.

A fight broke out on one of the tables and the staff were on-hand to contain and diffuse the situation, but I'm surprised the instigator, who threw a drink in someone's face, was not charged and then kicked out.

With that said, it was obvious that the staff were experienced. The servers who dealt with us were attentive and I can't fault them here at all. During the above mentioned fight, one staff member removed a glass from the reach of the instigator, which was a smart move given the potential for further violence.

The décor was nice and I felt suited the smokehouse vibe.

However, the music was poorly chosen for a Southern US smokehouse vibe. On the one hand, the choice of classic pop songs, such as Another One Bites the Dust and 500 miles are classic songs, I didn't feel that they suited. On the other, I feel that a roster of exclusively Southern music would be to everyone's taste. And yet, it is a Southern themed smokehouse, so I feel that at least some effort could be put in place to make the song choice at least adjacent. West Virginia was played, and although not a Southern state (at least not by my reckoning), at least this gave a hint that we were eating at Southern themed restaurant.

Overall, staff were good, venue was nice, with more appropriate music preferred, but the food really lit the place down and for around £100 for three men, thought it was a bit much. Would recommend overhauling either the 'smokehouse' name or...

Booked for afternoon tea (£12.50pp) for seven adults and a small child.

The restaurant is lovely inside, classy but relaxed with a nice layout. The toilets are really nice. The staff were very friendly and accommodating.

We called the day before to alter our booking as now had small child coming, we were prepared to pay the full price but were kindly told a few extra sandwiches etc would be included for free. All our party were there after 5 mins but it did take 20 mins for our drinks orders to be taken. 45 mins after arriving we received the sandwiches and sweet treats. We were told there would be a stand of sandwiches and cakes between two people. All sandwiches came together on two stands and cakes on two, which made it a bit awkward when sharing down the long table. We also had two vegetarians which we had also mentioned at booking. We were told three quarters of a sandwich each (three triangles) I couldn't say what fillings as all I could find were goats cheese and aubergine. We were given an extra quarter of a sandwich for the little one, six scones between seven adults and one child and a mixture of one bite treats. We questioned why there were only 6 scones and not an even mix of the bite size pieces. At this point we also questioned the extra we were told about for the child (as we had offered to pay full price to start and she needed to eat). We were told that you wouldn't get an equal number of everything just a selection. We did push that if you pay £12.50pp you would expect to all get the same, not have one person miss out but still pay! We also questioned why we had been given marmalade to go with the scones! To their credit a few extra cheese and pickle sandwiches came out and two extra scones. As mentioned above CS was faultless (apart from serving time).

The one flavour of sandwich I had was ok but had the smallest amount of filling. Little cakey bits were nice and standard and the scones tastes lovely but were VERY crumbley.

We obviously didn't eat hot food but it looked and smell amazing. Whilst I wouldn't go back for afternoon tea I would go back for the main menu, I saw the burgers and they looked awsome.

Thankfully the girls and I were there to celebrate and catch up and we can laugh things off like being served marmalade and puzzled looks when we question...

Great place to eat, excellent service would book ahead as we had a 5.30 sitting and could see how busy it gets. Have to compliment the service, initially ordered tap water but ended up with a bottled still which I sent back also ordered an orange juice which tasted diluted (came from a soda machine) and again sent it back and got another choice of orange juice. Normally I could imagine the staff getting irate, but they handled it in their stride and said no problem. So onto the food, first of all, I came with my two kids and there was a good choice and quality of food was good with a main, side and veg and an ice cream, we ordered 1/4 cheeseburger and Mac&Cheese for the older one, both gave it a thumbs up and I was pleasantly surprised on volume of food but also quality. For the adult mains we went for cowboy steak (initially ordered medium rare but was recommended by the staff to go for a medium given it was rib eye and was a hefty 16oz, which to me is the correct way - again hats off to the staff for their honesty to override my choice), my other half, ordered the brisket which was smokey and very tender. I also ordered a side of ribs and jumbo shrimps, this was probably the only bit which could be improved, the ribs were sous vide I think and had the BBQ sauce slapped on top and not fully coated would have liked it cooked on the grill/bbq but in all fairness it was literally falling off the bone and the sauce was good. The jumbo shrimp I would pass on next time as it was a panko breaded and deep fried, I was hoping for some shrimps in shells cooked in a smokey sauce. Overall, it is normally hard to please everyone in my family, but we all ended up leaving happy and full. Also bring cash for tips found out that they can't add staff tips to card and luckily had cash with me to award the excellent customer service. Long review I know, but goes some way to show why I would...