Jetty Broadstairs — Restaurant in Thanet

This is a summary of the email I sent to The Jetty a month ago, but have not received an acknowledgement. On Saturday 1st March, we reserved a table for 4 people, at 5.45pm. We were 5 minutes late and I apologised to the lady that took my booking name. Rather than a friendly, smiling welcome, she let me know that the table would be needed back at 7.45pm. Her abruptness surprised me. She pointed to a table of 6 and confused (there were 4 of us), I checked where she was pointing to. With irritation, she said "Yes, that one".

At the table Anita welcomed us and throughout our meal, she treated us really well and made our experience pleasant, even though the service from her colleagues, continued to deteriorate.

We were celebrating 2 of us, with special birthdays. My friend started to sprinkle a few metallic confetti pieces on to the table, when the lady that greeted us (and possibly managed things), came rushing over calling "No, no, no, you cannot do that, balloons, banners yes, but absolutely not this, we can't get it off the tables, it makes a terrible mess, we just can't have this". We absolutely understood. the situation and It wasn't a problem. However, the way in which she rushed over, her body language and tone she used, were completely inappropriate and aggressive. All 4 of us were shocked and of course, helped clear it all off. Anita appeared embarrassed and was apologetic and humble about the table being sticky to confetti.

While waiting for our main course, the same lady, handed out new napkins, but instead of handing mine to my friend (I didn't have room around me for her to come to me), she threw it at me. When she served me my food and took away my plate afterwards, there was no mention of "thank you and sorry I can't get to you" as you'd expect a person serving you, to do.

The bill came at approximately 7.45. A 3rd lady (blonde with a pony tail) walked to our table 3 times, before I asked if something was wrong. She informed me we needed to pay because the next guests had arrived. Again, nothing pleasant in her tone or manner, just unfriendly and no customer service.. When 2 of our table returned (admittedly at 7.48 and attempting to navigate their way through the crowd waiting for our table), Anita was unable to sort our bill on the payment device and after a few minutes trying, handed over to a colleague.

I did make a point of letting her know that the food was lovely and that Anita was fantastic. But unfortunately, that was the extent of our pleasant experience at the Jetty.

In conclusion, the restaurant is beautiful, the effort kitchen staff went to, to decorate the cake we'd supplied, the food they delivered and Anita, were all exemplary. Sadly, the negative experiences we encounter, always outshine the good and I would honestly say, from the moment we arrived, there was an uncomfortable, unpleasant atmosphere from the other...

I attended The Jetty on Wednesday afternoon for a drink with my elderly parents, toddler and baby and was shocked by the rude way we were treated by the waitress. We entered and sat at a bench outside, there were around 6 tables to choose from as only one was occupied by a couple and the rest were free with no reservation sign on them. The waitress approached us with the iPad and so we said hello. She didn’t reply and so we started giving our drink orders to which she huffed, “have you got a reservation?” We said we hadn’t and without looking at us she huffed again and asked for how many people. I replied “4 and a baby” and the same time my mum replied “3 and 2 children” as it can sometimes be confusing to know whether to include the children in a booking when they are not eating or drinking. The waitress rudely snapped “so 5” and my mum said “sorry I didn’t know whether to include the baby” and the waitress said “well yeah its taking a seat” whilst this exchange may not sound too bad and just a simple exchange it was the way in which the waitress spoke (her tone off voice and body language) to us and looked at us that was extremely off putting. My mum explained that the baby couldn’t sit and would just be the pram and the waitress argued back that that looked like the baby could sit. My mum told her she had a terrible attitude and she replied “I could say the same to you” when my mum was nothing but polite. I was taken aback by how this waitress was from her first interaction with us and so I said “shall we just go” the waitress walked away saying something under her breath. We left and then I popped back 2 minutes later to ask to speak to the team leader as the chef had already advised me that the manager wasn’t in. The waitress said she was the team leader so I said that I was shocked by her rudeness and walked away to which she called out after me “see ya later luv” whilst shooing me out the door. When my mum returned to ask for her name she found the bragging to other members of staff about how she had treated us. This is just so unprofessional. This was my first encounter of The Jetty and sadly I will never return again after this experience. I don’t understand why we were treated so poorly. We are a kind, friendly family that would have caused no trouble. I have never written a poor review before and so this just goes to show that I found the whole experience bizarre...

I had a horrible experience yesterday. We were cycling from Margate to Ramsgate when we stopped off at Jetty for food - there was no table available at the Bistro as we didn't book beforehand, so we decided to get food to go from the hatch but still part of the restaurant. All my friends went in to use the toilet and they were fine with it; once I went in (the only non-white person in a group of 8) they stopped me and said I couldn't use the toilet because it was for customers only. I tried to explain in the nicest possible way that I had bought food from their restaurant but didn't have a table. The blond girl with the round glasses was very rude and told me to use the public toilet, but I decided to not get into an argument and left the premises. But when I told my friends what happened everyone was shocked because it can't be a coincidence that 7 of them went in without any issues, and once I decided to use their toilet they immediately stopped me. I couldn't help feeling very sad and frustrated and told the hostess that I would leave a review. The hostess then flagged to the manager who came out to apologize without addressing what actually happened and she was really firm 'it's not about race'. As anyone would actually own up to being racist. I'm not here to slag off no one's business but to relay my experience. If you consider yourself an ally or someone that stands up against racism, I would choose another place to eat. The food was actually good, but that was before the aftertaste of racism. I really hope they learn from my awful experience yesterday, because I will certainly...