Kebbells Seafood Bar • Restaurant — Restaurant in Thanet

Edit: The owner of the restaurant reached out following my review and was happy to resolve the issue raised.

Very disappointing birthday treat. First sat at an awful table right by the front door that was always being opened and closed as wait staff had tables outside to run food to. Thankfully we were able to move to a place at the bar, apparently due to a cancellation. The waitress said nobody ever likes the table by the door which makes me wonder why bother if it causes problems. I understand that floor space was limited and a restaurant needs to be able to accommodate a certain number of covers to be profitable but everything was just too compact. Service was mixed, our tattooed waitress was nice but perhaps moving table put us into another section as dirty plates and cutlery were not cleared for awhile. I know the menu is tapas style but we had asked to have one dish to start and the rest as main and once dirty cutlery is cleared then surely a clean set should have been given to us. I’m not a fan of reusing cutlery for multiple dishes. It was nice to watch our oysters shucked from our vantage point at the bar and the wasabi topping was great. I didn’t enjoy the scallop dish accompaniments but appreciate that was down to personal preference. Now the main was fine, we had a fish selection special but as the runner was bringing two out, one for us and one for the diners sat beside us, she dropped a large piece of fish from our plate. I was pretty sure she’d noticed me seeing this but she didnt acknowledge it when putting the plate down. So I asked our waitress for clean cutlery, fresh napkins and mentioned I’d seen something fall off our plate and asked if a fresh piece of whatever it was would be brought out. Was told by the runner they’d run out of whatever fish it was so we got given another type of fish. I suspect it was monkfish that fell off which is disappointing as that what my partner was most looking forward to. They also continued selling the special fish selection that we’d ordered so suspect the runner offering us another fish was a little white lie to cover up limited portions of what they did have. This really ruined the whole experience as it did not seem like we’d have got the replacement for whatever had fallen on the floor if I hadn’t mentioned it. If it had been a few chips or whatever then of course it’s no big deal but this was a large piece of fish. We would have had dessert but the experience was tainted by that point. Big shame as my parents live in Broadstairs and I was hoping to find somewhere in town to go back to...

Not sure what was worse the food or the service. To start the waitress (owner I would imagine) took nearly 20 mins to talk through the menu in great detail including the specials which she knew nothing about (had to go and check the specials board to give us the info even though we could see it)she then tried to tell us how much we should order regarding small plates big plates and how she would bring it to us so we could eat how she thought best (like we had never eaten before)then the fries (for our kids)pickled veg and olives came when we had finished most other things very weird. While she was telling us about the menu she started telling us about the cocktails (really over selling them before we had ordered food). We have 2 children and the restaurant supplies high chairs or booster seats but no real menu for kids to eat apart from fries(which is fine our kids eat what we eat but something like a small meal would be an idea) Once the food came it was very very underwhelming the Octopus was supposed to be finished on the grill but was burnt and unless you had so much sauce that was basically pesto and tomato then it was bitter and certainly no octopus taste,the Chorizo & Manchego Croquetas were nice but no real Manchego or chorizo taste. Apart from the burnt octopus the food was not terrible but average at best. I love fish and things from the sea we have eaten at some amazing places in our time in Broadstairs (Wyatt and Jones,Buoy Oyster ) but Kebbells was well below par and very over priced for the food and service we received. To top it all off I had to ask for our coats and buggy after we had paid our bill (12.5% service included which I hope the young waitress got as she was much better than the overbearing server we had to begin with who came 3 times during our meal to ask if everything was ok and did we want to order more ) Pity as It was out last night and I cancelled a tapas restaurant to...

Phenomenal! The most divine seafood dining experience you could ever have. Highest quality produce cooked to absolute perfection. These guys will serve you one of the best meals you could ever possible eat. My fiancee and I attended on a summer's evening, and I'd like to walk you through what we ate, each and every bite comes so highly recommended. We started with a portion of olives (£4.50) and four oysters (£3.50 each), a Jersey and a Maldon oyster for each of us. Both dishes from the appetisers menu were a gorgeous start to the experience. Second up we opted for the small dish, Gambas (£16.00), which included five hearty Atlantic prawns torched with onions. As well as this we opted for a second small dish, a portion of Mussels (£12.00) in a meaty sauce with onions, hard to describe as anything but delicious. Finally we shared the Whole Local Crab (£45.00), a gigantic crab upon a platter accompanied wit a fresh salad and a portion of frites. Two appetisers, two small dishes and a large dish. This was plentyful for two hungry person, leaving no room for a dessert unfortunately. We opted for the mid-range rosé wine (£27.00), this sipped away comfortably and paired with the seafood meal perfectly. After the rosé wine, we had a jug of Sangria (£22.00) in hindsight, a glass would have been ample. Again absolutely delicious. Service charge added a further 10% and the total bill came to about £155.00 Fantastic fine dining, gorgeous location, wonderfully help staff talk you through the whole menu, the specials and how the small dish large system works for you. A truly wonderful experience and a night we shall not forget anytime soon. Thank you for having us Kebbells, we shall...