Royal Harbour Brasserie — Restaurant in Thanet

Either visit on a warm day or prepare yourself for a cold and windy walk, but when you do get to the end of the pier you'll find an interesting venue within what appears to be a decommissioned old boat.

We were a party of around 12 and had a lot of fun, so my recollection as to atmosphere is going to be a little biased, but the low lights and cosy interior would work equally well for a quiet romantic date.

Service was good and friendly and staff were largely knowledgeable about the dishes.

I had the swordfish steak as a main, which was excellent. As someone who is often disappointed by fish I wasn't, and the meaty texture and flavour complemented beautifully with the freshness of the caponata was thoroughly enjoyable.

Three stars would be a little harsh but there are a couple of "lost points" preventing it getting the full five.

First, the menu situation. Not sure if it was a lack of resources or designed to be a "quirk", but there were no menus on tables, and our group were advised that we had to take a picture of the blackboard at the entrance. We shared a picture in our WhatsApp group (see photo) and managed, but trying to navigate around handwritten text on a small screen, especially for those whose eyesight wasn't the best, wasn't ideal and didn't provide the feeling of "premium". No drinks menus either, which was also odd.

The restaurant says they regularly change their dishes and that might have something to do with it, but I think they could deal with this a different way. Have a menu with the staple items on it and advertise the specials, perhaps, or have a few different menus rotated, but give us something we can pore over other than our mobile phone screens for once!

Second, my starter was disappointing. "Duck breast" brought to mind something rather more substantial than four thumb-sized, thin shavings with a tiny drizzle of cumberland sauce that managed to look lonely even on the small plate. As an amuse-bouche, served free as a while-u-wait taster it would be fine, but as an £8 starter ordered off the menu, there needed to be a little more to it and if I was hungry before sitting down, I felt even hungrier after this course.

Fortunately, the swordfish saved the day so four stars it is. It's a little expensive for a casual bite but I would go back next time I'm in town and try some...

Me & my partner went on a Saturday night here as we so desperately wanted to eat lovely food & to have a new decent restaurant experience that we would gladly come back to again and again. How disappointed & wrong were we!

•When we arrived there was a queue of 8 people waiting to pay their bills, all of which who did not look happy.

•We were told that we had to wait to be seated. But then after 10mins of waiting they said for us to take a picture of the menu & to sit wherever we liked & someone will be with us shortly. This was when we started getting bad vibes.

•I had to call over a waitress 3 times to have our orders taken (the first 2 times being told that somebody would be with us shortly!).

•We waited for 45min and observed other customers either: looking lost as no one had acknowledged that they were even there, people being annoyed that their food had arrived before their drinks, people getting their drinks or food before other tables even though they had arrived earlier, people cancelling their orders due to it taking far too long & the general atmosphere of annoyance & disappointment.

•Even one of the chefs came out to try & take drinks orders but the manager (if you could call her that), was not directing any of her staff & proceeded to leave a tray of 6 drinks (beers & cocktails) on the bar for a dreary 20mins. This spoke volumes & on what is wrong with this place: a complete lack of communication between staff, no responsibility from the manager & no general restaurant etiquette shown at all.

We walked out & got the sense that everybody would be following suit as just before leaving, the chef who was running around like a headless chicken with a builders bum on show to boot, was receiving complaints from a table of women who were complaining of the bad service.

Until these core & key issues are addressed and sorted out, for the love of god DON’T waste your evening banking on a lovely restaurant experience here. It wasn’t a restaurant. It was simply a room with lovely views with members of staff having no idea or clue on how to give customers a truly lovely restaurant experience! It’s a real shame.

From the words of the Nike advert with an added word in the middle: Just...

Popped along to the Brasserie on Sunday to sample an ever growing popular Sunday lunch, and at no point was disappointed. The restaurant itself has possibly the best views going of the Royal harbour, unrivalled due to its location situated at the end of the pier. You take a photo of the menu on your way in, or can take a look and decide what you want. It really is a vast array of excellence, but we already had Sunday lunch in mind. I started with the lobster bisque, and it was utterly divine, sadly i missed the photo opportunity for that along with the Padron peppers (probably the best I’ve had outside of a tapas restaurant, in fact equal to some I had in the canaries at the start of the year) my friend decided on the chicken liver pate, both starters packed with flavour, the garlic prawns and scallops were served close by, both looking exceptional and the smells just tempt you. For the lunch we had 2 beef, and 2 pork belly, and there is no scrimping on the gravy (nice touch) alongside the fantastic meat options came a range of trimmings, carrot, kale, stuffing and sliced red cabbage (absolutely gorgeous in flavour I might add). Opting to share a cheese board at the end it sealed it off perfectly. A great selection of cheese was on display with very little left to do at the end but sigh that the experience was over and make our way back along the pier with a very lovely sunset over the west of the skyline. This will not be a last visit, with any luck to return on Sunday to sample the things I missed. Great drinks selection as well, bearing in mind I only had 2 small red wines, there is a lot to choose from. Fantastic atmosphere, very attentive staff and an all round pleasurable dining experience. Keep up the fantastic work team Brasserie it really was top...