The Charles Dickens — Restaurant in Thanet

I honestly don’t understand how this place has a 4.5 rating on OpenTable, 4.2 on Google Reviews and over 4 on SquareMeal, because the food was awful.

I ordered the mixed roast (£27, pork belly and beef) which, according to the menu, should have come with parsnip purée, purple sprouting broccoli, glazed carrots, Yorkshire pudding, cabbage and proper gravy. What I actually got were three overcooked slices of beef, watery “juice” - not entirely sure what it was and looked a lot like pond water but most certainly NOT gravy, with no parsnip purée or purple sprouting broccoli at all. We had to ask three separate times before any broccoli was brought out, and even then it wasn’t enough for the roasts we’d ordered (three adults and one kid's size).

Two friends had the beef roast and agreed it was just as poor. We were starving by the time the food finally came, otherwise I wouldn’t have touched it and sent it back. Dessert was offered as a goodwill gesture but was just as disappointing, and the coffee afterwards was dreadful. It was just oat milk and we couldn't taste any coffee 🤮.

My son had the seafood linguine which was at least edible, but bland until we added salt and pepper. The only saving grace was that it came with adequate serving of king prawns, which for £23 I’d expect anyway.

The table next to us also complained about their roast dinners. They told us they were served just two slices of beef, and they too thought it was poor value for money. They were given a free coffee, while we were offered free dessert. Clearly it wasn’t just us who felt let down.

Our share of the bill came to £73.30 for two people, which is outrageous given the standard of food and service.

This place only seems busy because it’s one of the few pubs on the seafront serving roasts on a Sunday and the waiting staff were all lovely, professional and quick to help, hence the 1*, but the food standards don’t justify the prices. I would not recommend it. Save your money and book Toby Carvery instead - you’ll pay a fraction of the price for far better quality food.

Added 2nd September in response to the restaurants comments:

Dear The Charles Dickens (Owner),

Thank you for your response to my review. I would like to clarify a few points, as your response does not accurately reflect our experience.

Firstly, at no point on arrival were we informed that the parsnip purée was unavailable. Secondly, the broccoli was not served as it should have been, and we had to ask three separate times before it was provided. To suggest we were “generously compensated” for this is incorrect; the compensation offered was minimal and did not make up for the repeated mistakes. What was offered during the main course was rectification of missing items, not goodwill gestures. Free desserts offered after the main course were a goodwill gesture, but this does not compensate for the issues during the meal itself.

Regarding your comment that “even when dishes have been served as advertised” goodwill gestures were offered, we must respectfully disagree. Our dishes were not served as advertised, given the missing parsnip purée, the incomplete broccoli serving, and a puddle of something on our plates that was not gravy.

Finally, while the ingredients may be of high quality, the beef served to both my friend and me was overcooked and dry. When I pointed out that the gravy was inadequate to compensate for the dryness of the beef, the waitress appeared unsure how to respond, and my friend received a replacement portion that was no better. This made the meal extremely difficult to enjoy, and gestures offered after the main course did not resolve these issues.

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Lottie saved the day! If it hadn’t been for duty manager Lottie this review would have got a begrudging 1*! We booked a table for 7 for a belated Xmas lunch, the restaurant area wasn’t busy but apparently there was a function on the floor above. We each ordered starters and mains, our server didn’t know what the soup of the day was so had to go and ask! (Personally I’d ask the question at the start of my shift) starters arrived quite quickly, mains we thought they’d forgotten us. five out of seven ordered sea bream on crushed new potatoes as a main course, when these arrived it was sea bream on a bed of cous cous, three of the five have food intolerances so couldn’t eat the couscous, when we advised our server she said ‘oh yeah the menu changed today, we gave you the wrong ones’ we were then offered one up to date menu to choose alternative dishes, we asked to speak to a manager but she was ‘too busy to talk to us’ Four of us ate our mains whilst three looked on. Poor Lottie came to clear our plates having just come on shift to find seven unhappy customers. She was very apologetic, very helpful and couldn’t do enough for us. Bad form from the previous on duty manager and the serving staff that seem to be employed from the neck down. Would I return, probably not if you can only rely on one decent member of staff. The couscous was oily, the sea bream slightly over cooked. Possibly a bad day for the Charles Dickens, definitely a bad...

We went to have breakfast there, as recommended by our hosts, lovely outlook and clean. When our order was taken, 2 full English Breakfasts, tea and coffee, the member of staff very attentive and friendly. After half an hour we still hadn't received our tea and coffee. The young staff were busy socialising with each other which is great but they should keep and eye on their customers. After 45 minutes approximately I went to the bar and asked if we could have our drinks. Whilst asking I noticed that a couple who had walked in 5 minutes earlier had their drinks and were being served their breakfast, which turned out to be our breakfast! We are easy going people but instead of apologing to us one member of staff blamed another for giving it to the wrong table. We still didn't get an apology. At this point we gave up and asked for our money back. The reason for the one star is because of the views from the pub and our initial greeting. I realise as a business you will still make lots if money but if our drinks had been served straight away we would have brought more and even ventured back there for a drink later on. Lastly I'm not usually one to leave a review but on this occasion felt I had to. We left totally dissatisfied and would never be able to recommend your establishment. We went somewhere else, received our drinks immediately and our full English breakfast within 5 minutes, the young staff couldn't do enough and it...