Five Pointed Star — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

RESPONSE TO MANAGEMENT COMMENT -

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Tbh I didn't want to get into the nitty gritty of it all because it felt petty to write it all out when the main reason we left WAS due to RUDE CHEF but going by your response it now comes as no surprise as to why he felt so comfortable being so rude. Your response is totally ignorant to the details but I've got the time this morning so you can have them.

'You were told we needed to pre-order a week before' - Not entirely true.

08/08/23 at 20:30 I requested the booking for 13th 09/08/23 at 11:34 you emailed me, your email states 'we will require a pre order for the food, or at least an indication as to whether you are looking to have roast dinners or other food'.

I called, said we were all having roasts. I asked about a vegan option for the roast because there was 1 in our party. Correct, you didn't have the full details but you, at least, got the 'indication' we were all having roasts that you requested 4 days before our booking.

My call back was fairly soon after receiving the email because I can see from messages to my family re the pre order items which was on 09/08/23 at 12:13

I say to the vegan 'they apologised & said they're not the best when it comes to vegan options however they can make the falafel burger vegan, they have vegan nuggets, they also said if you wanted a roast they would be pleased to give extra veg & potatoes, gravy is vegan, Yorkshires are not but said if we brought some in they would be happy to cook for us'.

'if you weren’t happy with the vegan options we would have happily made you something else from scratch' - I waited on the call while the member of staff spoke to the kitchen. There certainly was no offer of this! This would have been amazing.

13/08/23 I did call to confirm everything that morning because as with most large bookings, you worry last minute. When I called I was told they didn't receive our pre-order. I asked what they could do & they confirmed x amount of beefs, no chicken, mixed were okay etc. It was here I asked if it would be okay to bring the vegan sausages, 'yes bring them in we will see what we can do'. They WERE very accommodating, there was no issues. SIDENOTE: This was a complete first for me, I would never normally take food to restaurant & ask them to cook it especially without asking beforehand. So yes I agree it was a bit 'ridiculous' however no 'demands' were made & would have totally understood if they said no.

We arrive, taken to a very cosy very authentic room, we were all pleased to be there, ordered our drinks. waiting for a few others to join and ordered some starters. I handed the sausages to the waiter, he didn't seem surprised, annoyed or anything.

He came back a while after looking nervous, he was extremely apologetic and said that the chef is refusing to cook them and that the chef called the owner who has stood by the chef not cooking them. Our response 'Oh don't worry, it's fine! Meatless roast would be just fine'. I was told on the call in the morning there would be x amount of beefs, by the time we come to order we were told 'sorry there's only 2 beefs left'. No problem, we switched to Fish N Chips - 'sorry we don't have Fish n Chips', (what pub doesn't have a staple like Fish n Chips) but we still opted for other options that were available.

We couldn't have been more cooperative, so your comment 'being rude and uncooperative made it very stressful for our staff' is total utter BS!

It was your chef who could be heard shouting and swearing (about the fact we ordered a roast with no meat might I add). It was at that point we decided this wasn't the place for us.

My original review was fair, I gave 3 stars for service, 1 for atmosphere (it's not everyday you feel so unwelcome that you feel you have to leave) and I didn't rate the food because we didn't try it. For anyone reading this far, you can check all reviews I leave, 80% are positive. The only people who need to feel embarrassed is you and the chef...

We (two couples ) Stopped in this pub for one after a lovely meal in the high st to wait for our taxi , we managed to get half way through one drink before being abused by a rowdy group one of who was openly taking cocaine , the door staff seem to think they can police the pub from all standing outside and a landlady who obviously oblivious to what’s going on. I would not recommend this pub later into the evening . No idea what it’s like normal hours as this was the first and last time I’ll set foot in here. - Happy to respond but not to a private email- this was Friday eve so whoever was the loud lady that was insisting we left after this incident leaving the above mentioned group to continue their evening gave the impression she was the person to do this as (again the door staff were all outside) I’m aware of your reviews but this is an irrelevant to my (our) experience. I would hope you would investigate . Your door staff were made aware when we got outside considering that’s where they all were their response “ well we’ll probably catch them in the toilet later “ heavy set guy big beard. as for staying inside and try to report to a staff member I am not going to leave my wife in a hostile environment while I try tell a staff member.as you know this women isn’t a staff member so you’ll also know the incident, in which myself and the other couple defused by leaving with no retaliation to this unsavoury group especially the short guy in a blue flat cap who was openly taking cocaine he was the aggressor . I get you don’t like a negative review but that’s exactly what it is for a good reason. It’s just a true account of the situation.

My account is true and accurate, no staff member spoke to either of us nor the the door staff just one lady I described but you said wasn’t a staff member- we are two couples , you say I was aggressive without knowing who “I” am 🤷🏼‍♂️. I’m pleased you have the incident on cctv please do post it. I get you’re unhappy with a negative review but this is an accurate account of what happened , no one came to our aid at all . For your reference I’m in the pink shirt and blazer and at no point was either of us aggressive especially in front of our wives. I fail to see how being verbally abused and potentially physically is innocuous , as for not getting my own way that makes no sense & childish! far from a childish situation, In this occasion your door staff failed customers. Name calling how professional.

Good grief, your handling of this is as unprofessional as your staff on the night of the incident. May I suggest a customer service...

Came here for some food Sunday 23rd at about 4.30/5pm

Both myself and the other half grew up in the area and decided to visit for nostalgia. The pub has totally changed, the outdoor area is cute and modern, and looks like it would be really great for a night out with friends during the summer months. We ordered food, both of us choosing snacks as starters and a main course, anticipating the snacks to come out first. They didn't, it all came at once but that's no big deal we still happily ate. I had dirty fries and the scampi, other half had nachos and dirty burger. The food was lovely, really flavoursome and well cooked and the house sauce was delicious.

The thing that bought it down for us were the two females working on the outside bar. As we don't know the pub as it is now, we were sort of looking for some guidance. They genuinely seemed like they would rather be anywhere else than here, and that us asking about food was the biggest inconvenience to their day. When my partner went back to order it was again with the can't be bothered attitude, which when they're the main faces we see, doesn't look great. We spent almost £60 on a meal here, so feeling like we weren't welcome isn't exactly what we expected. I will say the girl who bought us our food and the guy who collected the plates were both really lovely and a credit to the otherwise unwelcome experience we had had so far. I'm also not one to usually comment on the attire of people, but there was a girl wearing a short black dress doing some sweeping. Not an issue until she had her back to us and bent over and I literally saw everything. Not really what you want to see when...