Franks Restaurant and Mussel Bar — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

Afraid our 1st visit to Franks last night was let down by really poor service for our table for 4. The waitresses serving us clearly had just started and not had any training before being let onto the floor to serve customers. I will say this is of no fault of their own, really the responsibility of the management. Took drinks order, after 10 minutes of waiting for them to be brought to the table (could see them on the bar), we were asked if we were ready to order food! Drinks came over, bottle of wine and 2 glasses plonked on the table in an empty wine cooler (that was not chilled) leaving it to me to open the bottle and pour. Waitress had to ask for advice on gluten free option, and what the soup of the day was. Starters came in good time but served without the rolls as stated menu. Mussel starter would say 10% of it was empty shells, never did get any bread to accompany the prawn salad. We had to flag attention for extra rounds of drinks all evening and nobody came to ask if everything was ok once. The main meals were lovely as was the quality, taste and quantities. Felt obliged to pay the service charge as it stated it went to the staff, and its not their fault they haven't been trained. Would have been a glowing 5 star review if the service was to the level expected of an eatery pitched as a top...

A group of 27 of us from a retirement association descended on the restaurant for an evening meal.

A bit further away from our normal haunts (closer to Bexley) but to the organiser’s experience it was anticipated to be worth the trip.

And it was.

The vast majority of attendees had not visited the restaurant before, and from the positive comments on quality and service, there are at least six wanting to go back privately and some have indicated a repeat trip next year would be good too!

We agreed a limited menu with the management so that we could pre-empt the otherwise high demands of a group, and avoid unnecessary over-stocking, or shortage causing some attendees to miss out on their first choices, and that worked out well.

Having given the restaurant our main’s choices ahead of time, meals were conceptually partly prepared so there was no undue delay once we arrived and we were all served on a timely basis. We started at 7pm, and the group was clearly having an enjoyable time and it was difficult to get them away, so most stayed until 9:45.

With some mobility issues for members, we stayed downstairs and took over the back part of the restaurant and spilled over slightly into the front… but we weren’t separated so none felt they were isolated from the rest. Well...

Well dinner at Franks on a Saturday night for my husbands 50th What can I say! Positives - amazing food no doubt. Nice waitress and waiter. Negatives - management in need of retraining in communication. Speed of service was slow. Time frame of sitting should be under review. This was our experience. We arrived on time for 6pm sitting knowing we had 2hrs. The speed of our service was laboured. We ordered from dessert menu to later be told 3 desserts not available. These were cancelled. We then waited ages for remaining dessert which never came. We consequently cancelled that also mindful of time. We paid in full which included service charge and tip for the staff because that is right thing to do. The manager /owner then comes to our table and basically orders us out as over time slot. Disgusting management skill. I work with people every day and he would be reprimanded in any other profession for poor skill set. This was for my husbands 50th birthday and he ruined our experience. The people waiting for table also felt bad for us and complained on our behalf. Terrible experience will never go again and would heartily suggest alternatives to family and friends. This behaviour should not be tolerated. Gave 3 stars for food but 0 for management and overall running...