The Hengist Restaurant & Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

CONDENSED COPY OF EMAIL SENT TO HENGIST (BUT IGNORED)

Two of my friends had a Birthday in January, so I suggested The Hengist for a Sunday roast lunch for 8 of us. I had checked that there was a menu which included either 2 or 3 courses for a set price. On arrival at 12.30, we were handed a menu which wasn’t the set menu I’d seen online. The young lady said this was the only menu which had a roast dinner choice, and that we could add a starter and a dessert for an extra price. I was quite embarrassed at this, as this put the cost up for a three course meal considerably. So 4 of us chose a starter and/or a dessert, whilst the rest of us only had the main course of the roast. We ordered one bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (approximately £38), two bottles of Yellow Tail red wine and some beers. The scallop starters were three small shrivelled offerings grouped in the centre of a large plate, looking nothing like the online picture. However nobody complained as we could see the young staff were very busy as they also had a party upstairs to look after. Then the roast dinners were brought out, and at first I sat waiting for the vegetables as there just looked to be slices of lamb on top of two halves of soggy roast potatoes, and a handful of frozen peas thrown over the top. I asked for the vegetables that were described on the menu, to be told they were underneath this pile of food that looked like leftovers scraped onto a plate after Sunday lunch. When I looked, there were two baby carrots that looked like they were either frozen, or out of a tin. A few tiny squares of cabbage, and a tablespoon of some beige coulis. The “wine Jus” was congealed round the edge of the plate as if the whole thing had been kept under warming lights. All the roasts were served the same way, with a rubbery Yorkshire pudding plonked on the top. Two of us had to ask for a steak knife to remove the gristle from the pork and lamb, and to cut into the tough Yorkshire pudding. We then had to ask for a side plate to put all the fat and gristle from both the lamb and the pork, which then looked like another small meal! Once again we didn’t complain as we didn’t want to spoil the atmosphere of our get together. We ordered a second bottle of the same New Zealand wine as the one we’d had previously. The young lady brought up the bottle and put it straight into the wine cooler. It wasn’t until I picked up the bottle to unscrew the top, that one of the ladies realised it wasn’t the same as the first one. She recognised the green screw top as being one she'd bought in Tesco which she hadn't enjoyed. We pointed this out only to be told they’d run out of the first one but this was still a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc! We sent it back untouched, We then were told we’d have to vacate the table by 2.30 as they had another booking booked for 3pm. The waiter then dropped a used knife and fork from his tray into my friend's lap. He was so embarrassed, he uttered a quick apology and rushed off, leaving the dirty utensils in her lap. We paid £57 each towards the total of £456 for inferior food and service. It appeared that the young waiting staff were untrained in serving supposedly high quality food, and didn’t know the menus enough to realise there was a set meal on your website for 2 or 3 courses far cheaper! Any change in the availability of a previously ordered wine should be advised of, rather than just assuming another brand would do. Also dropping food or used utensils onto a diner’s lap should be addressed, and dealt with professionally. I think your kitchen was overstretched due to the extra party upstairs , and had taken shortcuts in keeping food hot before serving, causing all the roasts to be soggy with tough Yorkshires. I also wasn't told on booking by phone, that it would be only a 2 hour slot. I therefore suggest a refund of £20 per person would be acceptable to placate myself and my guests, totalling £160. Which could be credited to the the Debit card of Mr X who paid £171 of the total. He will then disperse the refund...

A friend of ours booked The Hengist as a group with my husband and six other friends as a special night out for Valentine's Day the Saturday before. The restaurant was busy with a group of 20 celebrating an anniversary. We were seated in a room next to where the large party was. The starters must have taken an hour or more to arrive. The waiter kept coming back to keep us updated and explained that because of the large party they were running behind and would be with us in 10-15 mins. This happened a couple of times.two of our group ordered duck, and one ordered lamb. All were advised this would be served pink. Which was great. They knew what to expect, no issues. Three of us ordered rib eye steaks. One medium rare, and two medium. The meals arrived a bit staggered. Of the duck meals, one was pink as expected, the other was not pink at all, and over cooked. One rib eye steak arrived looking as it should. My husband and I were served our rib eye steaks, and were pretty disappointed. They were very clearly not rib eye steaks, and were so poorly cooked they looked almost like they had been boiled or cooked in a wet frying pan. There were some charred spots on one side of my husbands steak. We sent them back saying that they were very much not rib eye and looked awful. We were told they would redo them. Eventually we were given a second set of dishes. The second set of steaks were absolutely no better at all. My husbands plate looked like they had given him the plate back with just a new steak. His mushroom he had cut in half was still on the plate the steak had no taste at all, it had no juices just a very dried peace of something. My plate had new "chips" on them. I had ordered truffle and Parmesan chips, and the ones that came back were definitely not those, and as best looked like some weak potato wedges that were getting soggy. The entire meal looked like my very first steak meal cooked as a teen, before learned how to seat and cook a steak properly, not something someone would py £30 for. We sent those steaks back as well, and said we wouldn't be eating those, or anything else prepared for us. Our friends felt awful, their meals were ok, the other one who had ordered a rib eye, received a decent looking rib eye, which is how we knew ours were wrong! The waiter kept apologising. We said we knew it wasn't his fault, but that this wasn't acceptable. We debated getting desserts, but weren't holding out much hope, we were struggling to get drinks at this point. One friend was considering getting the cheese board, but we joked about what kind of cheese would turn up... some kind of blue cheese, some American processed cheese and a cheddar. When we asked the waiter what cheese it included he came back to say "some kind of Stilton, a cheddar... and I tuned out the last one. My husband went to speak to the manager and our bill was adjusted so he and I didn't have to pay for our main meals, or starters, which was appreciated. The manager advised they were short staffed and had a large party. For the Saturday before Valentines, I would expect any upscale restaurant to be prepared to pull out all the stops to ensure the food and service is up to par. When we left the premises the staff just looked at us with not one apology or response. One last thing that made the evening unpleasant was the large group in the other room. There were a few young girls in the group, they were running around, playing with balloons, and screaming. It was completely inappropriate for a restaurant like this. A woman at the table across from us tried to go to the bathroom, and was nearly knocked over by these girls running around, and ended up with having to duck out of the way of the balloons. I am all for family celebrations, but good Lord teach your children some manners! If you can't or aren't willing to control them, book a hall where no one else has be subjected to them running out of control. In this economy, going out for a nice meal is a treat for us, and based on this experience we won't...

So disappointed with the change of this place recently! My partner and I were pretty regular having visited both throughout the week and on weekends, bringing friends here for dinner and recommending the restaurant. This was our go to place, however, we will not be returning after our last visit.

Our past two visits were not to the usual standard, and the last visit we were saddened by the lack of service received. We visited The Hengist on father's Day and the Sunday prior.

The Sunday prior my partner and I had the sharing roast. Whilst we both like our lamb pink, the way the lamb was presented this time was not to the usual standard. It was VERY pink, to the point my partner didn't eat it. He stuck to the white meat. I attempted to eat it, and in doing so had to ask for a steak knife to try and cut it due to how chewy it was. I eventually gave up and we took the rest home for the dog. We did not complain, and assumed that this was a one-off incident and put it down to a fluke as none of our other meals had been like this. Father's day however, we lost our hope that this was the case.

We had booked a father's day meal for my partner and the three of us turned up ready to enjoy! What a shock we were in for. We enjoyed the starters on the set Father's day menu, but the evening took a turn when the mains came out.

We had ordered three roast dinners, one beef, one lamb and one turkey. The beef was fine, the lamb looked completely raw and the turkey wasn't fully cooked either! We called a member of staff over and informed her of this and she offered to get me some lamb that was 'more cooked' and offered my partner another turkey dinner, which he opted to change to beef. I also asked if there had been a change in chef recently and I mentioned our previous Sundays experience. She assured us there had been no change. There was no apology made, no shock at the fact they had just served uncooked poultry, and it seemed like a complete lack of caring to the whole situation. Whilst I waited for the lamb to arrive, another member of staff passed and put a side plate on the table without saying anything and walked off. We assumed this was for the raw meat on my plate and I transferred it over. She came back and asked if we were done and then took the meat away. Again, no apology. The thing that makes this more upsetting is that both of these members of staff were in plain clothes, indicating they were management.

My partner's replacement meal arrived as did my lamb, however, one piece was exactly the same as the previous lot, blood as well. I didn't eat much of my remaining meal, just the vegetables and my partner didn't finish his either. The two of us opted out of dessert, we felt deflated by the evening's events, however my partner's son enjoyed his crumble. Whilst he was eating this, the first person who served us came over and advised that she had taken the lamb off the bill and flippantly remarked that she was 'sorry about that' with regards to the lamb issue.

We had started the evening already discussing that we still needed to return on a Wednesday evening to try another of their sharing boards, only to end the evening decided we would not be returning at all.

Hengist, take note, this is the way to loose loyal customers. Sincere apologise...