The Pantry Coffee — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

We've been meaning to visit here for a while and being set in a pretty location our initial impression was positive. Inside was pleasant too and there's a large garden at the back with plenty of seating to go with it. We ordered 2 English Breakfasts and a Beef Chilli Jacket Potato, all of which were very good and reasonably priced. But there was something missing, a rather cold atmosphere, not rude, no where near, but rather stuffy and not particularly welcoming. We noticed this straight away as we tried to chat as we were ordering, telling the member of staff about the positive reviews we'd seen, but very little came back and from that moment none of us felt particularly comfortable. The garden was empty and we sat at the back, my wife asked if she could smoke, but this was refused. I normally have no problem with this as smoking is not good and it's antisocial, but surely in a large empty garden there could have been a bit of discretion, a wiilingness to accomodate? We were the only ones there and far away from the inside and other tables. We bought some cakes as we left, unlike the earlier food these were poor. The Lemon Drizzle was just about ok, but it was dry and the Chocolate Brownie was pretty tasteless. We're nice bubbly people who love to support local business and interact, but not here and we left disappointed and with a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. For businesses to survive they need to go that extra mile, be welcoming, accomodating and create a good atmosphere. We experienced very little of this during our visit.

Update - I have modified my review to reflect the excellent response from the owner and a telephone conversation that we had. We all have off days and we'll definitely give this...

Been here a 2-3 times now.

We pre-booked as a group of 7 before. But when we had ordered food, which was mostly sandwiches/cold food. The time between the first meal and the last was so long it was kind of embarrassing.

We went as a booking of four today, initial booking accepted then asked for number to be reduced. Turned up and no booking to be found. Not an issue as still room for us. Meals served together but I do feel the wait is really quite long. They seem to have at least 4 staff in usually, but it usually seems to fall down to one to actually be preparing the food.

The garlic ciabatta was ordered, but did not seem to have any garlic at all and no basil either. I do think a fair bit of the menu is overpriced for what you actually get. Garlic ciabatta over £8 which is 2 slices of ciabatta with cheese, tomato and balsamic glaze (essentially cheese on toast). It also seems to have a bit of a dreary atmosphere and not exactly warm welcome etc.

Thinking of finding a new spot for...

Took so long to serve us we had to leave. Went her in my lunch hour this week as I work just round the corner. It was busy but not full. When we ordered we were told it would be a 10-15min wait. I didn't mind this as it would still give us plenty of time to eat and get back. After 25mins our coffees came out and we were told "Sorry about the longer wait but we've had takeaway orders in that we have to drop everything for". Now I understand it's freshly made so takes a little while but do you really need to drop everything to serve take outs? Finally our order came out but before I could say the order was mine they gave one of the sandwiches to someone else. When they came to us with the other sandwich and I complained they said they would start on it straight away, at which time I was already going to be late back to work. I won't be going back or recommending this place which is...