The Plough, Ivy Hatch — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

Disappointing and hugely overpriced. This was our 3rd visit to The Plough and it will be our last. Always thought it was on the expensive side for what it was but really liked the pub itself, thought it had a good range of beers and found the waitresses to be attentive and the food good enough - not amazing but fine. However today we went as a family of four and couldn’t have been more disappointed. Got served quickly enough but was told they had run out of burgers (if you take into account that there are 3 options on the lunch menu that aren’t breakfast items, you can see that losing one is pretty unforgivable!) and they had run out of poached eggs, but could do fried!!! I had to ask! If you can do fried eggs, then you have eggs, so why no poached eggs? The first waitress didn’t know. When we came to order I asked our waitress the same question as the meal I wanted included poached eggs. She didn’t know either but knew they’d run out and couldn’t sell poached eggs! She did ask me if I wanted her to check. I had to know so off she went to the kitchen and came out saying that all their poached eggs are pre-cooked in large batches in the morning and then re-heated and so once they’re gone, that’s it! That sounded pretty grim and like something a low end hotel chain would do. It seemed a bizarre thing for a chef to admit, especially when they market themselves as a gastro pub and their prices would lead you to believe that they are something a bit special. My 3 year old daughter wanted a burger but as that was off she opted for picking sides including 2 sausages and some cooked mushrooms, and the rest of us ordered from the normal menu. After half an hour and no food the kids started asking where their food was. We gave it another 5 minutes and still nothing. I eventually asked a waitress who was very friendly and said she’d go and check. It was just being plated up apparently and 5 minutes later it arrived. 40 minutes after ordering. My eldest said her fish and chips were lovely, however the sausages and cooked mushrooms were two anemic curly sausages with a greyish see-through colour and 1 mushroom. The sausage felt tepid. It had a hole through it so I think it must have had a temperature probe put into it at some point but it looked disgusting. I cut into it and tasted it and it wasn’t a very pleasant texture. I wanted to send it back, although my 3 year old was so hungry she just kept putting it in her mouth and didn’t want me to make a fuss. In fairness mine and my wife’s ham egg and chips were nice - possibly not £11 nice, but perfectly fine. Had it not been for what they’d charge for a kid’s meal of sausage and one mushroom, I’d have probably just put it down to experience and not bothered writing a review, but combined with the slow food service, items that they’d run out of, sticky tables (yep, I agree with a few other reviewers, what’s with the sticky tables?!) Disgusting looking, anemic sausages, 1 mushroom & pre-cooked poached eggs I felt compelled to. For the two sausages and one mushroom they’d charged £13! When I queried it, the lady said the sausages are £3.50 each, which made one mushroom £6! She said ‘Oh that should only have been £10!’ So one mushroom is £3! I wish I had taken a photo as only then would you realise what an absolute disgrace charging even half of this would have been, but £13! They really are having a laugh. She refunded me £3 but we will not be going back. This place has really lost its way. When I last went on Valentine’s Day, we both said the food was really nice, if a little pricey. From today’s experience there is absolutely no justification for the price and it feels very much like they are chancing their arm. I overheard the table behind speaking to the waitress about a substandard experience this time and another table all got their food except one of the table’s meals had been left off their order. I’m not sure if they were having a particularly bad day, if they have a new chef or what, but it definitely feels like they need to up their game to justify...

Went to the Plough for Sunday lunch. The food was good, but the service was really poor and let it down. The person who seated us told us the Yorkshire puddings with the chateaubriand were on the menu by error and was quite abrupt about it. He did give them to us, but it was a terrible start to the meal and he was inexplicably rude. We waited 30mins for our starter to come out. As it was only oysters, we put that down to being busy and hoped it was just a slow start. We then had another long wait for our main and couldn't get anyone's attention to order more drinks. Once we'd finished, we waited over half an hour for someone to clear our plates. We tried unsuccessfully to get their attention (it seriously felt like the waiters we're trying to avoid eye contact), and eventually had to get up to ask someone to clear them away. Dessert took another 30mins after that point, and no one could explain to us what was in it when we asked for GF. All in all we felt very unwelcome and uncomfortable. When it came to settling the bill, we weren't asked how anything was, even when we declined to pay the service charge. This just underlined the indifference to diners we had been feeling throughout the whole meal. Having read the other reviews we're quite surprised by the service we received. However having overheard other diners around us, we weren't the only ones. This was a birthday lunch, so was very...

Went for my 26th recommended through word of mouth, me, my gf and my family both professional chefs, main kitchen and pastry. Small and expensive starter, expensive roast, and 40 minute wait for a rice pudding. One chef on a Sunday? I genuinely feel sorry for him, not your fault whoever you are mate.

Ive also noticed, whoever is in charge of replying to reviews, relax, people are dissatisfied with your establishment and you shouldn’t be embarrassing them on the internet after they’ve spent their hard earned money in your pub. To the chef and the floor staff, you guys aren't the problem. Sometimes less is more, you’re a pub in Kent, that alone is enough to stand out. Pretentiousness isn’t my style. I appreciate the efforts being made and the money invested however, but do not belittle dissatisfied customers online.

Get chefs in and pay them all that money you’re charging, then these problems wont occur. Carefully read your replies whoever you are, your food is suffering and so is service time because you ARE putting pressure on your kitchen with your so called fine dining approach with a fully booked restaurant and one chef. I wouldn’t want to work there...