Côte Tunbridge Wells — Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells

I genuinely love Cote, and this is my first time I’ve ever left considering if I’d go back…

Overall it was a service issue, unhelpful, condescending and felt ignored.

I ordered a Caesar salad and with an overcooked chicken breast (non issue) there were 5 salad leaves…it was so small. Completely understand that may be how they make it, but it was ridiculously small and when you are eating a salad you need to fill it out - for £16. I only asked if they could add some more leaves. The male manager could not have made the situation more awkward…. As an previous manager myself the aim is to problem solve, and even if they think a customer is wrong- be polite and helpful. But instead he made me feel so uncomfortable for asking, and questioned how small it was to me…to provide a customer with some more salad leaves is not a hard task, or costly to a place such as cote. And instead it was so unfriendly. Photo attached.

Drink order wrong - we ordered Diet Coke and we got coke. My partner cannot have sugar so we never order coke. When it came to paying the bill, they commented they would not charge us for “sending the cokes back”. But it was their fault.

During our meal no one came to check we were happy, asked if we needed anything, and additionally when we entered the restaurant the female manager saw us and turned back to a tasting, and continued to make us wait.

Overall from two people who have worked in hospitality, for almost a decade each it was disappointing to say the least. Came across as though the managers have worked there awhile, lost passion and momentum to provide a memorable experience to customers, but additionally are unhelpful.

As previously said, such a shame, as I have genuinely never not loved cote. They are in truth a fantastic franchise so this let...

Me and my wife went for a meal late August, whenever the bank holiday was. Bit more than I usually like to pay for a meal out so this was meant to be a treat.

As far as the food went, it was very good. The confit pork was delicious with razor thin crackling, the bitterness of the sauce worked well with the sweet sultanas and apples. The Breton chicken was very tender, but needed more of the curry butter. The dauphinoise potatoes were excellent. The petit pois came out tepid at best but at least they were tasty. The French onion soup was lovely. The scallops, though tasty, we did not feel worked as they completely overpowered the sauce. Had a cheese board for the first time and tried some delicious new cheeses.

Drinks wise we had some orange wine, shame I was driving as I'd have liked more. The yuzu cocktail was delicious. The mint tea was very refreshing. We also had some water. Now, I don't want to say I was "tricked", but anyway I was asked for water, I said yes, then she said "still or sparkling?", so I replied still. And that's how I ordered a nearly £6 bottle of water. We clocked it when the table next to us clearly got tap water, but we didn't see the interaction to know whether they specifically requested that. Kinda funny though, I've seen this on TV for years how restaurants do this, and well I guess they do.

As for the service, not the best. The lady and gent were pleasant but quite inattentive. It was a mostly empty place and were kept waiting a lot. After our mains we were kept waiting almost 20 minutes for anything else, which we did want, being the cheese board. We certainly noticed the glances we kept getting, those "hurry up" annoyances. Maybe if you had served us quicker we would...

Though we love Bill's we thought we'd pop in here for a late lunch as we'd been to Bill's in Canterbury yesterday. Shaky start as the olives were disappointing as not so spicy and hard to separate from the pits. Especially the little black ones which seemed to have a very thin layer of olive around a rather substantial stone.

The focachia with onion was not great. I don't much like caramelised onion so am slightly biased but my partner does and she was unimpressed.

At this point we were lamenting our choice of Côte over Bill's as the starter and olives we had there were delightful.

When it came to the mains, however, things changed. I had a ribeye steak blue and my partner opted for the poacher's chicken. The chicken was generously portioned, looked great and tasted equally as good. My steak was simply divine, as good as I've had anywhere. Excellent meat perfectly cooked.

For dessert we both opted for the crėme caramel which was a good thing as it was so amazing a fight may have ensued if one of us had opted for something else. Not much to say except this is the pinnacle of desserts. It was just wonderful. Yesterday we would have both agreed that Bill's pecan pie was as good as a dessert could get but this was at least a head in front at the finish line.

The lost star is more for the olives than the onion focachia. The service was prompt and friendly, the ambience agreeable and an overall...