Saint Johns Yard — Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells

Called up and booked a table for Friday night. I requested a table for 2 for dinner at 6pm. When we arrived they seemed to not have any note of my booking, and they said they may have put it under a different name and for 6 people… not a good start. We were seated, but they had to get other people to leave the table then took another 10 minutes because they had to clean it. I ordered my drink with the bar staff, they never brought back my change. Then my sister ordered our food and her drink online, the same way you’ve been able to order for years. 30 minutes later, my sister still hasn’t received her lime and soda, so went to the bar to check. They said they will give her the drink if she shows them the order on her phone. About 15 minutes later, I went to check they had to food order, just in case they had missed that too and we had to go off to a show. When I asked they said “We aren’t doing food today”, I’m pregnant and had somewhere to be… after stating the booking was for dinner, showing the receipt with the food on to get our drink, no one having told us there is no food being served tonight even though we had ORDERED AND PAID online. We didn’t get an apology we just got told, if you show us the receipt they will refund us… Which took another 10 minutes and they didn’t give us back the service charge when they hadn’t even done any table service! They then said we were just about to put a sign up, WE’D BEEN THERE AN HOUR!! Because of the ignorance of the staff not telling people coming in for dinner, that there was no food, my pregnant self couldn’t eat before attending a show. Not even an apology, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had such a bad experience in any place. Won’t be...

We’ve been loyal customers of this pub for years, but sadly, after a recent experience, we won’t be returning anytime soon.

Our 22-year-old daughter and her boyfriend came here to celebrate an exciting new job offer, only for the night to be completely ruined by the way she was treated by the bar staff. Despite presenting her valid ID, the staff immediately accused it of being fake—and seemed more pleased to have “caught” her out than actually interested in verifying her age properly.

As we only live across the road, my husband came over and presented her passport to clear up the confusion, but they started examining the passport as if that was also fake which was utterly ludicrous. The staff tried to confiscate her valid ID but eventually handed it back to her after my husband kicked up a bit of fuss. My daughter left feeling really upset with how she had been treated.

My daughter met with the Manager the next day to complain that her ID had been damaged as the bar staff were so intent on trying to prove it was fake, they peeled/scratched the covering. The Manager said he would pay to replace it, but we’ve yet to see any action or follow-up. She is a student and doesn’t have the money herself to pay for a replacement.

What should have been a happy, celebratory night turned into an upsetting ordeal for both our daughter and her partner. It’s incredibly disappointing to see such poor judgment and an utter lack of professionalism or empathy from a place we once considered a favourite.

We genuinely hope the management takes this seriously and ensures their bar staff receive proper training in not only how to spot fake IDs, but how to handle situations like this in a...

I've been recommended this place a few times now, and managed to get a chance to go here as I met up with some friends local to the area.

Indoor and outdoor seating available, due to the weather we picked the garden. The garden is deceptively large, and caters largely to groups. The decor is lovely with lots of flowers and lights and gives it a really good vibe. Atmosphere was really good even for a weekday.

Service was really quick too, some of the drinks arrived before the order confirmation even came through.

I had the Vintage Sally burger which comes with bacon and chilli jam, and a serving of really nice chips. Also had a spicy chicken starter between us.

The spicy chicken starter catches you off guard as it's fairly hot to start with, but once you're used to it you'll keep going back for another.

The chips were just how I like them, crisp on the outside with a hint of salt, and fluffy on the inside. The burger was juicy and full of flavour as the chilli jam soaked into the bun. Definitely recommend...