Thackeray's Restaurant — Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells

We booked in and had the tasting menu with wine pairing. Starting off having a cocktail at the bar with a very friendly barman who made a great cocktail.

For ease I’m going to dissect the courses to properly explain the score I gave.

Scallops- the scallops were incredibly acidic. The course wasn’t balanced and was a disappointment. There wasn’t anything to marry with the citrus notes and created a very one dimensional dish that had me reaching for the rennie.

Duck - the confit duck was a little dry and lacked flavour and the duck breast although tasty and cooked beautifully was served luc warm.

John Dory - this course was actually really bad. Although the John Dory itself was in fact cooked to perfection, it was accompanied by under cooked risotto and a sauce so thick with cumin or turmeric (I can’t remember which now) that the sauce was powdery. Really nasty texture. I was actually shocked at how bad this course was. Reminded me of packet risotto and packet sauce poorly cooked by a student. Both of us left it and we were not asked why.

The beef option - the beef itself was cooked to perfection. The sauce was also fantastic and silky with a lot of depth. However the ‘lasagna’ I believe our waiter said it was accompanied by, was close to cold and the potato’s were tasteless and a little stale. I did mention the lasagna was cold but nothing came of this.

Cheese - the cheese selected was fantastic, such a rich creamy blue cheese. Paired with the honey comb well. The water biscuits were not for me and tasted a touch over done.

Lemon curd - was exactly what you would expect from a pre desert course. Nothing to report here.

The soufflé - this was another disappointment. Came with a bit of a show and looked great but the soufflé itself was split and a touch eggy. The raspberry sorbet was delicious.

The wine throughout the night was a real treat and the best part of actually what turned out to be a very dissatisfying meal.

I wake up today lamenting spending over £480 on a meal that in all honesty is probably the worst tasting menu I’ve had out of the 30 or so I’ve had. I’ve tried to weigh up if it was my expectations and excitement that it just didn’t live up to but on closer reflection it was actually just not a good meal which is a real shame.

Every course had something wrong with it or wasn’t executed to the standard that I would expect a place of this high regard.

With this all being said, Your staff are lovely and the ambience is spot on. Just a shame the food let it down this evening. Especially at that price.

In conclusion, unfortunately I would not recommend and I should have asked for a refund on most of...

Thackeray's was recommended to my partner and I recently. We decided to try it as the menu sounded nice enough and we were looking to experience something new. It would've been nice to be able to sit outside on the terrace however we were told this is only open during lunchtime, thus, we were seated in the main dining area instead, towards the back of the room. The decor was definitely not up to the high standard of which the restaurant claims or wishes to be at. Also, considering that the room was relatively tiny, it was getting hotter and stuffier, without staff considering to open additional windows. Now, talking about the food - the free amuse-bouche was tasty, we were also offered soup with bread and butter. The bread was extremely nice, with a crumpet-like consistency and taste. We then each had a cocktail, a starter, and a main. I personally enjoyed the toffee apple cosmo, and my starter - the scallops dish was tasty. My partner had the gooseberry cocktail and the quail starter, which were alright. This far there wasn't really much to complain about food-wise. For the mains, I ordered the lamb whilst my partner wanted the aged beef. I guess we expected the portion sizes to be small considering that it is an a la carte menu, however it was surprising seeing that my dish only came with one very tiny cutlet which was also very fatty and unchewable. Moreover, the meat, for both of our dishes, was flavourless and unseasoned. This was quite unexpected considering the pretensions of the restaurant and the prices of the mains. At this point both of us were disappointed and were getting quite annoyed with our experience so we decided not to have desserts. We paid and immediately left the restaurant after we were done with our mains. Be mindful that the water here isn't free either. In the end we had to go down to Five Guys to order some more food to satisfy our hunger. It's safe to say that we will not be returning, but at least we will no longer be curious to try...

Have been here 3 times before and was disappointed with this visitation. We had to ask to put the heating up or to move seats as it was freezing cold inside, ended up wearing my coat inside. We had the tasting menu (which we've had before, hence why we came again) the portions were ridiculously small and even went to have a KFC afterwards as we weren't filled at all. The only two good portions were the beef dish and the rhubarb soufflé.... The rest...... C'mon chef.... What happened? What was most disappointing is the lady in the blazer and jacket who was obviously important,.asked us if there was any allergies or anything in the beginning and we said, please no beetroot...... Guess what appeared on our 2nd dish.... Beetroot. This place had always had a high status in my mind on customer service and attention to detail however the standards have seriously gone down as a simple request was completely ignored. Also the wine paring? Did you guys actually taste the wine with what was being served? Again we used to love the pairings and food it matched with but it's like no one gave it any thought. Now before you slate us completely we have both worked in restaurants ourselves before so understand everything that goes into it, but honestly was so so disappointed with this meal. The only good thing was the servers and their knowledge of the items being offered and with a smile. The rest..... Maybe just revisit the menu as I'm not sure what that haddock and raisin situation was. We got 20% discount which is basically just the servers tip? Correct me if wrong. If anything, I would've happily paid the servers their tip as they did a steller job. The food on the other hand was disappointing for a £400 meal and cheap wine. Won't be back as I was too embarrassed to even show my partner the food and wine it had to offer.... He said he's had better food in Mayfair for a...