Fife 'n Drum Restaurant & Inn — Restaurant in Kent

My family and I came here for Christmas Eve dinner as we had heard great things about the food and atmosphere. We reserved a table almost a month out and my mother-in-law had requested a table that was able to view the pianist playing. We arrived about 10 minutes early for our reservation which was at 4, and no one was there to greet us. We stood in the entryway for a good 10 minutes before even being acknowledged and then when we were finally greeted, they had crossed our name out of their reservation list and given our table away to a party of 2 (we were are party of 4). At this point, there we maybe only 5 tables that were sat in the entire restaurant, so giving away our reservation was completely inappropriate. We ended up getting sat next to the piano, but there was a giant pillar in the middle of our view so my fiancé and I were unable to even view the pianist. Our “server” came to greet us and we asked for a moment to look at the drink menu. After about 5 minutes, another “server” who appeared to also be the bartender that night came and grabbed our drink order. We received our drinks quickly, but then were not acknowledged for another 15 minutes before ordering our food. In the middle of ordering our appetizers and entrees, the server/bartender started yelling across the restaurant at another employee for a good minute long interval and then finished taking our order. After about 45 minutes we still had no appetizer or soup out so we flagged down our waitress. She said that she would check on it and we ended up getting it about 5 minutes later. Another 20 minutes went by and ANOTHER SERVER, one that had not even been in the restaurant before, approached our table and asked if she could get us a refill on drinks. We asked about our food and she said she would go check on it. She came back out and said that there was a “snafu” with our order. My mother in law inquired as to what the “snafu” was and the server was honest and said that our previous server just never placed the order back to the kitchen. We didn’t end up eating until about 6, so two hours after our reservation began and the food was honestly just okay. On top of that, we sat with our empty plates for about 30 minutes just trying to get someone to bring us a check. When they did, it was ANOTHER EMPLOYEE, none of the ones that had previously served us, so we were completely unsure who we were tipping. No one came to apologize or own up once. I worked as a server and bartender for 4 years, so I am quite understanding, but this was absolutely atrocious service on all accounts. This put a real damper on our Christmas Eve as we rarely get that time to go out and enjoy ourselves with a nice meal together. We will never be back there and will continue to be vocal about this unprofessional establishment whenever it comes up. Do not waste your...

It was only after careful consideration and much thought that I have given the, Fife'n Drum only one star. I used to frequent the Fife'n Drum quite often when I moved to Kent 11 years ago but stopped going there about 3 years ago when the food, overnight, became inedible. The hamburgers were either over cooked or under cooked. At one point even sending a burger back twice and they still could not cook it right. The, sticky chicken went from fresh and moist to dry and rubbery again almost overnight...new chef, maybe, I don't know. What I do know is that my friend, who had the exact same experiences as myself and who also had made the decision to stop going there several years ago suggested we try it again in the hopes that things have turned around.....WRONG !! I had the "Fish and Chips" for lunch and within thirty minutes of leaving there I had an upset stomach and wicked heartburn from the greasy batter. Having grown up in Ireland I have had "Fish and Chips" from when I was a kid, some good some bad. This was by far the worst. Now most restaurants when they say, fish and chips, they mean fish and CHIPS, as in ample french fries. Not Fife'n Drum, three, count them, three french fries and all for $15. My friend had the, Jumbo Shrimp in some sort of sauce that was so thick and congealed we concluded it must have been a leftover from the day before, disgusting. His wife had the burger ordered medium delivered so overcooked it was as dry as Sahara sand, again disgusting. Interestingly we noticed the woman behind us at another table sent her meal back to the kitchen. We knew better than to send ours back because as past history had shown, what would be the point! With a complacent staff and little competition to cause the management to try harder it is a good thing they have the Kent School and its affluent patrons to support them. I have met the owner, she is a lovely lady and I wish her well but as a local in all honesty I could never go back...

Terrible!

So last Friday myself, my husband and our two friends went to fife and drum for the first time beautiful place inside however….

For some reason we had two different waitresses at times still not sure why but they both took a very long time to come back and not only to take our order but to check on us if we needed more drinks. When the one waitress came to take our order for appetizers we started ordering them and and we are in the middle of ordering our last appetizer and she just literally walked away from our table. What made me more upset is that there were parties that were seated after us with the same amount of people that were able to order, eat there food and finish by the time we even got to order our entree!! At this point i was getting frustrated but I kept saying maybe the food will be worthy it.

Eventually when our entrees arrived the food tasted terrible. My potatoes were not cooked at all it was soo hard to cut through them they were hard as a rock and cold and my chicken was tasteless. My other two friends disliked there meal as well saying it had little to no taste and they didn’t even finish it. My husband didn’t mind his dish but it wasn’t the best he said. I wanted to complain about our food but none of the waiters would come around to even tell them at this point I just wanted to pay and leave!

For how expensive the food was and how luxurious it looked inside we will never go back again. It’s a real shame it seems to...