The Artichoke - Canterbury

Dealing with large group was a challenge but the staff worked really hard to produce very good food and service with a smile Price per person: £30–40 Food: 4 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 3

Most horrible experience of eating out, they brought us cold food, snatched the plates from the table, very rude personal. Food: 1 Service: 1 Atmosphere: 1

Great little country oub, well run with a great atmosphere. Very friendly staff and the food was so good. Best fish finger sandwich in Kent! Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

Awful experience that my family and I went through at the The Artichoke pub in Chartham that resulted in plates being physically snatched (from behind our backs) out of the hands of a mother who was breast feeding at the time all whilst a four year old was watching!!! The actions of the staff were absolutely disgraceful, despicable and rude. Initially everything was fine and we were greeted warmly and were made comfortable with our seating. The atmosphere was warm and friendly which makes it all the more surprising how events unfolded. The issue started when our main course was brought to the table. It was my daughter who noticed that her dinner was incredibly cold (we all had variations of the roast) and after checking I felt that all 4 meals were cold. Some elements had some warmth but most were cold to the point it would have been unpleasant to eat. The gravy was lukewarm on one side but cold on another plus the plates were cold, potatoes hard and meats very dry. My issue isn’t one with the food rather how it was dealt with by the staff as I would expect that the standard process would be for a customer to inform a member of the team and for a replacement to be offered with an apology. We had waited a while for the food (we were told that it was being plated up long before it arrived which is why I think it was cold) but when I let Chelsea know that it was cold it took an awfully long time for another member of staff to attend to “deal with it,” whilst she playfully chatted with another table. Given that we have young children who need to get to bed we did need to get on. A lady, Holly Millin I think, eventually came over and was extremely curt and sharp which felt very much out of place as no complaint had been made. She did offer to replace or to cancel the meal with no charge. We accepted the former as the latter would have meant that our daughter would have gone without dinner when we needed to get her home ready for school but it made us feel very undervalued to the point that we were being inconvenient. I did ask the lady that I was surprised that food could be brought out without checking and she said that food is probed and that plates are hot enough to burn your skin. This didn’t help offer an explanation as to why ours were cold but I didn’t press any further. After the replacement meals were brought out Chelsea asked if everything was okay and I said that the food was indeed warm but I was surprised that we weren’t offered an apology because the state of the initial meals was entirely unacceptable – I was simply shocked by her brazen reply of “I am sorry that you feel that way” which we took to be very condescending and sarcastic. After this interaction I looked at my wife with incredulity and perhaps let out a nervous laugh. Chelsea must have overheard my reaction to her sarcasm and reported to her manager that we laughed at her (which we hadn’t). At which point the manager came over and without warning snatched our plates whilst stating that we had laughed at Chelsea which we hadn’t. My wife was breast feeding at that time that Holly leant over her to snatch her barely started dinner. Holly then proceeded to physically grab the plate away from my mother-in-law who had no idea the lady was behind her – she had her cutlery in her hands and was chewing! My mother-in-law also does not speak English and had no idea what was happening. How can reporting a cold meal be escalated to this level? From initially nice service to plate snatching. This certainly is not normal behaviour for any human. We still cannot believe what happened. Today my daughter is still upset as she witnessed an altercation by a lady she did not know and my wife is shocked that a person could be physically aggressive whilst she was breast feeding a baby – anything could have happened if the plate would have hit his head. Be warned something is not right with these people...

Quiz night was great fun Price per person: £10–20 Food: 1 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 Parking space: Plenty of parking Parking options: Free parking lot