Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company

We had high hopes for this place – the setting and décor is beautifully rustic yet airy, in the old Oyster company premises right on the beach. We had a romantic treat in mind, despite it being a bit pricey, we are always happy to pay for good food and good service. Unfortunately this was not what transpired and we were sorely disappointed to the point of insult... The service was shoddy with an air of ignorance, pretentiousness and incompetence(people were paying their bills and leaving before the waitresses had even bothered to clear their tables). The food was HUGELY overpriced, and extremely disappointing. Small portions of average food, vegetables charged by the portion for an extra £3 each. (MESSAGE TO RESTUARANTEERS EVERYWHERE – HOW MUCH DO VEGETABLES COST, FOR HEAVENS SAKE??!!) It’s criminal. We had mussels to start (average, mean portion for £7). For mains we ordered the half lobster, which turned out to be a cold salad, with no sauce and served with a spoon of poorly made potato salad (sludgy rubbish potatoes - overcooked and tasteless). Fortunately we ordered fries (frozen cheap ones) and spinach (which was fine) to fill us up. It was all food we could have bought from the fish counter in Sainsburys and saved a fortune. It was really basic stuff. No cooking flair, not even any sauce or seasoning on the lobster. Shocking really. We decided to make a run for it. After waiting AGES for someone to come over so we could ask for the bill, they didn’t rush to clear the table. We were fuming. Then the bill came and was a slap in the face for what we had experienced - about £80 we hadn’t been there even an hour, it was HORRIBLE! Lesson learned, we’ll never eat there EVER again even if our worst enemy was paying for it!