Swale
Maharani Sittingbourne

Maharani Sittingbourne

24 West Street, ME10 1AP, Swale, United Kingdom

Asian • Balti • Indian • Vegetarian


"Pre ordered for 6pm collection, arrived at 5.50pm to find it sat in bags already bagged up on a table, not being kept warm! Voiced my disapproval and was given a story about avoiding the rush. Paid the £150 it came to for 6 people, which is not an insignificant amount of money! When I got home, the food was lukewarm at best, and really rather dry! One main meal of chicken tikka masala missing so phoned the restaurant, was told to go back and collect it. I said I’ve just spent £150 on your food, surely you can send one out to me asap, they begrudgingly agreed, when I asked how long, they said 30MINS!! I told them that’s ridiculous and I’ll come back and collect it but I’m not happy! When I arrived back at the restaurant, meanwhile the rest of my guests are either eating without two of us or everyone’s food is getting colder, the replacement wasn’t even ready and I spent more time waiting. I was told to take I seat and wait, to which I strongly objected and said I wanted my food. The curry was given to me with pilau rice and two lagers as a gesture, no apology etc When I got back home and got into the food it was probably the worst curry we have ever had! Two Bangladeshi naan’s didn’t have a scrap of chilli between them, a tikka rice had next to no tikka in it, a vegetable curry had one lump of potato in sauce and that was the veg curry, the tikka masala that I returned for wasn’t even correct, it was just plain chicken in a red sauce, the onion bhajis were dry and over cooked and a mixed starter literally looked like something my dog would bring up! I wouldn’t use this restaurant again if it was free and I have since found out that when dining in, a free drink is sometimes offered in return for a good review. Think twice before using!"

The Queens Head

The Queens Head

United Kingdom, ME13 9BH, Swale

Wine • Cakes • Coffee • British


"Long but fair comments. Hoping we visited on a poor day as we had so much hope with the positive reviews… It is always challenging to find somewhere to eat between Christmas and New Year, but The Queen’s Head was open so decided to visit for the first time in a few years for a family (birthday) lunch. Drinks standard Shepherd Neame selection, but both Bear Island and Christmas Ale tasted of pipe cleaning fluid. Couldn’t finish a half pint of either. Food it is always a worry when there are so many options on the menu. Standard menu, burger menu, specials menu, and “the chef is also doing…”. Must have been 25 options minimum. The burgers that were ordered were bland and tasteless, having run out of “pulled pork (after 25min wait), brioche buns, tomato relish, etc”. Chips/wedges were cold. Salad leaves turning and inedible. Pheasant promised much, but appeared in a large soup/pasta bowl, absolutely dredged in a sickly gravy. Picking through to discover edible meat was a task in itself. Roast potatoes became soggy in the gravy disaster. VERY limited vegetarian options. Vegetarian burger was different to as advertised on the menu and was dry. Service long wait times for food and for the bill. Bill came incorrect, and when advised, took an age to get rectified. ALSO NOTE: Shepherd Neame gold card is NOT accepted here. Appreciate it can be a challenging time of year, but we pick places to eat based on reviews, so thought it would only be fair to share our experience. Other reviews of The Queen’s Head seem positive…."

The Courtyard

The Courtyard

Brogdale Farm, Brogdale Road, ME13 8, Swale, United Kingdom

Cafés • Kebab • Mexican • Fast Food


"We went as a family today after pumpkin picking. Horrible wet day and we all took our wellies off at the door, respecting the sign that said “no muddy shoes”. We all wanted to use the loo to wash our hands first of all (bit muddy after pumpkin picking! but were told the toilets were out of order and were pointed in the direction of courtyard toilets. Whilst we were waiting for my hubby to come back with clean trainers I asked my 2 young daughters to go and find a table to sit at there were plenty to choose from. I was then told by the older female member of staff they were “fully booked and had no tables free”. It was a bit disappointing as the restaurant was half empty but we hadn’t been before so assumed that it was a case of booking before. As we were waiting for my hubby to bring shoes back for us to leave, another group of 4 came in and asked if there was availability, only to be shown to a table! I asked the staff member why it was they had been given a table, to be told they had booked, but the family that had sat down overheard the conversation and said that they hadn’t booked. They actually offered us the table first (thinking they had skipped the queue! I said to the staff member I didn’t think that was fair but she was really rude and abrupt back, saying she wasn’t going to argue about it, before then turning her back to talk to someone else. I was a little taken aback to be honest, as I certainly wasn’t arguing, hadn’t raised my voice and was perfectly polite being infront of my 2 young daughters. I haven’t ever experienced such rudeness before like that, and a real shame given that it seems a lovely place. I’m still not sure as to why we were turned away, perhaps as we had children or because we had come with a big group pumpkin picking and she had assumed it was for all of us (not just my family of 4 . I don’t know, but regardless, there was really no need for such rudeness and it seems I’m not the first to make such comments. First time visiting and sadly won’t be returning."