Olivers Bar & Kitchen - (Near Kent, South East)

5 /5 Zane Krumina: Amazing place! The food was beautifully presented and full of flavour, and the cocktails were on another level – creative, perfectly balanced, and well worth it. The DJ night really made the experience special. Great music, fantastic atmosphere, and a lively crowd without feeling overcrowded. Perfect spot for dinner that turns into a night out. Highly recommended Most important for ladies, very professional doormen’s, making the building feel safe. Andy was helpful and helped sort out our taxi. Appreciate this, will return

5 /5 janet garrod: I booked the red room for my husbands 70th birthday, I wanted good food, private dining and good service. Olivers delivered on all 3. The food was excellent and the service could not have been better. I was also pleasantly surprised that the bill was a little less than I expected. Top marks all round .

5 /5 Jack Steven: Had a brilliant night at Oliver’s in Rochester from start to finish. The atmosphere was spot on, music was great and the whole place just felt well run and welcoming. A special mention to the door staff, Ash and Andy – absolute credit to the venue. Professional, friendly and on the ball all night. They made everyone feel safe and looked after without being over the top, which makes a massive difference on a busy night out. Top service all round – will definitely be back!

5 /5 Erika Lech: We had an absolutely wonderful evening at Oliver’s. The atmosphere was warm and elegant – the perfect place for a special dinner with my husband. The cocktails were outstanding – beautifully presented, perfectly balanced, and truly memorable. The food exceeded our expectations: the steak was cooked to perfection, juicy and full of flavour, and the fish and chips were crispy, fresh, and delicious. The service was professional, friendly, and attentive, making us feel genuinely welcome from start to finish. We will definitely be coming back. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates quality food, amazing cocktails, and a great atmosphere!

2 /5 Marc Crouch: Went for anniversary dinner with my wife. We arrived ten minutes late due to the terrible weather on the night and we apologized for being late. We were seated at our table and then promptly abandoned for 15 minutes without even a glass of water. I got fed up and stood up to try and find someone. Had to stand around in the bar area like a lemon for a couple of minutes until someone spoke to me at which point I complained about the 15 minute wait and asked for someone to serve us. The waitress followed me and promptly scolded me for having the nerve to talk to her like that (look: I can be very direct and I was annoyed but I was not insulting or aggressive, I just have certain basic expectations in restaurants… this wasn’t KFC after all). Waitress responded by telling us off for being late, insisting it hadn’t been 15 minutes (untrue - I had checked my watch so was certain of this), that they were really busy (the restaurant was 50% full the entire time we were there) and that she had “never been spoken to like that before”. Sorry but you must have the thinnest skin in the hospitality sector in that case. We apologised for being 10 mins late and their response for taking 15 minutes to serve us - which would probably have been even longer if I hadn’t got up! - was to gaslight me. Not a good start. Anyway, I backed off as didn’t want to ruin the night further and the waitress looked frankly in shock that I had had the audacity to complain, and to their credit the service from that point on was much better. Some rough edges still: we ordered a nice bottle of Bordeaux and not only did the waitress not open it in front of us (a basic rule in restaurants) but also just poured straight out without letting us taste it. Thankfully it was a good bottle - at £55 it should have been, and it was tasty - but that felt like a lack of basic restaurant training. We ordered a caprese salad to share and I ordered the prawn and chorizo linguine while my wife ordered steak. The caprese salad was a disgrace - sorry, no other word for it. It was a sloppy mess of chopped up tomatoes and chunks of mozzarella in a soggy bowl all thrown together. That is not a caprese salad. It tasted alright but looked horrendous so I struggled to eat it. I’ve attached a photo. Thankfully the main courses were quite good. My linguine was very tasty and my wife’s steak was good quality and cooked as requested. No real complaints about the quality and flavours. It’s not gourmet or anything - in fact I would class it as pub food really - but to be honest I’m still not 100% sure if it was worth the money for the quality. Which probably means it wasn’t. Especially considering the caprese car crash. As already mentioned, they redeemed themselves somewhat with the service and gave us a couple of complimentary glasses of house champagne for our anniversary which was a very nice touch. They even took the service charge off the bill which wasn’t necessary or requested by us but was appreciated and I have to give credit for them taking accountability. But it really shouldn’t have to come to that; you simply can’t be that fragile when working in a restaurant, especially when you’ve left a customer waiting for 15 minutes after seating them. Basic stuff if you want to be seen as a somewhat higher quality eatery for the area, although I’m not sure if it’s positioning itself as a restaurant or a bar to be honest. Maybe that’s the problem. Bit of an identity crisis. Overall a disappointing experience after hearing good things about the place. Food is decent but not amazing and the staff needed more training. Decor was alright if a bit “bordello”. I would recommend Fish at 55 or Brettingtons before this place though, to be honest. Oh - final point. The men’s toilet was out of order and their solution was a couple of portaloos out the front of the restaurant - the type you get at music festivals. I understand this is a tricky situation that isn’t entirely their fault but surely there are better solutions. I chose to hold it until we got home.