West Whelks - Canterbury

We ordered a combination of hot and cold seafood dishes. Unfortunately, the hot dish was not good. The fish was frozen and lacked flavor, and the batter was too thick. One of the prawns was mostly batter with no actual prawn inside. It all seemed processed and unappetizing for the price of £6.50. The cold dish was slightly better, but it contained cheap imitation crab sticks. Overall, considering this restaurant's reputation for seafood, we felt like we could have gotten better quality at a supermarket like Iceland.

There has always been Wheelers restaurant, originally sourcing oysters from Cornwall and storing them in tanks of Whitstable waters before serving them. At least, that's what I was told when I lived there about thirty years ago, so perhaps now the oysters are sourced locally. Whitstable has changed a lot over the years, like most places, so my partner and I decided to give this restaurant a try as it was new to us. The seafood was decently tasty, nothing extraordinary, but we still enjoyed it. What we didn't enjoy was the rude attitude of a staff member - maybe that's just their way, but it seemed lacking in good customer service skills, which are important in a public-facing job. The food was okay overall.

I strongly advise avoiding this restaurant. The supposedly lobster tails were actually a strange white substance with orange coloring. The scampi was terrible and the whitebait was the worst I've ever tasted. It has completely turned me off seafood. Additionally, the staff were not wearing masks or taking any protective measures.

Oysters are okay but don't buy anything else. Fake coloured Lobster tails. Good location and Lovely staff.

Great Oysters also Fresh whelks if you arrive early in the morning you will see them shucking the whelks.