The Boathouse - Maidstone

We had a fantastic murder mystery night at this restaurant! The food and service were great, and the entertainment was brilliant. The manageress was a wonderful host, and overall we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Beautiful restaurant very friendly staff Tom a new member was so attentive and polite to us The food excellent I said to complement the chef really good food Thank you

We visited on Sunday lunchtime as a party of 7. I called twice to add to our party this was done efficiently. On arrival the car park was full. I had a disabled guest and the two disabled spaces were taken by cars with no badges displayed however luckily a small space came available so no harm however if this had not it would have been a long walk from the road and we would have probably thought twice about bothering. Anyway we were a bit early so decided on a drink outside as it was nice. The lady behind the bar was super friendly and helpful allowing a small taster of ales beforehand. Outside seating is pleasant overlooking the lock and is probably the selling point of this place. We went inside to eat and were slightly surprised no Sunday roast was on the menu and I think they are missing a trick there. Starters were wings, calamari, Welsh rarebit, mushrooms and Camembert and being brutally honest none of them were worth talking about. For the mains we had chicken burger, beef burger, pizza, pie and fish (haddock) and chips. The winner hands down was the haddock! A huge fleshy portion with nice batter. Pizzas were also nice, good base, burgers did as said on the tin but the pie was least favourite. We didn’t have puds as too full. In my opinion the food needs tweaking not the cooking, it was cooked perfectly well but the menu needs a bit of work as the choices were pretty uninspiring and dull. Now it sounds like I’m being negative but really the reason for the honest review is this place has so much potential because the staff here are lovely and really seem to want to make it a huge success. The lady on front of house was really bubbly and went over and above to make our experience good. Our waiter was delightful and discreet but there when u needed anything all smiley and pleasant. The restaurant itself is comfortable, bright and clean. All in all I would give 8/10. If the menu choice were better it would be at least 9.5. We will return again

We stopped here for a drink recently. Our first problem was finding our way in! The old entrance over the bridge is inaccessible and there were no signs anywhere, so we tried going the the car park at the rest and eventually discovered the entrance. We were surprised cash was not accepted here, luckily one of us has a debit card. The drinks were quite expensive. Outside is very scruffy with an abundance of weeds, and some uncleared tables. We were not impressed.

Out on the river and ate before turning back. pizza was top notch. service friendly. have eaten there again since and same result.