The Pearson's Arms

I went to this restaurant with a friend on 13th August 2010 at the end of a nice day in Whitstable. The dining room is nicely presented and the head waiter/owner was lovely and friendly and gave us a nice sea-view table. We ordered beer-battered fish and chips with peas at £14 each, but unfortunately the food did not live up to the setting or the price at all. The oil used to fry the food was stale. I didn't complain about this because I wasn't sure the oil was off until halfway through eating the food, and by then it seemed too late to complain. When the owner / head waiter had to leave the building for a few moments, the young staff put on aggressive music and turned it up way too loud for a restaurant. I had to get up and ask them to turn it down – in fact, I had to find them first as they were all downstairs chatting in the entrance area rather than keeping an eye on their diners. The owner was later very apologetic and deducted the service charge from the bill, but overall this was a thoroughly disappointing experience. We would have been much better off getting takeaway fish and chips and eating it on the beach. I hope this review helps the restaurant to improve their offering. davidluxembourg at hotmail dot com