County Restaurant at ABode Canterbury

The wine list was exceptional and the food to die for! Service was highly attentive and we were given great guidance.

This really was good food masquerading as fine dining. When we arrived we were shown to the wrong table. Not a good start. The menu (fixed price) was not at all extensive, around 5 choices, and I felt expensive. The main course were certainly were heavily focused on fish and certainly bore little resemblance to the overview provided on this site. When I saw the charge of £3.75 for bread, I should have known. Service was at best average, with everything seeming to fall to the maitre d' to perform. Only one waiter seemed to be knowledgeable about the dishes and the other servers did not seem to know which dish was which. The food was good, although the ballotine of chicken was a little bland, but there was just not enough of it. The portions made nouvelle cuisine look positively generous!! We then asked for more butter, and had to ask 3 times before it arrived, and had to order more bread to reach some semblance of feeling full. Finally, when we attempted to order another bottle of wine, we were told that they had only had one bottle of the wine we had chosen and we could not order any more. Surely, I should have been told that when I ordered the first bottle? In summary, good food, very small portions, average service, limited choice and London prices. I would not in all conscience be able to recommend this restaurant to anyone.

We chose to eat here on Christmas Day and were hoping to get a first rate meal and experience based upon seeing previous reviews and the reputation of the chef. Unfortunately our experience was not a brilliant one, the service from the waiting staff was very attentive and polite, it was however the food and the nature of the service that let it down in our opinion. We were placed next to the door to the toilet, ok – somebody has to be there, but not the best place in the world with a constant stream of other diners coming and going. We had scallops to start, whilst they were cooked well there was no seasoning. The traditional lunch that was served unfortunately fared much worse. Cold turkey and undercooked vegetables, I like al dente but these were bordering on raw. The gravy was severely lacking and the usual suspects of bread sauce and cranberry sauce were not offered and had to be asked for. The less said about the dessert the better. It was a shame that the food was no where near up to scratch and we found a general lack of joy with the ambience. Would we return, probably not under our own steam but we would still give it a second chance if friends booked a table and invited us.

White tableclothed tables fill a high ceiling white painted room, with touches of deep purple to add warmth. Prior to entering the dining room you might wish to have cocktails in the cosy bar where there was more atmosphere that night than the dining room. The diners on the mid-week night consisted of one lady dining alone reading her book and a party of eight placed in the middle of the room. We opted for the taster menu, each dish was flavoursome and well cooked with the exception of the pan fried pigeon which was still cold in the middle. The wine recommended by the sommelier was a very good choice (we opted for the least pricy recommendation). The service was overly attentive as the dining room was quiet,. Puddings were art on a plate, well crafted and a satisfying end to the meal. As expected the bill was over £100 per head although we treated ourselves that night.