Fairfax - Maidstone

They have worked for the number of expected diners. the service was very slow. the front of the house staff worked hard, simply not very effective. we arrived at 19:00 clock and at 21:30 clock for a 3 cursor. that was a pity when it arrived, very good. the breakfast was also slow, an hour to get hot food. again this was a pity, as they had some interesting non-standard hot options.

We were 2 nights in leeds castle and we had 2 dinners in the restaurant castle view. the evening menu is fantastic and we decided to try a lot of dressed during the 2 evening meals to taste so many dishes. on the first night we chose the venison croquettes and the goat cheese as appetizers. the croquettes were full of arome and the goat cheese was tart like a mousse and it was beautiful. for the main course we had the beef and both were cooked to perfection, even if one was rare and the other was medium and we really enjoyed it. to dessert we had an apple-tin and an orange chocolate mousse. both were very tasty and a beautiful end of our first meal. for our second dinner we had the crowning chicken as an appetizer and that was a very tasty choice. we ordered the venison and that was also a good choice, the meat went very well with the pork and the red cabbage. We had an apfel tatin and a pineapple brooch with coconut ice cream and that was also full of aromen. we loved all the different dishes we had both evenings, and the drinks we had (prosecco and cava) were beautiful. all the staff were very attentive and professional and one evening we sat next to the window and we could look at this closed and enjoy our beautiful evening meal.

Fantastic service wonderful food. They made our anniversary meal feel special. Would certainly go back again. Brilliant

Booked this venue for an 80th birthday and has been cancelled by the restaurant in favour of a larger private function. Totally unprofessional, and very inconsiderate. Suggested we book for a different date. Can't really change the date of the birthday. Very disappointed

My husband and I stayed at the castle as a way of celebrating our wedding anniversary. The stay itself was lovely. Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same about our experience in the Castle View restaurant. I had emailed the restaurant prior to our stay to ask if we could bring a bottle of champagne to the table as it was a present for our anniversary. I did not receive a reply so we didn’t take the bottle with us. When we arrived at our table there was an ice bucket waiting for us. We asked why it was there to be told that it was for our champagne. I explained that we didn’t need it as no one had bothered to reply to my email. We were then told that the restaurant would have charged us a £27 corkage fee! A few pounds I can understand but £27, that’s ridiculous and we most certainly wouldn’t have taken them up on the offer. We then ordered a bottle of wine and our meal (all part of the package). The lady who served us was very polite and friendly and I have no complaints about her at all. The starter arrived but no sign of our wine. That eventually turned up when we had finished the starter. It wasn’t what we had ordered so we had to have a replacement and, there was no wine cooler. This, I had to ask for. The main course arrived which quite frankly was not particularly pleasant. Both my husband and I had ordered the chicken due to a very limited menu. I ate very little of my dinner. We didn’t complain as it had nothing to do with the cooking of the food, it just wasn’t up to the standard one would expect when dining in a castle restaurant and, considering that the charge for the main course were £24 each, we expected better quality. We then decided to pay the extra £8 for a desert as we were still hungry. I ordered the ice cream; £8 for three small scoops of ice cream was pretty harsh. We also had breakfast the next morning as part of our package. The breakfast itself was lovely but the service was very slow. This was extremely worrying as we had to check out by 10.00 which, in my opinion was too early. The staff, although friendly bar one, take far too long to take orders. We also witnessed a bird fouling one of the outside chairs. This was reported to a member of staff who wasn’t in the slightest bit bothered. I pity the poor guest that ended up sitting on the seat! Overall, a wonderful experience at the castle, grounds and accommodation but very disappointing in the restaurant. A shame, as this really lets the castle down and, for this reason, we will not be returning or recommending.