The Minnis Bay Bar & Brasserie

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#16 of 28 Restaurants in Birchington££ - £££, Bar, British, Vegetarian friendly

+44 1843 841844+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

9:00 - 22:00

Mon

9:00 - 22:00

Tue

9:00 - 22:00

Wed

9:00 - 22:00

Thu

9:00 - 22:00

Fri

9:00 - 23:00

Sat

9:00 - 23:00

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What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

3.5

591 reviews

#16 of 28 Restaurants in Birchington

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Details

Someone from this business manages this listing.

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CUISINES

Bar, British, Contemporary, Pub

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, Brunch, After-hours, Drinks

features

Location and contact

The Parade Minnis Bay, Birchington CT7 9QP England

+44 1843 841844

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Details

Manage this business?

CUISINES

Bar, British, Contemporary, Pub

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, Brunch, After-hours, Drinks

FEATURES

Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Seating, Parking Available, Street Parking, Free off-street parking, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Mastercard, Visa, Free Wifi, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Waterfront

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3.5

591 reviews

Excellent

201

Very good

105

Average

Poor

100

Terrible

loobyBucks

599 contributions

Disappointing

Aug 2021 • friends

We were told that this was a nice place to eat but sadly we thought it was below average. We were tempted by the crab and spinach linguine but when we saw it being delivered to another table we were put off, the portion was really big and going by the amount of pasta that the lady left it clearly had far more pasta than crab and spinach. We decided on the smaller sized fish and chips but it was very underwhelming with soggy batter and frozen chips.

Written 4 August 2021

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Revduncan

Birmingham1905 contributions

Great location and food. Too many yapping dogs!

Feb 2020 • couples

This was a pleasant discovery that served as a rendezvous between a coastal path walker and the support vehicle. The place has a well kept bar offering local Shepherd Neame ales. The menu has a good range of choices including local seafood dishes. Being the coast, there were lots of dog walkers inside the pub with constantly yapping dogs. Trying to eat a sandwich when a dog the size of a Shetland Pony is standing over your shoulder is an odd experience. He was well behaved ,- it was the smaller yappy dogs that in the end forced to move outside in cool blustery wind. No dogs outside! Great crab open sandwich.

Written 3 February 2020

Nina C

3 contributions

More pub than restaurant but great manager!

Aug 2020 • none

I took my parents for lunch today to celebrate their birthdays. I had not been before but my parents had done so years ago, pre Shepherd Neame. We all felt it was more a pub with decent food than a restaurant, which I understand hasn’t always been the case. There used to be a delicious scallop starter for example, but now it is burgers, ham and chips and a token steak. What we had was delicious however, and the social distancing measures were well done. Our highest praise though is reserved for the manager on duty today, Donna. We really struggled to pay the parking in the neighbouring public car park using the required app, and although nothing to do with The Minnis, Donna let me use the phone on her desk to call and arrange it given I had no mobile signal. She really went above and beyond and was absolutely great at her job. As an aside I wish there’d been a bit more info on the parking arrangements on the restaurant’s website as it would have been good to download the app ahead of time to save a lot of faffing. Whatever happened to good old fashioned coins?! Anyway, on a beautiful day like today and with the wonderful view, The Minnis was just right and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Written 7 August 2020

PLKOK

United Kingdom61 contributions

Looks better than it is

Sept 2021 • none

The Minnis Bay Bar is in an ideal location, sitting next to the beach in a quiet area. We booked a table and had to queue. When it was our turn the waiter told us it was a new menu that day and that the kitchen were getting used to it so there may be an additional wait. But the menu was exactly the same as the one I saw days earlier on the website! Also, some of the best items were not available! The food was OK but we overheard people complaining about theirs'. We almost ordered the chicken supreme and glad we didn't. Others were saying it was dry and was not a chicken breast, but the staff simply seemed to ignore them. We went back the following day at about 8:30 pm for a drink and asked for a bowl of chips but told only bar snacks were available (crisps, nuts etc). But then they were serving others with hot food so not sure why we had been victimised. It was far too early for the kitchen to close, maybe they couldn't be bothered to serve only a bowl of chips to paying customers? We will probably visit the area again to visit friends but don't think we will be going back to the Minnies Bay Bar unless they sort themselves out.

Written 10 September 2021

DBS

2 contributions

Overpriced and Undergood!

Mar 2020 • none

Truly awful food, I have given them the opportunity to prove me wrong 3/4 times, but each time they prove me right, the food is cooked extremely poorly. I actually believe that the produce they are provided with is fine, but unfortunately the kitchen staff always manage to spoil it. These members of staff set themselves extremely low standards, but sadly they fail to live up to them. The food may be bad, but at least the service is slow! If only the food on offer matched the spectacular view, it would then be a winning recipe. Please please Shepherd & Neame do some mystery shopping at this location and see for yourselves the poor quality of food on offer.

Written 12 March 2020

@abbie1997

Margate3 contributions

Wouldn’t rush back there again

Oct 2021 • couples

We are regulars of The Minnis, going there on average 3/4 times a month. Yesterday, however was by far the worst experience. We arrived at 6:45pm for our reservation and was seated after about ten minutes of a waiter walking past us, not even having the decency to say ‘we’re a bit busy so will be with you shortly’. We sat down and noticed that people were visibly annoyed and angry with the service. People were going up to the waiter (this was the only waiter for the restaurant) and asking for the bill or for more drinks etc. I completely understand that the hospitality industry is understaffed and struggling at the moment, but the restaurant shouldn’t of had so many tables to only one waiter (there was another waiter but he was only bringing food out) Cut a long story short, the one waiter kept looking over at us during the half an hour we was there, without coming to take our drink/food order. She was either serving other tables or sitting by the door on the computer/till. Me and my partner got bored of waiting and after half an hour of sitting there watching other people wait for their food & bills getting even more annoyed, we left. We wouldn’t of minded if on arrival someone was honest and said ‘we’re understaffed tonight so wait times might be a little longer than usual’. At least then we would of known. We went to another restaurant which we didn’t book for and got our food served quicker than our time spent at The Minnis. We unfortunately won’t be rushing back there again.

Written 31 October 2021

NickHamiltonNZ

Gravesend18 contributions

Be careful what you order!

Jan 2020 • none

Valentine,s Day and a visit to one of our favourite beach strolls.Let,s check this cafe/restaurant for coffee and cakes. My wife is allergic to white flour,maize,soya,and all dairy products so scrutunises the menu carefully. One dessert that was advertised (Raspberry Coulis)as Gluten free/ dairy free was ordered for my wife after checking with the very pleasant waitress and her "are you allergic to this yes/no electronic tablet. I ordered the Bread and butter pudding. Coffee was OK and the desserts arrived. My wife had a mouthful of her dessert and right away realised something was wrong with it.The waitress returned and we asked if she knew what the full list of ingredients in the dessert was. She went away and returned with a comprehensive list of ingredients.Yes you have guessed it. Included in the dessert,maize flour and soya. The staff were very concerned and I pointed out that a full list of ingredients just for the advertised gluten /vegan items would in future save a potentially fatal accident.They pointed out that we did not mention maize and soya as being a problem but not knowing what is in the recipe how on earth can you be sure? My wife started to have a reaction to these ingredients but luckily not too severe.Hot water and a walk in the fresh air helped .Four hours later still recovering. My dessert was not at all very good. So in conclusion I would bring my friends here for coffee and the view but not the desserts/cakes. Tried to connect to their Wifi but it appears to take you to a Sky site which required an email address/password and to set up an account.This is 2020AD.

Written 14 February 2020

pottypolly

Whitstable442 contributions

Lovely freshly cooked food and nice service.

Feb 2020 • friends

With no reservation we thought that we’d take a chance on getting a table despite it being Valentines Day. We were lucky and were able to get a table for 4. The service was attentive without being intrusive and the food was freshly cooked. In a lovely setting overlooking the beach it was a nice lunch stop off for us!

Written 16 February 2020

r014nd

London2 contributions

Disappointing Meals

Jun 2021 • friends

Sunday Lunch was off the menu as from last week which was disappointing to begin with. Ordered Steak Pie which tasted great but was a very very small portion and only contained two small pieces of beef. The crab linguini only tasted of fish very little crab was evident and the pasta was floating in a white creamy sauce not very pleasant. Also, could not just pay the bill with a card without being asked how much service charge you wished to donate to the staff. Very embarrassing…. If paying cash you would have not been put under that pressure.. Staff were great but we will not be returning in a hurry.

Written 27 June 2021

Samantha-J

38 contributions

Not a great experience.

Aug 2020 • family

Finally paid the Minnis a visit after meaning to for a long time. We were given a very warm welcome by a lovely lady who I assume was the manager. We were shown to our table and (eventually) one of the waiting staff came over and gave us a printed menu (one between us) to look at. She advised us of a couple of unavailable dishes - fair enough and we asked for the drinks menu and ordered two glasses of wine. Wine didn't arrive. We settled on the chicken salad only to be told they didn't have that either so we decided to just have a drink instead as there wasn't really anything else we fancied. Drinks didn't arrive so we gave up. Can't comment on the food, obviously!

Written 25 August 2020

Francesca F

Newmarket23 contributions

Staff are fantastic

Jul 2020 • none

We ate here twice on our 3 day visit. The food was fine, nothing to write home about and kind of what you would expect. I am writing this review to say how fantastic the staff were here, especially Donna and Matt. Donna was working a very hot and busy Friday daytime and did a wonderful job at seating people ( even ones 45 mins late for a reservation) and did it with a smile. Matt on during our evening visit dealt with large tables very well and after a couple of hiccups with our food, could not be more helpful. They know how to make a proper black/white Irish coffee which was excellent and watching the sun go down from the outside deck was beautiful. I do recommend for reasons mentioned.

Written 16 August 2020

fern72

Birchington2 contributions

great food but poor service

May 2022 • family

Came here on a friday evening for my dads birthday which i booked in the day for a table of 5 and was told there may be a wait on food due to a band playing which we completely understood. The food was really good. However the staff not once asked how our food was and once we had a starter it was never cleared from the table even when we had our mains or even finished our mains. We also ordered some more drinks when the food came which we never recieved and about 20 minutes later had to remind the waitress. at this point we had finished our food. The waitress then asked if we wanted any desserts to which we said no and that was it. She started clearing 2 plates off and walked off to attend another table. Half an hour later we had to try catch someones attention to get the bill which when we paid they never asked how our food was. They also added 12% service charge on even though we were a table of 5 not 6 (which states on the receipt tables over 6 to pay) so unfortunately we didnt feel we should pay as the service.. well there wasnt really any. It was pretty dead for a friday night but i guess they may of had a function on upstairs and thats why they were very short staffed and maybe the staff were very new and werent sure what was going on. Great food but service was shocking for the price.

Written 20 May 2022

Glen S

6 contributions

I’ll start with the good stuff.

Sept 2020 • friends

I’ll start with the good stuff. The serving staff were friendly, the food was pretty decent for the money and the beer was very cold which is exactly what I want on a hot day! So far so good. Unfortunately there was an actual slug in my lettuce (do your own jokes). Lucky for me I spotted it before it was on my fork and the young lady that served us was apologetic and got me a new plate of food. Now I completely appreciate that one of the hazards of salad is a slimy stowaway and with the best will in the world these things can happen, the only thing that bothered me was that the person in charge (who was definitively informed of what had happened by the serving staff did.....nothing. In fairness I didn’t complain because out of principal I am far more interested in seeing what a business will do unprompted. At the Minnis Bar it’s absolutely nothing. Poor in my book but hey-ho, I’m sure they get it right more often than not.

Written 13 September 2020

Lisa L

Milton Keynes19 contributions

Very underwhelming!

Aug 2020 • family

Very underwhelming, can’t understand all the rave reviews?! Mac and cheese is a microwave ready meal (saw the chef emptying into the bowl), disgraceful. Crab and crayfish linguine was tasteless and the side salad came in bits own swimming pool of water. Over priced and not worth the money or time, much better places locally.

Written 25 August 2020

Liz S

London5 contributions

Pleasant surprise

Sept 2020 • friends

After a few years of staying away due to pricey, poor quality food we returned and were pleasantly surprised by the change. Staff were friendly and knowledgeable about the menu, food was great and reasonably priced. Didn’t feel rushed although we were the last ones there and they were obviously waiting for us to leave. Very COVID safe. Am sending parents for their 52nd wedding anniversary next week so hope it’s great for them and can become our default place to go for all the family within walking distance again.

Written 21 September 2020

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