TN1 Bar & Kitchen

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Review

352 reviews

#4 of 238 Restaurants in Royal Tunbridge Wells££ - £££, Asian, Turkish, Contemporary

+44 1892 513900+ Add website

Hours

Sun

9:00 - 22:00

Mon

9:00 - 0:00

Tue

9:00 - 0:00

Wed

9:00 - 0:00

Thu

9:00 - 0:00

Fri

9:00 - 0:00

Sat

9:00 - 0:00

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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

4.5

352 reviews

#4 of 238 Restaurants in Royal Tunbridge Wells

Travellers' Choice 2023

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Special offer

All day every Wednesday! Includes fries, salad and a drink

Food and ambience

Contemporary, Asian, Turkish, Fusion, Vegetarian Friendly, Vegan Options

“We had the tempura prawns, grilled prawns and halloumi to start all cooked an...”

“On the positive side, the service was very good.”

“The food was excellent, I had chicken burger and it was delicious my friends...”

Location and contact

33 Monson Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells TN1 1LS England

+44 1892 513900

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Fresh Maldon Oysters

Served with shallots, vinaigrette and tabasco. While every effort is made to ensure we only serve the freshest oysters, we cannot accept responsibilty for any illness experienced following consumption of a raw product

£3.50

(3)

£11.00

1/2 Dozen

£21.00

Dozen

£40.00

Freshly Baked

Pastries

Croissants, Pain au raisins

£2.90

Add Preserves and Butter

£0.60

Cake of the Day

£4.50

Tea Cake

served with jam and butter

£4.50

Is this an Asian restaurant?

Yes

Unsure

Details

Manage this business?

About

Situated in the centre of Tunbridge Wells, TN1 Bar & Kitchen combines a modern, spacious restaurant with a lively bar. We are a family-owned business and offer a warm welcome, fresh food cooked on site and a wide range of cocktails and drinks. In the heart of the town, TN1 is just a seven minute walk from the train station and adjacent to the Crescent road car park. We pride ourselves on our friendly, fun and professional service and want our guests to feel they are welcome every time they come through our door. Our opening hours are 7 days a week from 9am-midnight Monday to Saturday and 9am-10pm on Sunday. We serve breakfasts, lunches, dinners and a roast lunch on Sunday within our dining area or you are very welcome for drinks only at our well-stocked bar. We host live music Thursday - Saturday. Ideal for pre- or post-theatre dinner or drinks, TN1 is situated a few steps from the Assembly Hall Theatre and Trinity Theatre. We are fully-accessible for wheelchair users, pram-friendly.

PRICE RANGE

£9.00 – £22.00

CUISINES

Asian, Turkish, Contemporary, Fusion

Special Diets

Vegetarian Friendly, Vegan Options, Gluten Free Options

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch, After-hours, Drinks

FEATURES

Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Seating, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Wine and Beer, Table Service, Live Music, Gift Cards Available

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4.5

352 reviews

Excellent

301

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Helen Stanger

206 contributions

Favourite Review

Wonderful hosts!

Apr 2023 • family

We are regular visitors here as it’s our favourite restaurant. The food is always exceptional as is the service. Murat and Tess are so welcoming and both are always so friendly and take the time to chat despite the restaurant being very busy. This is a family business and this is what makes it so appealing and stands out from other chains. I highly recommend trying if you haven’t already. And many congratulations on your recent award. Very well deserved!

Written 6 April 2023

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.

Thank you so much! What a great review! See you again soon!

Written 7 April 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Matt S

Poole6 contributions

OUTSTANDING

May 2021 • family

We visited this venue before when it was 'Ask Italian' and were suitably satisfied then. This revamp however is simply AMAZING. The food was absolutely first class... contemporary and cooked to absolute perfection. Our party, although small, was very diverse and had different expectations. The staff were friendly, very helpful and could not do enough for us. On arrival we were made very welcome and whilst not rushed, were talked through the menu. The staff were knowledgeable and very professional throughout. The food was simply OUTSTANDING. We were incredibly impressed by the very high standard (absolute kudos to the chef), the quantity, quality and overall the price (which we all agreed we would have happily paid double for). We all unequivocally and definitely recommend. Thank you for a great night.

Written 27 May 2021

Martin J

Royal Tunbridge Wells11 contributions

5 stars is genuinely not enough

Jan 2022 • none

Popped in for dinner with my wife early on a Saturday evening with no reservation. Were met by, I presume, the owners who are a very friendly & chill couple. Even though they were fully booked they managed to find us a table that had a later booking. We were then served by a couple of very friendly & efficient waitresses who it seemed nothing was too much trouble for & no question was too daft. Our food arrived promptly & we both agreed it was fantastic! The pepper sauce that came with the steak, mate you should be bottling that! I think the friendly calmness of the owners has filtered down through the staff giving the restaurant a nice relaxed atmosphere with efficient service. That, combined with an excellent chef, makes this easily the best restaurant in Tunbridge Wells.

Written 3 February 2022

Murat A

What a great review, thank you for taking the time to leave such a detailed account. As a family run, independent business, it really does mean a lot to us!

Written 20 February 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

celebration6

Celebration17 contributions

Terrible disappointment

Jul 2021 • none

On arrival this was a light and airy restaurant with comfortable seating and tables, ordered drinks from a good selection and they arrived fairly quickly. Waited quite a while for food order to be taken so at this point a family meal for six was going quite well. After about 15 minutes two children’s macaroni cheeses arrived and the children liked them. An hour after we had ordered the four adults food nothing had arrived on first enquiry a girl told is it takes a long time because everything is freshly cooked ! The children had finished their food and were getting restless so we asked again, everybody very apologetic and offered a reduced price but we couldn’t wait any longer, we paid for everything we had in the way of drinks etc. We were very upset that a special family meal out had been ruined. We truly try to support local businesses especially new ones but were let down badly here. We can’t say what the food was like unfortunately but we hope this new business can become a bit more professional whilst maintaining a family run feel

Written 31 July 2021

AliceOK

Rainham15 contributions

Disappointed in outcome

Aug 2021 • couples

My partner and I went for a late breakfast. £11 for breakfast we expected good quality food and well cooked. We also ordered 2 juices listed at £3.50 on the menu. Sadly when the food came it was disappointing. Poached eggs were running in water and quite undercooked. The rest wasn’t what we were expecting and you know what it’s fine, everywhere has an off day and we were totally reasonable. We said we wanted to pay for the juices but would like to leave and had a nice chat with who we believe were the managers, and they agreed that it wasn’t their usual standard. Was only once we checked the bank we realised we had paid £10 for 2 juices and even paid a service charge! Pretty appalled as we could have been less discreet about our experience but wanted to be as fair as possible. I feel like they took advantage of chatting to us to add an extra few pounds and I do feel annoyed about paying a service charge when the food was so bad we didn’t want to pay for it. We have never before bot paid for a meal so not something we make a habit of and we felt super uncomfortable. Would have left it there until we saw what we had been charged. What a shame.

Written 16 August 2021

Princemicky

I am so sorry that you were disappointed with your breakfast. I remember chatting with you and apologising for your eggs and agreeing to take your breakfast off the bill. The freshly squeezed orange juices are as you said, £3.50 each and so you should have therefore only been charged £7 instead of £10. At TN1, we do not at this stage, add service charge to any of our bills so I am really unsure why you were charged the extra £3. We really would not have taken advantage of chatting to you to charge extra and would like to apologise for the mistake that has obviously been made with your bill. If you would like to contact us, we would, of course, be very happy to refund you. Once again, many apologies

Written 22 September 2021

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

80Rhino

Pembury100 contributions

Terrible Experience

Mar 2022 • family

From start to finish our experience of this restaurant was terrible. 1). We booked online without issues (a few weeks before our booking). Then a week before I phoned to add 2 additional guests, this was done without issue. However, it prompted them a few hours later to phone me back saying they needed a deposit for the booking. This should have been my first warning as clearly their booking process is a bit flawed, I declined to give a deposit. 2). When we arrived, despite having plenty of tables free, they were not ready for us and had to adjust a table to suit our number (we were only 5). They decided to put us near the entrance (we have three young children) which I would not recommend as on a cold day, which it was for us, it’s a cold place to sit! 3). When we sat down we were greeted with what felt like a warning to us to be kind “we are family owned restaurant and do not operate like other places, please be kind”… we are always kind, we expect service to be too… 4). I’m not sure how long they have been open for but would guess at least 6 months. The “welcome” greeting and behaviour of waiters/waitresses is as if they only opened that day… You have to ask the staff to come to you, they spend much more time looking thinly into the air and at you than actually coming to serve you. When we left we had to wait 25mins just to get a bill, this was despite the restaurant being full and they need more table space. We were ready to go, and at no point did they speed the process up or clean our table… Service is terribly slow. 5). We also witnessed the owners having an argument in the middle of the restaurant, very loud and very awkward for us. 6). Menu choice is very limited and they haven’t worked out to remove the breakfast menu when it’s lunch.. 7). Food quality is very salty, all dishes. Don’t bother having the “seasoned French fries” as these are not seasoned (unless you call lashings of salt being seasoned). 8). Value for money is awful!!! £21 for an average quality roast dinner. Burger and chips will set you back £20 too! What was more worrying was that the childrens burger and chip portions were larger than the adult versions. Just order the kids one to get better value for money… In essence I find it difficult to say anything positive about the place which is a shame. We had been looking forward to it, and we’re massively let down.

Written 1 April 2022

Murat A

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, we pride ourselves on our excellent customer service and high quality food and drink, so we are always very disappointed to receive a review like this. We would like to take this opportunity to correct some of the factually incorrect points that you made to ensure other customers get the full picture. Firstly, TN1 Bar & Kitchen, like most other restaurants in the area, take a deposit for group bookings over six people. Your booking was changed from five to seven people therefore this triggered the management to ring back to secure a deposit. The booking was for Mother’s Day, we were fully booked and already having to turn people away, so we wanted to ensure we knew exactly what our numbers were and minimise our no-shows on the day. The comments regarding the welcome you received imply that we were coercing you into being kind, on the contrary we were simply trying to explain that we operate differently as a family run business to other fast-moving restaurant chains. In reference to your suggestion that we were having some sort of “marital argument” in the middle of the restaurant, we find this comment personally insulting and not only does it portray us in a bad light, it is also an incorrect light. If you had taken the time to listen, you will have heard that we realised we were welcoming a total of 400 guests on Mother’s Day and we were discussing some booking details to make sure that we were on top of things and to make sure that everyone was happy. You incorrectly quote our prices which is misleading to other customers so just for clarity; a burger, with smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, burger sauce, chips and salad actually costs £15 and this is for an 8oz burger, the portion for a child’s burger is a 4oz burger served with chips/fries. In addition please let us also correct your quote about our roast dinner pricing which starts from £17.50, depending on your choice of meat. As this was Mother’s Day, we added roast lamb (which is more expensive to purchase) as a special for the day and this was priced at £21. As this was Mothers’ Day, and we were fully booked for lunches, our breakfast/brunch menu did stop at 12pm. Usually our breakfast/brunch menu is served until 3pm as we like to give our customers more choice if they would like something lighter at lunchtime. On a Sunday we do have a separate menu as we have roasts available. However, we have kept on some of our other popular dishes on this menu too as we appreciate that not everybody would like a roast on a Sunday. Thank you for your feedback and giving us the opportunity to put right the inaccuracies in the points you raised. As with all our guests, if you ever wanted to revisit us here at TN1 Bar & Kitchen, you would be offered a warm welcome.

Written 11 April 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Gillian H

Flimwell13 contributions

Sticky table, 1 hour wait from order to food served

Mar 2022 • none

Mothers day 2022. Table booked but the manager wasn't ready to offer a table. The table then prepared was pushed up against the cutlery table which was in constant use. One of the guests was asked to move from her seat whilst the waiter opened the cupboard that our table had been pressed up against to retrieve a plug. The table itself was sticky, even the waiter said yes it was a sticky table, there is nothing he could do about the sticky table but he had cleaned it. We were offered menus on which to place our cutlery., so as not to stick to the table. We ordered our food shortly after 3.30pm We noticed that there were other tables being vacated and asked if we could possibly be moved, the waitress went to check, after about 10 minutes the waiter said we could but not to the table we thought he meant, he said that was reserved. (Turns out it wasn't it was empty the whole time we were there.) The drinks arrived after 20 minutes, the food after over one hour waiting. The manageress apologised for the delay twice, but no discount was offered us. Then the live music started this was too loud for a restaurant where people were trying to talk to each other. A very disappointing experience. The food was good, but the delays and way we were treated was not. The waitresses were friendly.

Written 27 March 2022

Murat A

Thank you for your feedback. We are pleased to see from your comments that you enjoyed the food and that our team were their usual friendly and professional selves. As you saw first hand, it was an incredibly busy day on Mothering Sunday and we did our best to deliver to our usual high standards. We are a little disappointed that you felt the need to post the negatives in this review as we had already explained about the varnish on the table and apologised to you for the delay. As you know, having experienced our high quality of food, our meals are cooked fresh to order. With the numbers seated, we knew this may cause some people to wait and we communicated about this with our customers, yourselves included. Unfortunately the table you had asked about was booked and we were very disappointed to have a customer group who did not show up, as we would have much preferred to have given you this table. We hope to welcome you to TN1 again. Tess, Owner.

Written 29 March 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

HarryLillig

Norwich4 contributions

Don't be fooled!!!

Jun 2021 • family

Visiting the area on holiday we wanted a nice family Sunday roast. We chose TN1 bar and kitchen as the pictures of their roasts looked amazing. We booked in advance as we thought this was going to be a popular place, how we were wrong. On arrival there was only one other table taken but after receiving our roasts we soon understood why. Me and my wife both both chose the sirloin beef which cost £17 pp so we were expecting good things. However, As my picture shows, we were given two slices of beef, veg that had only just seen a glimpse of the oven and two aunt bessies Yorkshire puddings, which were the best bit of the whole meal (that woman knows how to make a Yorkshire pud). All in all a very disappointing meal that would have made its way to the dog if we had him with us.

Written 27 June 2021

Princemicky

We are very sorry for your experience. We are a new family run business and all our food is freshly cooked on our premises but are very sorry that you were disappointed. Thank you for trying us. We have taken your comments on board.

Written 28 June 2021

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

maxinespowart

Royal Tunbridge Wells80 contributions

Just for Drinks

Aug 2021 • couples

We’ve eaten here a couple of times and really enjoyed it the food is fresh and cooked to order, but this time we just popped in for some drinks. We knew they were very busy so didn’t mind waiting for our drinks to arrive, around 15 minutes, but there were a lot of people also waiting to be served. The couple already seated next to us had been waiting 45 minutes for food when we arrived and it still wasn’t there when we left. 30 minutes later. It appeared lots of people were experiencing the same. Family of 4 opposite hadn’t even had their orders taken and they were also there when we arrived. Drinks for their children arrived just as we were finishing. I think the problem was staff shortage. The owners being the only service on the restaurant floor were copping as well as they could but you could see their stress levels rising, not much smiling or interaction with the customers and lack of a bit of understanding why patrons were a little annoyed. We would have stayed longer but felt the atmosphere was beginning to get a bit fraught. All in all we love this place and would have given it a 5 star rating but they need to have more staff. I did notice however, that 2 service staff had arrived just as we were leaving. So hopefully it got a bit better from then on... We enjoyed our drinks x Just need more help.

Written 24 August 2021

Melissa Harnden

Essex30 contributions

Romantic Meal with my fiancée

Nov 2022 • couples

Myself and my fiancée came to visit this town for a couple of nights whilst attending a family funeral on the Wednesday stopped off for a romantic evening dinner on the first night Found the food good value for money, good atmosphere, friendly and knowledgeable staff, even made food to request ie onion rings which wasn’t on the menu. Will definitely return to this restaurant when we come back to visit also Highly recommend this to family and friends. Melissa & Neil Busby

Written 1 November 2022

Murat A

Thank you so much! See you again soon!

Written 8 February 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

W B

London24 contributions

Great value burger

Aug 2021 • solo

I had the pleasure of popping into TN1 last week. I was looking for a simple tasty dinner. I ordered the TN1 burger, I waited a bit longer than I'd expect, but it was worth waiting for. Really tasty beef burger and the bun, sauce and chips were also excellent. £15 for a burger looks expensive when the quality is that good and all the extras are included it can only be described as great value for money. I have tried the burger down the road at the Ivy and the quality of the meat wasn't as good and cheese, bacon and chips were all extras pushing the cost much higher than here. Tess and Murat were also excellent hosts, altogether with a decent wine list that is priced fairly, a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I will look forward to returning with my family. PS the coffee was excellent!

Written 5 August 2021

RealReview96

2 contributions

If I could do minus stars I would

Jun 2021 • couples

When we visited this place we were grossly disappointed in the service and food. I have worked in customer service/service roles for 10 years and my other half works in retail, we were severely underwhelmed by the customer service on the staff behalf who seemed to do the bear minimum as far as I’m concerned. They seemed to not want to be there and it showed the whole service seemed rushed and it was hard to get hold of a member of staff to talk about the awful excuse they call food honestly horrendous how they managed to burn and undercook the burger is beyond me, after trying to talk to the staff about the food to maybe get it remade for twenty minutes we gave up and just left. Will never be going back and I highly recommend to avoid this place

Written 5 June 2021

MissKsQuest

Hertfordshire27 contributions

Great Brunch Menu

Aug 2021 • family

I went here with family & loved the brunch menu. Such a fantastic selection, although we all went for the pancakes. They came with compote or bacon & maple syrup - both absolutely delicious 😋 The staff were so friendly & I love ambiance in the restaurant. I can imagine it would be a great place place for an evening meal & drink at the bar as well. I’ll have to go find out!

Written 6 August 2021

Anna T

London9 contributions

Excellent

Jun 2021 • none

The menu is pricey, but worth it - the halloumi and lentil dish was delectable and my son rated the chicken burger the best he's ever tasted. The crumble for pudding was superb. Stylish decor and attentive staff.

Written 6 July 2021

FIONA B

Cranbrook86 contributions

Wow! So glad we found this place. So welcoming and great food and friendly service.

Sept 2022 • none

Great restaurant with a lovely calm and happy atmosphere. Beautiful decor and plants, twinkly lights. We came here for lunch as our usual restaurant was closed lunchtimes during refurbishments. I have to say we were very pleasantly surprised to find TN1 Bar & Kitchen. I had the special deal of burger chips & salad with a drink for £12! I chose the chicken burger and OMG it was delicious. My partner had eggs benedict which looked so good. Food was very reasonably priced but a 10% service charge was added. We felt this was totally justified due to the brilliant service and food. We did leave a little bit more on the table as a tip as we were super impressed. We will definitely return , hopefully one evening soon with friends.