Name: Whitstable Oyster Fishery Co
Telephone: 01227 276856
Price range: £30 - £49
Rating: 4

Good to know

Average Price

££££ - £30 - £49

Cuisines

Fish

Ambience

Cosy, Traditional

Food Occasions

Dinner, Lunch

Alfresco And Views

Great views, Waterside

About

Based right on the pebble-covered beach of Whitstable, the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company is a long-standing restaurant renowned for serving incredibly fresh fish and of course wonderful oysters. Boasting brilliant views of both the North Sea and the company’s very own oyster grounds, the traditional feel of the restaurant makes it an ideal spot to enjoy its classic seafood menu.

From the outside, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company wasn’t a restaurant at all with its entirely brick façade and minimal signage. However, the inside of the restaurant is everything you would expect from a classic seafood restaurant: gingham table cloths, painted white walls and various bits of nautical paraphernalia in every corner. This means that there’s always a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere at the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company which makes it a perfect place to visit with friends and family alike.

The restaurant’s menu is, unsurprisingly, entirely comprised of seafood dishes meaning that this isn’t the place to go if you’re not a fish fan! Starters include a selection of different local oyster dishes such as grilled rock oysters ‘nola’ (served with garlic butter and parmesan), as well as classics such as moules mariniere and potted shrimps on toast.

Main courses vary from simple dishes like battered cod, with chips & mushy peas, and frilled lemon sole with a parsley & lemon butter, all the way through to a whole lobster served alongside a herb and potato salad. To finish, an appealing dessert list includes a salted caramel chocolate pot with Jersey cream, as well as roasted pineapple served with coconut ice cream.

The food menu all comes accompanied with an extensive wine list as well as a selection of cocktails, and there are also, of course, a variety of other alcoholic and soft drinks available.

Location

Horsebridge Beach, Whitstable, Unknown, Kent, CT5 1BU

01227 276856 01227 276856

Website

Get directions to Whitstable Oyster Fishery Co

Opening Times

Mon-Fri 12N-2.30pm 6.30-9pm (Fri 9.30pm) Sat 11N-9.45pm Sun 12N-8.30pm

Reviews

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10 Reviews

Food/Drink

Service

Atmosphere

Value

Adelaide H

21 March 2018

Awesome food.

Kerry A

05 August 2014

Food & Drink 1

Service 0.5

Atmosphere 0.5

Value 0.5

My family and I was sitting on the beach, which included my two year old son, enjoying the beautiful sights of the beach, when suddenly a man started shouting at his staff, enough to stop everybody on the beach and look the man was swearing and shouting, my two year old then repeated what the man said, so I kindly went and asked politely if he could watch his language as there were children on the beach, the man then said and I shall miss the swear words out that'll the people on the beach were sitting on his benches and he could do what he liked, people were that appalled with his language and the arrogance in what he said they left, regardless if the food is good he obviously does not value his customers and has no regard for children. Hence I decided not to eat in here

Stefi N

04 March 2013

Food & Drink 0.5

Service 0.5

Atmosphere 0.5

Value 0.5

The Owner Abused Me

I dared to complain and was abused by the owner of the Whitstable Oyster Co. He told me he doesn't care about internet reviews as they won't affect his business. Think again, Mr Green, we're all reading this… Your service is less than derisory, but to abuse a customer because they dare to call you on your lack of service is simply disgusting. And to do it in front of your young son? Well, nice memories you're creating. Very well done to you on so many levels – bravo!

Ria P

08 August 2012

Food & Drink 1.5

Service 0.5

Atmosphere 2

Value 0.5

IS this a restaurant or a sixth form college? Disappointing – Not worth the money I visited this restaurant last weekend (4th Aug 2012) with my two children. The restaurant was empty as we arrived well after the lunch setting at 3pm. The service was dreadful – there was plenty of staff, all very young, I counted at least 15 but they were all hanging around chatting. Is this a restaurant or a sixth form college? They were clearly not professional waiting staff and clearly had not been trained. That’s fine for a café but at these prices I expect service, especially when they apply a hefty service charge. I had to ask three times for our drinks and they eventually arrived after the main course. The food was not delivered to our table at the same time – something I hate. We were ignored and had to go out of our way to get attention if we wanted extra drinks or service. The food was average and overpriced – 16.50 for fish and chips – soggy batter and mushy peas that had clearly been sitting around too long, as the top was crusty. I had to wait ages for the bill pay. I would have complained had I not wanted to get out as quick as possible. Finally, the toilets were dirty. I will not go there again and recommend everyone else to avoid it. This restaurant obviously relies on day-trippers and non-repeat customers. It deserves to go out of business which I'm sure it will do eventually.

REVIEW M

27 April 2012

Food & Drink 5

Service 5

Atmosphere 5

Value 5

Yes mmmmmmmmnnn

Steve M

23 June 2011

Food & Drink 2.5

Service 1

Atmosphere 1

Value 1

What a HUGE disappointment. This restaurant has a high opinion of its self and one I believe to be living off the town and its reputation. First of all, the the service was poor. Too many young waitresses all hanging around in bunches…whats the collective term, is it a gaggle of waitresses or herd of waitresses? Not sure. We were a group of five on a Sunday afternoon around 2pm and the first thing we were told as we were handed the greasy paper menus was “run out of prawns!” What? You are a seafood restaurant, on the coast the the sea almost engulfing the restaurant and you have ‘run out of prawns’?? I'm surprised they never supplied us with a rowing boat to catch our own the service was that poor. As for the menu, too small boring and not enough variety. No skate wings for instance, no swordfish, no langoustines, no half of lobster, No traditional whelks, jellied eels for my South London born mum… I've mentioned the prawns..! My wife had a baked fish – plain and no taste. The bill was close to £300.00 – the wine cost a fortune but my god, saved the day! Would I go again not in a million years.

Ann P

25 February 2011

Food & Drink 3

Service 1.5

Atmosphere 3.5

Value 1

Location is the saving grace for this restaurant. Lovely setting, right on the beach, especially if you can get in the first room. We have been using this restaurant periodically for years and it has always been very patchy. Service is generally poor – frosty management never makes you feel like they remember you or your custom is valued. The prices have gone through the roof – starters average £11, mains £18, veg extra, desserts £7 and wine is quite expensive too. Then they add 10% on for service, which is very questionable. On a recent visit our waitress was very pleasant and dealt well with our complaint but the restaurant manager was her usual frosty self. My sea bream was ok, but lacked flavour to be classed as really good. My mother's skate was tiny and arrived luke warm. She asked for it to be reheated, but it was still very bland and it lost most of its butter sauce in the reheating. We were not charged for the skate, which was good because my mother was very disappointed with it. We had sides of tomato salad and mixed leaf salad with beans, two desserts (quite nice), two filter coffees and a bottle of sparkling water. The bill was £50 including service. With the skate it would have been £70. This is quite a lot for a two course lunch without wine, so I would expect the quality of the food and service to be first class. It was a special occasion for us, so it was a disappointing experience. The refund does not compensate for the fact that the day was marred. The beautiful location is the main reason to go back – otherwise, I think this restaurant would have gone out of business long ago.

Ross C

15 February 2010

Food & Drink 4

Service 4

Atmosphere 3.5

Value 3.5

I'm surprised by the bad reviews on here — we obviously caught them on a good day. It was bustling, friendly and we were warmly welcomed. We went on a Sunday lunchtime and the menu was excellent. Great choice of champagne and wine also. We had three courses each, including oysters, crab, whole lobster, sea bream, sticky toffee pudding and cheesecake — all fantastic, particularly the main courses. They definitely take a straightforward approach, but sometimes this really works and we were delighted with the all round experience of eating here. The location is fantastic too and we really enjoyed the atmosphere. Service was cheery and attentive. This was our first time in Whitstable and we were disappointed not to get a table at Wheelers so we can't compare the two, but we rate this restaurant highly, and we eat out a lot! Will definitely go back, I hope we catch them on another good day!

Vouch M

25 January 2010

Food & Drink 1.5

Service 1

Atmosphere 3

Value 0.5

We are very sorry to say that we had an awful time here. We ate on a Sunday lunch time. About a third of the starters and about half of the mains were not available. No alternatives were offered and it left us with a choice of cold food only, on a snowy January lunch time. We asked it they were going to add any dishes for the evening diners, and we did not get a reply. Our serving person did not smile once and just tapped pencil on order pad as we struggled to find something on the now very limited menu we could eat. We wrote in to voice our concerns – twice. Yet to receive a reply. We so wanted to like and enjoy the place. We tried to make contact to understand what had gone wrong.

jo C

15 October 2009

Food & Drink 4

Service 1.5

Atmosphere 2.5

Value 1.5

We walked in without a reservation and were told to wait for 10 minutes whilst the table was prepared. There were already at least 4 tables laid up and ready. It was a beautiful warm day and asked if we could eat outside. We couldn't . We asked if we could take our drinks outside and were told we could. We have a 15 month old baby and had to clamber over the sea wall, buggy and all (the door to the outside eating area was shut and could only be opened in an emergency). We were then called in to our table (reverse previous operation of getting back over sea defence wall, rather than use door which could have taken us easily to our table) and told that we needed to order immediately otherwise we wouldn't be able to eat at all. Hmmm. And so we ordered quickly but we were amazed that we were not allowed to exchange the boiled potatoes for chips. To go with our fish. Instead we had to order a side order of chips. The waitress was not at all amused or interested in what we thought was a mad policy. She was obviously annoyed that we had arranged so late in the day and gave us dry and perfunctory replies to our questions. The food arrived almost too quickly but the fish was delicious and perfectly cooked. We had 2 starters, a half bottle of wine and 2 main meals with… a side order of chips. The bill came to £70 or thereabouts – service of course had been included as otherwise tips would never been seen here. We paid our bill and went off ot find our daughter's buggy ourselves (the waitress had kindly removed it from the restaurant but she had disappeared the minute our bill had been paid). We shouted goodbye and thank you but heard nothing in reply. We left feeling ripped off and saddened that whilst the food was good, service is no longer given with a smile. Next time we'll be returning to Wheelers. This was an expensive mistake.

Whitstable Oyster Fishery Co

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