please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
went to the pilot inn 2 plaice and chips and medium cod chips and peas was expensive..the drinks 175ml drink of wine a pint of magners cider and a pint of broadside was over £13.as a one off vist was ok.being where the pub was. just the price of the meal and drinks spoilt it a bit
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Just been the The Pilot for the first time in a few years and it's transformed. Very friendly service, nicely decorated, massive portions of food with a good veggie choice, four real ales (I had an excellent Banks's Mild which you seldom come across round this way).
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We had lunch at the Pilot yesterday. The food was well below average with the chips being almost inedible (and no apology when we sent them back). A waste of time and money. We will never go there again. The Brittania in Dungeness is a much better bet with the scenary just as good.
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A group of 4 or us have been to the Pilot twice in the last 6 months after a morning's birding at the local RSPB haven. We received very friendly, jolly and really quick service. The real ale was first class, the food was more than we could manage and the choice was very good (excellent grilled bass for example).
The Pilot is an excellent venue for Dungeness visitors, like myself, and I feel that most will be more than satisfied with the food, drink and service. My wife and I will definitely return.
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Having just moved to the area the wife and I popped to dungeness. I think that this pub is in a unique position in that it doesn't have any competition and the majority of it's trade are tourists and not locals.
The beer isn't great and the chap who I presume to be the owner needs to brush up on his customer service skills.
I won't be going back but I doubt many people do.
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Visited this pub in the bleak and windy winter. Surprsied at the limited choice of fish - just the battered kind- we did stay and eat but i wont be back. Whole heartedly agree that it is a glorified fish and chip shop, and not the friendliest one either. lots of better options to be found that offer a range of fish done fancy ways like grilled! in interseting old pubs.
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Just had to comment on the excellent meal we had last week whilst on holiday in Dungeness. We found The Pilot by accident after we were chased out of the Brittania for having children with us!! Although The Pilot was very busy (people waiting for tables) the fish and chips were amazing and huge portions. Even though they don't do a child's fish meal the very helpful staff suggested a larger fish and extra plate. They offered us Kids Packs to keep the children entertained whilst we enjoyed our pint or two of Adams Broadside. We ended up going there most days to enjoy the atmosphere and sample the real ales.
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This is a fish & chip cafe with a bar, nowhere to sit comfortably with a pint. Beer was ok but overpriced.
Nice big car park though and they let us stay overnight in our camper, always a bonus :)
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Lets start up a petition to get rid of the current landlord and get The Pilot back to how it used to be!!!
Such a shame that a fantastic pub has gone down hill since the new people have taken over, I remember going there with my family for many years and always having a lovely meal with fresh fish, and receiving a warm welcome from the staff, instead of, a cold welcome, (if you can call it a welcome) from the current owners.
I agree with the comments posted on various reviews, that The Pilot now seems to be a commercial chip shop, thats sell a bearly drinkable pint!!
I do hope that the brewery read this review and many other reviews like it and do something fast, as I can see if its just left to be run the way it is, there will be no more pilot!!
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Lunched here on 9th June. There were ten of us and the consensus was the food was good but overpriced. The staff serving us were friendly. It was not as busy on the day as we have known it so the staff were not rushed off their feet. I drank the IPA which was OK. I have been there quite a few times over the last 25 years and obviously the pub has changed and is more commercial. It is still worth a visit but probably best to avoid the busiest times.
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sent an email over a week ago on a recomendation from a friend, we are organising a reunion for about thirty people in june, they didnt even have the manners to reply !! maybe they dont need the business ?..whats the point in having an email contact for the place when they cannot be bothered, anyway after reading some other peoples comments maybe its for the best. by the way i contacted the britannia on dungeness the same way and have everything sorted out, it took just 24 hours !! maybe the "pilot" has fallen asleep!!!! not the kind of plane i will ever fly on thats for sure.
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we were a bit disappointed with The Pilot, allthough the fish we had was fresh and the portions were large, the batter was about an inch thick in places and very heavy and the chips were hard,the Adnams Broadside and the service were okay, but the fish and chips in The Brittania were far better considering this places reputation is built on it, also if you look on the web site thier are lots of deals, ie free wine with two main meals, but none of these are evedent on the menu or displayed any where on the premisis, I know this is a beer site and I've mainly been banging on about the food, but as other reviews state this is more a chip shop with beer
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Definitely a fish and chip restaurant with a bar. The bar staff were nto particularly welcoming - unfriendly, in fact - and the pint of Adnams I had, although drinkable (just), was very much overpriced. A shame, as it all put me off ordering thefood, which did look good.
I'm not sure I will bother coming here next time - the Brittania was much more welcoming and had better beer.
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We've been coming to the Pilot for about twenty years after reading a glowing article about in in one of the Sunday supplements. Turned up at 1230pm on a Sunday and couldn't get a seat anywhere. Returned a few weeks later and had the best (and biggest) cod & chips ever. Since those days, the original landlord has gone, and the quality of everything has gone down a lot. As has been said, avoid Sundays, Saturdays and Bank Holidays. The beer was OK but not brilliant. We now much prefer the nearby Britannia; ther food and beer is far better.
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Ordinary looking pub from the outside, but situated in a great location on the edge of windy Dungeness - not to be confused with the Britannia which is further up the road next to the nuclear power station! On the inside, and as someone else has mentioned previously, a bit like a large busy fish & chip shop serving beer. Loads of wood panelling (explained on the menu), photos for sale, etc. Very clean, loads of space, and the cleanest 'pub' toilets I've seen for a long while. The beers that I spotted were Broadside, London Pride, and GK IPA. Tried the Pride which wasn't in great condition, but drinkable. The food portions were huge, and the Haddock was really good. An unusual pub, in a very unusual place, with friendly service. Stormy winter evenings could be interesting experience.
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Fish & chips looked good but did not try as pub was totally unfriendly to dogs.
Staff had very poor local knowledge
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Best Skate & Chips ever. However portions are so large that you will have trouble drinking more than a pint. More a fish & chip shop that sells beer than a pub that sells food. If you want excellent fish & chips washed down with a pint then visit if you just want a pint then go elsewhere.
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I agree with the comments on the Pilot, once a great place (pardon the pun) to eat fresh fish and chips of gigantic proportions now sadly living on a long gone reputation. The other pub 'The B######ia' near the lighthouse as mentioned is a much better choice.
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I totally agree with the last comment, much prefer the other pub near the lighthouse, food is much fresher!
anonymous - 14 May 2007 12:26 |
Pilot is not a Sheps pub. It is just a fish & chips shop with terribly frozen fish. Personally, I prefer the fish at the pub near the light-house.
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Bit confused by this one, we go to The Pilot at least once a month, it is a freehouse. It has never had Shep as far as I know. There is another place close by which is a Shep pub, sounds like a much more likely candidate from the description.
We were in The Pilot last Saturday, they had Old Peculiar (yummy), Broadside (scrummy) and IPA (a little on the light side for me). They also had a load of English country wines, the landlord let me try some of them, the elderberry tasted a bit weird, but the mead was ok.
The one thing that must be remembered about The Pilot, is to totally avoid it during Bank Holidays and other busy times, when it gets invaded by psuedo cockneys on their annual day out. The landlady told me that they frequently do well over 1000 meals on a busy day.
As for the quality of the food and cleanliness, I have always found it second to none, (but I have never been on a bank holiday) according to the blurb all the fish comes from the shop across the road who are a local fishing family.
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The Pilot isn't listed as a Shepherd Neame house on Shep's own website, so I think I may have been right in recalling Greene King. David
anonymous - 23 Oct 2006 15:59 |
Maybe it's changed hands since 'David' reviewed it but you'd be lucky to get a pint of Greene King anything, let alone IPA in a Shepherd Neame pub.
Pretty rubbish really. 'Chavvy' does sum it up seemingly well; potentially a very good pub with it's location but is not exercised at all with it's menu and as-per-norm limited Shepherd Neame beer range. Avoid unless you are desperate.
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A pub in a curiously eerie location. I found the whole landscape around it a little bit desolate and this only made the pub seem a bit incongruous.
However, the food was fine although previous post is reflective of the quality of some of it. Average beer and a bit messy on the inside.
Scary geezers with "love" and "hate" tattoed on their knuckles are known to drink in this pub. Their kids are even scarier. Don't even think about making eye contact with their dogs either.
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This place is supposedly a bit of a legend and has a reputation as a great place to eat fresh fish in a great location. But a Bank Holiday evening visit found a tatty garden in front of an undistinguished modern building heaving with the fattest, most tattooed, loudest bunch of chavvy families you could ever hope to avoid. The place was full; a status undeserved by the indifferent real Greene King IPA and the mixed food - very fresh huss but distinctly stale cod (give the guv'nor credit; he did refund the cod but while all the time swearing blind it was fresh when it SO wasn't). There was food spilt and left on the floor; tables were wiped but with a greasy cloth; the bad music couldn't drown the bawling from the busy kitchen...
And yet, it has a no-smoking policy (a good thing where food's the draw) some nice curios and knick-knacks; a good website...someone has the right idea and is trying but not quite getting there. It certainly doesn't live up to the hype; not by a long way. Not going back.
David - 30 Aug 2005 16:28 |
