Giggling Squid - Maidstone Reviews Summary

Atmosphere and Decor

Pros:

• "Really nice atmosphere and nicely decorated restaurant."
• "The Giggling Squid interior is quirky, which adds a unique charm to the meal, made it feel like you have stepped into a hidden gem."
• "Stunning decor, lovely staff."
• "The restaurant itself is so pretty inside, a lovely place to sit and eat."
• "The decor here is simplistic and tranquil. Instantly makes you feel welcome."
• "This restaurant is very beautiful."
• "What a fabulous place and I don't use fabulous very often. The welcome, service, ambience, food, etc was all perfect."

Cons:

• "The entrance while is beautiful could be a bit more obvious."
• "It was so hot inside."
• "Lovely food but considering the size of the restaurant only using one part of it too squeeze everyone into it."
• "However they didn’t give much thought to acoustics - it was busy and the restaurant became so loud that we could barely hear each other speaking."
• "I was hoping for more from the restaurant, our table for two was barely enough room and it kept twisting all evening ( so annoying )"

Food Quality and Taste

Pros:

• "The food was amazing and such a great taste experience on every dish we had!"
• "The food was delicious and really well presented."
• "Fresh veg used as if they'd just picked it out the garden unbelievable excellent quality food, fresh meat and fish and also great value for money."
• "The squid starter is definitely worth trying – it's delicious."
• "The food was incredible and they offer a wonderful choice of authentic Thai food."
• "Food was great, as always! Not too spicy, or oily, and so much variety on offer."

Cons:

• "We were all a bit put off by the texture of the black sesame ice-cream."
• "The giant prawn pad Thai was particularly poor. Not inedible but prawns overcooked and whole dish really greasy."
• "The sticky chicken was hard & dry with not a lot of flavour."
• "Food was OK, not anything to shout about. Chicken satay tasted very unauthentic and rice taste like tilda out of the packet."

Service and Staff

Pros:

• "Abbie our waitress for the even had a glowing personality and was great the whole evening."
• "Service was brilliant."
• "They checked on us frequently making sure we were OK, were very polite and nothing was too much bother."
• "The staff is friendly and attentive."
• "Service was flawless."
• "Our waitress was amazing."
• "The staff were super friendly and helpful."

Cons:

• "They gave us the lunch menu only after we had asked for that."
• "However, not all drinks are available, and we were not told until we went to order them."
• "The staff seemed nice but not trained in hospitality."
• "Despite informing the staff we hadn’t yet received our drinks it took a further 10 minutes to get our drinks."
• "Has potential but service needs to improve. Visited this new restaurant in maidstone, the majority of the waiting staff were very young and unattentive."

Menu Selection and Price

Pros:

• "Good sized portions and a good selection of both meat and vegetarian/vegan dishes."
• "The menu was extensive across all courses with a good selection of drinks."
• "The food and drink was very reasonably priced."
• "Very reasonable cost to include drinks for us both!"

Cons:

• "They also don’t offer Thai special drinks which made us a bit disappointed."
• "Prices are a little more expensive than an average Thai restaurant and no set lunchtime menu."
• "There is service charge which should be at your discretion not done automatically as a sneaky surprise when you get your bill."
• "Price over price. Service charge 12.5% where you can’t bother to ask how the food."

Special Occasions and Celebrations

Pros:

• "It was my father in law's birthday and they were kind enough to bring out a slice of cake with a candle and sing happy birthday."
• "I also appreciated the 'Happy Birthday' song during our visit – thank you to those who sang to me."
• "Visited this evening for my friend's birthday."

Cons:

• "We had a slight mishap with a spilled drink but it was resolved quickly, although they didn’t offer to replace the drink."
• "We booked a table for our anniversary and they sat us in a busy noisy part of the restaurant."
• "It was my wife's birthday and there was no special gesture or treatment."

Overall Impression

Pros:

• "Overall, an incredible experience."
• "Would 100% recommend and will be visiting again soon!"
• "Would definitely go back!"
• "Cannot wait to return!"
• "Incredible food, service and ambiance."

Cons:

• "Such a shame as was looking forward to this restaurant opening."
• "Could be better. Not worth the hype."
• "Sadly I won't be returning."