Hive, sevenoaks

Enjoyed some pre-dinner cocktails here shortly after it opened and just after the first lockdown lifted. Lovely venue and while we didn't sit outside, on a warm evening the courtyard would be a lovely spot for a drink or dinner. Good to see this kind of place opening up in Sevenoaks!

A wonderful new venue in Sevenoaks serving modern British cuisine. Great service matched with extraordinary food. Looking forward to going back once lockdown 2.0 is over.

We had a table for two on Friday 25th September. The restaurant was busy, which was good to see, but as a result we were placed precariously at the top of the stairs. We ordered my wife a Cosmopolitan which took an age to arrive as well as a bottle of Rose, for both of us. The starters came before the cocktail, although the wine had arrived. It wasn't cold enough. I went for the Scotch Egg, which was a mistake. It was rubbery and very chewy, with little taste. I would describe it as very overdone. My wife went for the marinated salmon, which was tasty but the portion was very small and for £8 not great value. For the main course, I went for the fish stew, which to be honest was very poor. To begin with it seemed like it had been microwaved to within an inch of its life. It was so hot, I had to wait 10 minutes for it to cool down to be anywhere near possible to taste. Still at least it gave me time to admire the tiny tasteless cocktail which had finally arrived for my wife. The stew was bland and over seasoned. There were two mussels in it but little else that I could discern as fish. What ruined it for me was the huge mass of tomato and vegetable liquid which completely overpowered any fish taste. It was like facing an explosion in the Heinz soup factory. I left it barely touched. My wife's scallops were better, but again, 5 scallops for £22 isn't great value. The service was disappointing to say the least. It was clear we were unhappy with the meal. I know and accept the restaurant was busy, but waiting over 45 minutes for one cocktail to arrive wasn't great. Overall, we had a bad experience here and for £50 a head I wanted and would have expected more. I hope the restaurant succeeds and looking at other reviews, it is heading in the right direction and I wish the owners all the luck in the world. We were probably just unlucky, but we won't be returning.

BEWARE this restaurant is NOT in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme despite it appearing via the government postcode checker website. The restaurant made no attempt to make this clear on booking, despite an email and a conversation on the day of the visit. The food was good and well presented, but the experience was spoilt by the pleasant but uninformed and random service. The server failed to notice the ice cream was missing 2 toppings and it turned out they'd run out, but didn't tell us at time of ordering. To be fair, the ice creams were knocked off the bill which was just as well given the bad surprise that the meal was to cost me £30 more than anticipated. I was not convinced by the very limited Covid-19 measures.

Absolutely delicious food, and wonderful staff. A great addition to Sevenoaks.