Kent tearoom hits back at a TripAdvisor reviewer who criticised the eatery over a spelling mistake on the menu with a sign proudly advertising its flaws

A Kent eatery has hit back at an underwhelming TripAdvisor reviewer who was left disappointed by their visit.

The anonymous diner visited Tiny Tim’s tearoom in Rochester to enjoy a gluten-free Saturday lunch, according to KentOnline.

But unfortunately, according to the disgruntled customer’s three-star write-up of their visit, their visit was marred by several things.

According to their write-up: ‘I visited on my own on a Saturday lunchtime. I asked for gluten-free options and was offered jacket potato. I had to wait over 20 minutes for a jacket potato with chilli. 

‘There were 6 other people in the cafe before I came in. A party of 3 received their food after me, possibly because I queried where my food was. Understaffed possibly? 

‘The food was fine. However, my jacket potato was served with salad and crisps. I hadn’t asked for crisps – many brands of crisps contain gluten.’

Despite the customer citing issues with being served crisps they hadn’t ordered, and displeasure at the speed of service, their biggest disappointment was connected to the Tearoom’s literary connections.

The reviewer explained: ‘Finally, I’m a fan of Charles Dickens (he had a strong Rochester association) and I was disappointed to see that on the menu the breakfast named after him was spelt “Dickins”.

‘There is also a framed piece of gothic text on the wall providing an overview of Dickens’s life and works. 

‘Sadly, there was frequent misuse of the apostrophe when Dickens was mentioned by name.’ 

Rather than ignore the criticism, the eatery decided to address some of the points raised in the write-up, taking to Facebook to respond.

The response read: ‘I usually wouldn’t even entertain negative reviews but this lovely lady decided to slate us for the following comical reasons. 

‘Firstly the crisps she received were in fact GLUTEN FREE.

The diner questioned whether the Tea Rooms were understaffed on the day of their visit, citing a 20-minute wait for their jacket potato 

‘Secondly she said the food was fine but waited 20 minutes which isn’t long to be fair bearing in mind she even admitted we were understaffed (also chilli takes longer).

‘However the nail in the coffin is our spelling mistakes. We sincerely apologise in regards to the poor spelling.

‘I’ll be sure to get Mr Charles Dickens to personally rewrite our menu and correct the framed artwork which has been hanging on the wall for 15 years.’

In a further twist, the Tea Room’s owner Steve Morgan decided to publicly acknowledge the review in an unconventional and highly tongue-in-cheek manner.

The owner of the eatery took an unconventional approach to the unusual review – one which was found humorous by many

Taking a wooden board that is usually placed outside the eatery advertising the wares on offer, Mr Morgan instead took quotes from the review and wrote them on the board. 

The cheeky board said: ‘Pop in for – a disapointly slow service, bad spelling, the misuse of an APOSTROPHE. As said by a “lovely” lady on Tripadvisor.’

According to Mr Morgan, the apostrophe issue does not appear to have harmed  business. He told KentOnline: ‘It might have started as a bad review, but we have been so busy since then. My phone has not stopped ringing.

‘The day after we had every single seat taken. It’s gone a bit mental. You can’t please everyone, but it seems like people have found the humour in it.’

According to its TripAdvisor page, Tiny Tim’s in Rochester enjoys an average 4.5 star rating, with 1,020 reviews.