The Blazing Donkey, Ham - WORRIED!

How bad were the bad reviews, was it like chaotic disaster bad or like my fork wasn't polished enough to my liking bad?

I would almost always ignore bad reviews on Tripadvisor - they are usually too extreme and often laughable. However, the sheer number of them (they outnumber the massively positive, sometimes planted, excellent reviews) would worry me enough to think there's something wrong here.

I'm from ramsgate and have been to 2 weddings there. Staff are rude and food was awful.

Sorry xx

This is a very good comment, as I do know some venues very well and when I read some of the trip adviser reviews I just cannot recognise the venue with the review, However if the review on here is from another bride then take more notice of that.

I've read the really bad review on here, and the ones on trip advisor.

To be perfectly honest, i would run as far as i could in the opposite direction.

They may have changed managers and things may have changed since then, but do you really want to take that risk and possibly end up going through a similar situation to the other bride? I know I wouldnt be willing to risk it.

Thank you everyone for your posts. It is the same manager as its a family run business which has been passed down. On Trip Advisor, the majority have been guests at weddings or staying for the weekend. But then there are good ones from the couple themselves. It's sooo confusing.

There was a major post on here from 2010 and it seems that recently the wedding planner has changed.

He said that the deposit is non-refundable. We've put £1,000 down already.

So wished I read the reviews before going ahead!

Argh!

Perhaps the bride and groom got the best service on the day, whilst the guests were left with the dodgy waiters etc? Maybe that combinded with the excitement bubble of getting married may have made them not see the bad service. They may have eaten much either! Sorry that's not what you need to hear...

I have decided to contact them direct to voice our concerns before we go any further or sign the agreement.

I found this: http://english-wedding.com/2012/05/50s-inspired-wedding-at-the-blazing-donkey/ So all cannot be bad.

Thank you for your responses

FutureMrsA23

Oh no I would run a mile in your situation, looking at the reviews on trip advisor there appears there is so many bad ones to ignore. It also seems a bit fishy that many of the glowing reviwed are from posters who have only written 1 review (which suggests to me they are fake)