The Gallivant Reviews

Fabulous wedding venue. Lovely staff, good food and cozy rooms.

We dropped in for a drink and some nibbles. The wine was great and the fish platter was tasty. All together we had a great time

We stayed here in early December 2019 for a much needed getaway and rather outrageously, I never got around to posting a review at the time. The Gallivant is a wonderful bolt hole for a winter escape, we didn t really expect much from a long weekend by the British seaside but had a deeply relaxing stay and will definitely be returning once the current pandemic settles down (here s looking at you, 2021). Other reviews have covered the superb quality of the food and drinks, the wonderful staff and the beautiful decoration, but we were also particularly struck with the daily morning yoga and Pilates classes which are included in your stay, well worth doing. We also each had a full body massage with Amy which was a outstanding. If you re brave enough, I would also recommend taking a dip in the sea with Skye - very invigorating! Highly recommended for a weekend escape.

Poor and slow service, with staff concentrating mainly on the wedding they were preparing for. Staff did not understand the menu pricing structure. Food was average and overpriced.

Interior much nicer than the outside suggests. Interesting menu but the food didn't live up to the promise. A bit dull and small portions.

Beautiful hotel right on camber sands. Afternoon tea and cake are hard to beat

Great location, directly opposite the beach. Street-facing rooms a little small.
Simply excellent food
Some hilarious old games / books in the bar / games rooms.
Service is 1st class.

A hotel with a very different atmosphere. Quite rustic. Be great when renovations finished.

Excellent place to have lunch! My husband & I had the most delicious food on Valentine's day 2020. The Sea bream was cooked on the open fire and was absolutely perfect - as was everything else including the white wine! The French manager was very professional and knowledgeable which made our experience even better. We live in Barcelona, surrounded by fantastic restaurants - The Gallivant is as good as anywhere we have eaten in Spain. We highly recommend it if you are anywhere near Camber!

Absolutely amazing boutique hotel a stone's throw from the amazing beach at camber sands. Only 20 rooms in this place, the staff make it feel like a home from home. The restaurant is absolutely fantastic, with locally sourced ingredients cooked simply to make the most of their flavour and freshness. Plenty to do on a rainy afternoon if you can't hit the beach thanks to their lovely bar area and board games. Can't speak highly enough of the place.

One recommendation is to get a picnic for the beach which they put together for you, this was a highlight! It's the fancieet picnic we ever had, with sandwiches, salad, crisps, fruit for dessert and more, all in a lovely branded cool bag and a frisbee thrown in to boot! Highly recommended.

Very smart, locally sourced food a short walk from beach.

I cannot rate The Gallivant highly enough. The food is top notch (thank you Jamie). I feel bad I did not thank the chef personally, but I hope he reads this review. The restaurant clearly uses local produce, and introduced us to some great local wines, which must be providing serious competition for wines from the Continent. At 11:00, fresh baked cookies are on offer, which are to die for. The staff are cheerful, helpful and very professional, as are the boys who run the place: (Paul Pritchard especially) and Paul Bevan in the bar. There is free yoga on offer in the mornings and evenings, as well as spa treatments (which I recommend you book in advance). It is the perfect location, literally opposite the beach. It is quiet and relaxing and I would love to go back in the winter as well. Best of all, they are dog friendly. My dog, Tess, had the time of her life at the beach, where there is plenty of space for them to run and swim as well. It was such a treat to visit recently for 2 nights. I did not want to leave. I was there in August, and I was very impressed with the way they managed social distancing in these difficult times as well.

Food is a little over cooked for my taste Wish they had more veg accompaniments Extremely friendly staff and dog friendly

Good food in nice surroundings, helpful staff (And good beer) will visit again ...if I remember to book :)

Very good location, friendly helpful staff and good food

We went for dinner in the Restaurant, which is a new bit added on to the original building, only opened two weeks before our visit ~ the food was fabulous, top quality, flavoursome and really really tasty and very well presented ! The serving staff were friendly and welcoming, and the manageress very helpful and hospitable. The only downside, if I had to find one, was the atmosphere being a little bland and subdued ~ but we were only allowed to book our table for 6.30pm so it was by no means anywhere near full ~ and I'm sure when it's buzzing with more guests it will be 'The place to eat'
We were glad to have dined there, and would go back, and would definitely recommend it to friends visiting the area without hesitation.

Fab Hotel just of the beach in Camber. Staff excellent, food superb and our garden room was lovely. They also have a spa room although as we were only there for one night we did not use. Would go again.

One of the best restaurants I have ever been to for food, atmosphere and service

Attended a wedding. Couldn't find any disabled parking which I needed very badly. The food left much to be desired. 2nd time I've eaten here, both times disappointing. Overpriced for extremely slow service

Really disappointing - we came for lunch on a sunny Friday. The venue is beautiful but Fthey have an odd policy when it comes to children - only accepted below 18 months and above 10 years (not sure what they do if you're staying?). The welcome was a bit cool and we were never offered drinks. The menu looked good but the food was very average and a spinach soup inedible - we let them know and although they apologized it wasn't taken off the bill. There are better places to eat in Rye so I'd give it a miss if you haven't exhausted the other options

We had an average stay at the hotel with our lively little dog... The staff aren t hugely welcoming and the rooms are quite small. We deliberately booked it because of its child-free policy (and knowing our dog isn t great with them) but found it full of families who seemed upset that our dog was barking so much. The management/owners need to decide one way or other what kind of hotel they d like it to be - because it s not satisfying either audience at present. All of that aside, the food was excellent and we enjoyed wonderful breakfasts and dinners in the lovely bar area.

The location is lovely, next to one of Britain's best beaches, the function room is ideal for a party of around 100 people, the food was great (if a little carbohydrate-heavy), but the drinks were excellent and the nibbles superb. The best part of the hotel is the manager, who went the extra mile when she realised we couldn't carry back a guest with a wheelchair after the taxis stopped and who came and found us in her own car.

A great place for a function.

The staff here are lovely, but the management need to really improve some of the rooms. For the price they are too small, and my room had a broken radiator (hot all night) and also a broken bathroom door. I will come back because its a nice place, but I think the management should up their game big time. The restaurant is pretty good, but it is expensive. Great service though. Amazing beach access across the road in 5 minutes walk.

My husband and I had booked a night away at The Gallivant for our wedding anniversary. We went into lockdown before our stay and we had to cancel our reservation. The Gallivant, despite cancelling more than 7 days before our stay (therefore within our Terms and Conditions) refused to refund us for 3 months. I appreciate that lockdown was difficult for small businesses but not once did the hotel ask our situation. This caused us huge amounts of stress as no date was provided regarding our refund and the process was not transparent. Although The Gallivant have refunded our stay, I have since read on social media that they used lockdown to refurbish the hotel. Their behaviour is not representative of the service I d expect to receive from a luxury boutique hotel and we will not be rebooking. I hope that other people s experience of The Gallivant was and will be better than ours. Those booking stays during this period should be aware that The Gallivant do not honour T&Cs, just in case we find ourselves in another lockdown situation.

Very good food, friendly staff and comfy room - an enjoyable 2 night gourmet escape!

Great place, great food & service - nice choice of gins & wines - dogs allowed in parts of dining area. Good outside eating area when the weather is fine.

Great facility, poor service, quality of meals do not merit the high price. Staff is kind but unprofessional. Would not stay there as guest

This place is going through major refurbrishment but after that it might be a place to be

This was a wonderful venue for our beautiful God-daughter's wedding to a lovely young man. The venue was perfect with a warm and relaxed atmosphere. Good staff. Great food. Highly recommended. We crossed the road for canapes on a sandy beach in the sunshine! Just right!

Great selection of gins, fab venue for a beach wedding

I recently visited The Gallivant for a taster evening where I was given a tour of the hotel and it's facilities, a glass of prosecco and a mini spa treatment. Rosie who gave us the tour was lovely, polite and professional, and knew lots about the hotel and the local area. I then had an amazing bamboo back massage from Siobhan (it was so good I booked the next week for the full treatment and was not disappointed). After our tour my friend and I stayed for dinner and were made lovely bespoke cocktails by the barman Kurt who really knew his stuff! All in all a lovely evening at a really nice place, with three wonderful members of staff who really made the night enjoyable.

Had an amazing time here this week. Wonderful staff. Thoroughly enjoyed the cosy atmosphere, the fire and all felt so Christmassy and warm and gorgeous We didnt want to leave. The yoga class was one of the best i have ever been to! Enjoyed every moment.

Great food nice place didn't know it existed until my daughter booked table for us

We were really looking forward to staying here, however our experience trying to get a refund after our stay had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 has been awful. I appreciate many businesses are in a difficult situation, but so are people who have had to take salary cuts or worse. Witholding refunds contrary to their own booking policies after lengthy discussions and explanations of our difficult financial position does not make for a good impression.

They are still holding onto my money and refusing to refund it and it has completely tainted our impression of the management and hotel.

Please, please can you process our refund. Doing so would make us more likely to want to come visit when things get back to normal.

Great relaxing restaurant. Food and service was fab.

Just back from a 3 night stay at the Gallivant and we thought it was a lovely place! I m a bit confused about some of the previous reviews; there were quite a few children under 10 staying there (we counted 6), breakfast is served 8-10am and the staff replenish items as soon as they run out (and there s a very good variety of food - including a delicious granola!), the free afternoon tea between 4-5pm is a lovely touch and there was *lots* of cake available (we had 2 pieces each and every day there was always some left on the table as staff were clearing away!), our room was gorgeous and supplied with full sized Bramley shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, bubble bath, and body moisturiser. It was actually our honeymoon and they left us a lovely gift in our room on arrival. There were no dogs that we saw (sadly, as I like them!). Staff were super lovely and always available/around. It s a great location - just over the dunes to the beach (which is gorgeous) and less than 10 min drive to Rye. We loved it. The only very minor niggles; they ran out of the really amazingly tasty sourdough bread on the last morning (supplier didn t arrive on time - it happens) which caused some amusing middle class consternation (!) and the water pressure in the shower was a bit on the low side. Otherwise, it s absolutely brilliant. Definitely recommend.

Great customer service always went out of their way to help out. Will be coming back for sure

Just stopped by for a quick lunch in the bar. Delish.

Pricey but worth it for a treat. Rooms are chic and cosy. We had a garden room which was lovely to carry on drinking late into the evening. Only slight niggle was lack of food choices for vegetarians in the restaurant. Camber beach is literally across the road. If the sun is shining it s the best place to be. Great service thanks guys and girls!

A K Casino Knights were very lucky to be invited to host a casino evening at the galivant. Beautifully decorated, wonderful rooms and a great venue to host weddings and parties. The staff were very helpful and accomodating. 5* rating from A K Casino Knights!

Lovely wedding venue, but mega expensive and was hard work for us despite having paid so much money. Communication prior to wedding awful. Food good though.

Fantastic setting, food, friendly staff, REALLY child friendly and dog friendly too. A must.

Had a relaxing jazz breakfast here. Well laid out, relaxed atmosphere. Great to chill in the sun with a cold beer. Parking wasn't sufficient for the event - fortunately some enterprising landowners were renting out their field. It's camber and hot days and camber do not make for optimised traffic flows.

My daughter and I had a sunny winter walk from Rye to Camber and had tea and cake in the lovely sitting room area of the Gallivant .. cosy and rather luxurious in feel with such comfy seats ..we had a lovely time .

Nice hotel opposite Camber Sands. Staff attentive and friendly. Rooms comfortable and continental breakfast more than satisfactory. Evening dining also available. Hotel policy is to allow dogs in certain areas including selected bedrooms. This might put off some prospective guests.

The most amazing collection of English sparkling wines I've seen in the UK. Joyous service, a real surprise highlight. Loved it

Fabulous!! excellent food, lunch dinner and breakfast....especially good.

Brilliantly situated, bang on the dunes/beach. Took our dog, an absolute haven.

Room very comfortable...love the decor

Staff great.....we will return

The staff were lovely and it s was very smart, everything was perfect and there are lots of biscuits for the dog!

The Gallivant is a wonderful place to stay with lovely rooms, restaurant and bar and the menu is fabulous. All the staff are so welcoming and helpful- everything is very relaxing and the beach is just across the road. Can't wait for our next visit.

Been a few times...but not that impressed with the food

Excellent massage and facial in the Beach Hut this afternoon. Only downside I was cold and my feet freezing!

Food was overpriced and dishes were poorly executed. We sent all our mains back as they were awful. Bar didn t have a cocktail menu, and despite their enthusiasm the cocktails they made were not good. Poor customer service when it came to the bill. Disappointed as this place was highly recommended by a number of people.

Stayed here for a family members 60th birthday and rooms were well kept and serviced and the restaurant offered great selections of food and wine. Breakfast in the morning had extremely different fresh healthy options to an excellent cooked breakfast. I would stay here again and is ideally located to enjoy the beach and Rye golf club down the road.

Excellent, high quality, seasonal food (we had dinner & breakfast twice), relaxed atmosphere, lounge / bar area is great and has been renovated very tastefully, staff attentive, warm and helpful, right next to the beach, beds and pillows very comfortable.

Nice touches include a focus on local produce, real wood fire, tea & cake served at 4pm each day for guests, selection of dairy & dairy alternative milks on offer, pregnancy pillow available for guests, wide selection of UK wines, beers & spirits, board games & cards available, decent coffee.

En-suite was not quite as modern as the rest of the hotel (we stayed in garden room) but it was clean & had everything we needed.

Would definitely recommend & stay again.

Firstly, the service was great and cannot be faulted. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the food, which is far too overpriced and lacked any flavour. We would have been gar better off eating in Rye in any one of the brilliant restaurants there.

I went for food, the salt marsh is probably the best lamb have ever had. Kurt the barman was great, with a strong knowledge of drinks, offering us a range of drinks each to our personal tastes and all slightly different to the standard ones you usually receive.

Great atmosphere. Food good, above average and worth the visit. Service was excellent.

Great food and a nice relaxed atmosphere. A bit pricey but worth the detour into the bowels of Camber.

Amazing room, lovely, bright and clean. Friendly approachable and genuinely help full staff helped make it a relaxing stay. Amazing locally sourced food in the restaurant (great wine too :-) ). The restaurant/bar has a real homely, front room feel to it. Lovely! Wonderful breakfast with loads of interesting nibbles and bits. My only negative from a night here was the sound of the hot water pipes! I have never heard such a racquet as when the guy next door put on the hot tap for a shower at half 10 in the evening! Even so, had a lovely and crucially relaxing time. Exactly what I had hoped for!

Beautiful location for a wedding, they catered for all and everything was perfect

Nice hotel/motel in a good location. Only spoiled by the building work that was going on when we were there. I'm sure they're back to a 5* review standard by now and the food, and waiting staff were excellent.

The Gallivant is consistently the best restaurant in Rye (for ~1.5yrs I've been eating there). Great mix of foraged ingredients, meats and seafood. Nice beach atmosphere with a lovely bar. Lovely wine list including some excellent locals. Generally good staff. Not cheap but worth it.

Class. Food is great and a good wine selection. Pricey rooms to stay the night in though.

Really really lovely....and I'm only on the starter!

Delicious food, sourced locally, friendly staff, stylish, welcoming, and comfortable .

Gorgeous on the inside, fantastic service and great bar manager with extensive knowledge, friendly manner and fantastic drinks

Outstanding place. Food is amazing. Service is out of this world and a beautiful location. If you want to relax and have fine dining with spa options this is the place to be at.

What a shame! We visited a few years ago and the service was relaxed and food excellent. Returned to Camber because of The Gallivant only to be told no children between 18 months and 12 years (they need to make this clearer on website/social media). Luckily we have a 6 month old BUT not made welcome at all!!! Felt uncomfortable with my baby (even though he is very well behaved), food was served cold, slow service, I asked for hot water to hear a bottle which didn't arrive at all and staff not friendly. Sadly it's become all style over substance.

Is always full or you have to book very far in advance

Nice intimate venue a stone's throw from the channel. Lovely restaurant on site and a pleasant marquee for events at the side

Extremely good food. Very pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this one!

Trying to be something it is not! Overpriced! Poor standards. Not a place to stay if celebrating a special occasion. Not adhering to the philosophy stated on website!

Travelled with my elderly parents ( in their early 80 s) to celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary. I made a point of emphasizing how important this occasion was.

Arrived at 11am and I asked whether I could request early check in due to my parents age, my father, a diabetic having an injury on his leg. Told that they would try to prioritize to get the rooms ready by between 2 -3pm.

On arrival no welcome drink and not one of the staff wished my parents a happy anniversary, despite asking me via email to send my parents names so that a card could be left in the room. No card was received.

At 3pm we returned and were told my room was having urgent maintenance!.My parents were unassisted with the luggage. It was clear that the hotel did not employ ample housekeeping staff.

It was 28 degrees and the room had no AC so I requested a fan. They delivered a cheap plastic table fan covered in rust. This did not make much difference at all. Owners response;
I agree, supplying you with a fan that had some rust on it wasn t ideal and have taken steps to replace any that have There have only ever been a handful of days a year where one could argue AC would be of benefit.

There had been extremely hot weather in the UK for at least 3 weeks prior.

I found Seagull excretion on my chair on my deck and filthy deck chairs. Owners response; I have inspected these chairs today and none of them are covered in black mold. The teak chairs sit out all day and night and unfortunately we don t employ a team to inspect them every day and clean as necessary although they are cleared periodically. When charging over 250 pounds for a room one would expect staff to check the chairs as a standard procedure ?

At 4pm we went to the lounge for Tea and found maintenance drilling with all his materials on the floor. Owners response I am reliably informed that at 4pm they were not in the area that we serve this but leaving his equipment in full view was certainly not clever Why would the workman s equipment remain in the lounge area as photographed at 4.20pm?

They did not accept American Express. I found extra charges for another guest to the value of 40 pounds. I have not received a response as to why!

The owners statement on his website;
'providing an outstanding product and service to all our guests by happy people'

I began my complaint I hope you will read the list of issues experienced in order to maintain the outstanding standards you speak of on your web site. Mr Cragoe clearly has no respect for constructive feedback sent from paying guests and made no attempt to put a bad experience right.

I travel extensively. I have no issue paying these prices IF standards are met. Unfortunately this establishment falls short on many levels.
A simple apology from Mr Cragoe would have sufficed. He prefers to argue as opposed to learning from paying guests experiences.

He states in his reply that they are not Soho House and do not have the logistics. Then please do not charge high prices for your rooms without being able to deliver the service. Owners response; Both these properties have enormous HR / Capex resources and are able to maintain a high standard of product. I wish I had this resource to call on but sadly don t.

I can see from the reviews that most of the best ones are by guests staying in standard rooms. There are complaints about charging above what they should for the Luxury rooms. On this occasion the hotel let us down and did not deliver GREAT PRODUCT.

My advice is IF you are going to charge NY, London prices then ensure that you have the basics covered.Understand that it's the small things that make the difference and that when issues occur and they always will in a customer experience based business, the rule is that the customer comes first. I did not take the time and energy to express my dissatisfaction to receive a list of justifications.

Popped in for a quick bite to eat for lunch, staff were all nice and very friendly. Food was very good, if a little pricey. Was disappointed to hear that staff wouldn't receive tips if charged to a debit card.

Amazing place! Extremely friendly professional staff. By the sand dunes. Lots of lovely walks. Towels, wellies all provided. Lovely lounge and bar area by restaurant. Warm and cosy.

Lovely atmosphere, excellent food with a very local (10 mile) slant. Excellent wine list including lots of English white fizz from Tenterden. Very good and friendly service

The best, most customer friendly hotel with people that genuinely want to ensure your stay is perfect. Food was exemplary.

The restaurant has excellent food and lovely English wines. A well stocked bar with a cozy lounge is in beautiful contrast to the scandi-style restaurant.