The Lobster Shack in Canterbury

We were there on Saturday for lunch, there was a queue but it was manageable. Restaurant was spacious and seafood were fresh and delicious. Staff was very accommodating with baby and pram but no baby change facilities

Great place. Food is excellent. Great menu

Great seafood place right by the water with oyster fishing equipment all around it. Go for the oysters and/or mussels.

Brilliant works do, thanks 2 the staff

First came here a few years ago in the height of summer. It was really busy. After the meal we went to sit on the beach, but had to hang around a while to be served. Might have been been brought the wrong dish after a while ... But this time ... Late November, and it was more chilled. Walked in for Friday lunch, plenty of seats ... to some excellent, unexpected, live music... vocals and guitar ... High and Dry - Radiohead. Great start! Large main courses ... really tasty muscles to start. Cannot find fault. Really enjoyable.

The oysters are delicious. I sincerely recommend this place. It is worth visiting. Very nice service.

Great food and friendly staff but I rather object to being forced to order using an app that you have to download, then being charged a service charge AND a fee for using the app.

Very very expensive for a small amount of food

Love best place for fish and chips. Visit regularly when we can.

Lovely food and very reasonably priced, loved the catch of the day and the singer was great without being too loud

We had 6 oysters to start, which were deliciously fresh. Some of the best we’ve had. Then we ordered the daily cod, chips and mushy peas each. I’m not exaggerating when I say this was the best fish and chips I’ve had. The fish was so succulent, housed in an incredibly light but super crispy batter. The chips were cooked perfectly. The impressive thing for me was how good the mushy peas and tartar sauce was. It looks like an incredible amount of effort has gone into getting every detail right, so well done Chef, and all other kitchen staff. The 4.0 google review I’d say has to be from the front of house service. It still feels stuck in Covid to be ordering by QR code, when a friendly staff member sorting all your needs would be better. Also plastic cups with the tap water was slightly ajar with the quality of food.

Enjoyed good lunch here with lovely views over the estuary. Good food and nice oysters. Service friendly

I had the lobster which was £32 for half. My friend had cod and chips which was e pensive and it was brown inside and inedible. It was the worse fish I had ever seen. He didn't complain not going back there again.

Lovely location, great view of the sea. The food was great. Parking not so great, there is paid for parking, and the meter is well hidden! Once you find it you’ll have to have cash as there’s no option for card or app payment.we did ask in the lobster shack if they could change some notes but they couldn’t! Might be a good idea to always keep some cash for such times customers need cash for parking!!

Spent a nice day in Whitstable. Came back to Lobster Shack for lunch as ate here the last time l visited Whitstable. Lobster was lovely but a tad small. We enjoyed the oysters, a must have while in season. The squid portion was rather small and not salt and pepper, nothing special. The restaurant itself is nice and brightly lit with a busy open plan kitchen. We sat outside since it was sunny. We used the QR code to order. Service was standard.

Mediocre meal, we were really disappointed that the chips are frozen rather than hand cut proper chips you’d expect with fish and chips. The 1/2 lobster was absolutely tiny for the price. Made a special trip out to visit Whitstable with the family and wouldn’t rush back. The oysters were, however, good.

Lovely meal here - they gave our doggo a free dog ice cream 🐶

Food was absolutely top notch, I had fish of the day with chips and the other half had prawn and lobster roll, not much lobster to it though.. service was lack lustre, not very inviting, pretty removed because of the qr code ordering system. I work in a foodhall and we give much better service, didn't even get checked up on if our meal was OK. Doesn't take much to ask is everything alright? The restaurant was so quiet so not like they were stretched. Wouldn't visit again. Service is so important.

It’s my second time here at The Lobster Shack and I love it! Nice casual friendly spot by the sea. They are dog friendly as well. Their oysters are really fresh and delicious. We also got the day boat cod and chips which was so gooooood. Cooked perfectly. It was very meaty and juicy. We tried their lobster dishes before which are great! They also do dishes like Fruits de mer, soft shell crab burger and dressed crab. Definitely will be back again to eat!

Fresh seafood shack serving delicious food!

What a lovely place to stumble across on our walk. Oysters were delicious as was the stout. Place was buzzing.

The best oysters I've ever eaten)😍

Friendly staff, great location and fantastic fish and chips.

Only had a drink and sat outside.

The oysters were fabulous and natural, of course. Well worth a try. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the other deep fried seafood. Give these a miss and treat yourself to the fresh oysters only.

Perfect spot for lunch, right on the beach. Food was first class.

Amazing - quality, food, and service remain as good as the last visit. Always busy but worth the wait.

Came in Sunday and they had a solo guitarist playing chill out vocal songs 👨🏻‍🎤

Super nice service, friendly and attentive. The lobster was very expensive but also perfectly prepared 👍 Unfortunately I can't recommend fish & chips, we're used to better things. Overpriced, tasteless, very small fish-portion. Enough fries for that. Latte macchiato - 1A👌 The location is beautiful and quiet, right by the sea 🫠 It was definitely worth a visit 👍

Location is unrivalled but the food is so disappointing - overpriced and ungenerous portion sizes. The service wasn't much better, food came out at random and made no sense based on what we ordered and was all served in boxes (?) despite the prices and table service. Sadly it's a tourist trap.

Slow service, freezer chips and fishy small lobster ☹️ Tourist trap and severely overpriced. Make you pay upfront, clearly know no one would pay after eating here.

Good but has The potential to be so much better. They were incredibly busy so I can expect that the quality of food would go down because of the high demand. That said everything could have been elevated. The lobster roll should be called a shrimp roll because there’s no lobster in it at all. It tasted store bought and the bread was stale. When I think brioche roll, I think soft fresh buttered brioche, crispy on the outside still slightly warm in the middle. Large pieces of fresh lobster that have just been taken out of the shell with a light delicious sauce. At £22, that’s what I’d be expecting I’d even pay more for good quality but instead I had a shrimp sandwich. The location is perfect. The atmosphere is brilliant. If a little more heart went into the cooking I think it would be one of the best places on the English coast.

Oysters are really Fesh, Scampi & Chips tasty 😋 😍 😍😍😍

Fresh and good seafood. However, chips, dip, and salad dressing need improvement.

Call in advance. They won't do takeaway on a whim if there are a lot of tourists in.

Had a nice meal here. Marked down as its listed has having wheelchair accessible toilet, but turns out it doesn't. Worth updating your google page!

The Lobster shack sits right at the beach front and offers the freshest whitstable oysters. You find also lobster and fresh fish and chips with other classic British dishes on the menu. The big seafood platter is also a popular option if you like to try a bit of everything they offer. Service was friendly and really quick too. The oysters are definitely a must try. In summer they have outdoor seating and BBQ plus live music. The best time to visit whitstable and the Lobster shack is definitely during the oyster festival each year in September and when the sun is shining.

The restaurant has a beautiful view. The oysters are very fresh, but the boiled shrimps are quite salty.

Honestly I am so disappointed with my experience here! I’ve spent half the night violently vomiting after food poisoning set in a few hours after eating lobster here. The food was average at best and the venues was empty on a Friday night.

Very lovely by the sea restaurant, great food, great portions, eat by the sea or inside in a lovely venue, staff was very nice, friendly and helpfull, we loved it here, we will return and I definetly recomnd this place for all sorts of fresh seafood.

Hello, everyone. Nice restaurant with some character. Some people say it is expensive, but I cannot think about any restaurant serving _fresh_oysters, lobsters and other sea food for a few pounds. The place looks like one where fishermen would come after long day, we liked the atmosphere there. Ordered the sea food plate, finished it and it was enough for four people. Dogs are allowed inside and outside, so another plus to this restaurant. Please bear in mind that it closes around 22:00, but the orders would not be taken 30 mins before the end of working hours. Best regards, Rustam

A lovely restaurant with a good atmosphere, we'd been in for a glass of wine earlier in the day and sat along the dock but went back for some lobster in the evening, it was very nice, would love to try more on the menu, would definitely recommend.

We have eaten here many times before but today was a real disappointment as the quality of the food was substandard. The Cod batter was thick And greasy and the chips were extremely dry. The Scampi was ok but the chips spoilt the meal. There was four of us and we were all very disappointed. Polite feedback was given but no compensation was offered other than offers of tea and coffee which we declined.

Lots of character once you get through the oyster industry! A bit pricy for fish and chips and I took objection to paying the same for Lucky Saint a non alcoholic beer, as the alcoholic ones! Thats a colossal profit margin!

Very popular eatery no bookings taken expect to wait at peak times.

I went for the Po Boys oyster roll and cajun fries. Both were decent. Friendly staff, but my real issue is the insistence on having to download an app just to place an order. I know why some restaurants do it, but it makes for a pretty soulless experience. Not only that, but making customers order online then charging them a fee for doing so is unbelievable! I'm sure Lobster Shack will continue to thrive - the location is great and food is fine, but for me the actual dining experience wasn't up to scratch.

Brilliant view for an evening meal.

Tasty food. Lobster prawn roll was good scampi was lovely but quite expensive

Absolutely beautiful scenery, we don’t eat here but they serve beautiful coffee ☕️ lovely to sit outside and enjoy it. Next time we will eat here 😄

The food was normal but the service was brilliant .toilets are clean and the sea view was unique.Someone negative is that its very expensive

Really disappointing experience. We waited 40 mins for a table and when we went up to order my friend let the member of staff she had a shellfish allergy. The menu clearly stated they could manage cross contamination, but we were told they would not serve her due to the risk. Shocking that they have contradictory information on their menu and that they had no signage to alert customers to this policy.

Great fish and chips, oyster good too(if you like them.

The freshness is unbeatable, but the size is small and the price is a bit expensive.

Fresh seafood, great view of the sea, fast service… everything you can ask for in a beach restaurant

Since we came 2 years ago food quality has deteriorated. Disappointed Beautiful setting 😍

Really let down by its attention to detail. Arrived at 8.15pm to an echoey room that could/should have been a really inviting space but was let down by the teenage staff that, although perfectly friendly, were completely lacking in initiative and customer service training. Music when finally turned on was generic 80s pop. Sparkling water was confused with still. They couldn’t take our order because their devices weren’t working so eventually we had to go out to the outside service area to order (could the staff not have bridged this gap?) No one seemed to care that we were there and waiting to order. Everything you wanted you had to stand up/walk to the bar to get anyone’s attention for, etc etc. The incredible outside terrace right on the water could have been so much more inviting with some lighting but at dusk it was so poorly lit (no lighting whatsoever) that we decided to move inside. Being told that QR codes are their preference for ordering when you have more than 6 staff bobbing around doing nothing is just ridiculous (and I think they still take card-only payments???) The open kitchen is a lovely touch but when you are faced with the chef eating whilst preparing your food it sort of loses its lustre. We would probably have enjoyed our food much more if the staff weren’t obviously closing down the restaurant and spraying down/scrubbing the tables all around us at 8.45pm. Ok, I understand if they had have said they were about to close when we arrived but no such warning and after we ordered £200 worth of food and drinks, clearly there for a proper dinner not just a quick bite, I would have expected the courtesy of allowing us to enjoy our food in an ordinary restaurant environment. When our food arrived we had no cutlery or plates, and our order was missing two items which unless we had chased up would have been totally forgotten about. The frustrating thing is this place could be outstanding. The seafood platter we had was surprisingly generous and mostly really good quality. The style of cutlery and the little pots of sauces on the dishes were in-keeping with the lobster shack vibe, as was the vaulted ceiling and wooden tables/chairs. The views out to sea were stunning. You have to walk down a really ugly industrial complex to get to the restaurant, but that actually enhances the overall feel of the place as you expect that you’re going to find a proper working/authentic lobster/oyster shack at the end. Our experience would have been much more worth the trek (and money) if these guys could smarten up their act, but unfortunately after today’s experience we wouldn’t be rushing back. Maybe get a restaurant consultant in to tidy up some frayed ends? Even tourists can be discerning these days. The devil really is in the detail.

We visited yesterday and what a fantastic place..! The seafood was so fresh and tasty! We had the platter Assiette, which was £65 and had a great selection of seafood, a side salad and bread.. you can either sit inside or outside, we sat outside, which had the most gorgeous view, right on the seafront! It was quite busy when we got there, which is always a great sign, but we didn't need to book a table.. table service is available by scanning the QR code, or you can order your food at the little shack outside or inside the main restaurant.. I would definitely go back and have the lobster next time! I'd definitely recommend a visit!

Lovely venue on the seafront at Whitstable harbour. You can sit inside or take one of the many tables they offer along the harbour wall. Simple pub food but cooked fresh and served quickly. Always popular!

Great food, great staff and wonderful views from the coastline

Walk in only. We were lucky to get a table next to the window so it’s so enjoyable to look at the seaside and sunset and eating and drinking. Ordered full seafood platter and a lobster. Lobster isn’t too big but it tastes great! Oysters are fresh. Love the shrimp on the shell, they are sweet and fresh! However be careful with the bread as flys love it.

Greasy Batter. Fish definitely wasn't freshly caught or local.

A bit pricey but for that atmosphere and view I would pay for it. Fish and chips, oyster was great but the portion for lobster wasn’t worth it.

Didn’t have the lobster sandwich, had the salmon instead which was underwhelming

Food.. it's fries or fried foods... the lobster is very expensive and the worst.. if you order wine on the terrace it's served in plastic glasses.. salty addition on the other hand it's a business what...

Food was really good especially the po boy (deep fried oyster sandwich). However, not sure if it’s because I’m South African but the lobster was the smallest I have ever seen, more like a prawn tail but at lobster price

Arrived at this restaurant, nobody greets you on arrival, on the table are instructions to download app to place order. It turns out there is 10% service charge, I've no idea why there should be a service charge if nobody is serving, delivery of food to table is not serviced. We decided not to eat here.

Best lobster l've ever had with the best home made sauces. Together with an excellent service it made a lovely evening out. Would very highly recommend.

Ordered at the bar, was charged service before even knowing it. This should not be legal practice.

Very nice atmosphere. Due to the location, you can't expect to have cheap food or bigger quantity. Compared to the pricing, there isnt much options available. The foot was served without any delays after placing the order. Some items on the 'Physical menu' weren't available on the 'app' that you have to place your orders. Clean toilets. Service charge isn't an option.

For so called "restaurant prices" the food was disappointing. The dressed crab for £24.95 seemed overpriced. Expected something that was actually prepared in house not that appeared to be the same product from the local seafood stall. Did mention this waiter but hes answer was "well it is a restaurant". Felt more like a glorified fast food set up.

We shared a nice plate of fish and chips and a few pints of cider overlooking the sea. Great atmosphere with live music.

Sold out of the £22 lobster and shrimp roll by 11:45 (immediately after opening). Told by greeter at the entrance we could order by QR code or in person, when we scanned QR it turned out to be an app to download, as we didn't want to do this we asked to order in person only to be told "I don't think it's an app", when I reiterated it was and id just like to order the waiter said with an annoyed look "can you not just download the app" to which I responded can I just order, they then walked off and another person came over and was a lot more welcoming only to inform me they were sold out of the lobster and shrimp roll because "we had a lot of orders of the roll yesterday". So food isn't made fresh and aggy staff. Bullet dodged.

Lobster and oysters were good. Customer service was bad. The crab was basically a bowl of crab guts mashed up.

Lovely food all round, prompt service.

Great surroundings and sea view, food was ok but not massive portions for the price. What really got me though was the fact you have to download an app to order and they automatically add 10% service charge before you've even had any service as you pay at point of order. There seemed no easy way to opt out of this £7 charge and there is also a final token fee for using the app to which you have no alternative.

I went there today. Shocking staff, it was all too much for them! Young people probably being paid poor money!

Definitely recommend this place... Food was delicious, very fresh fish. Friendly staff and nice atmosphere.

Nice place fresh food too Try the oysters

Great place, right on sea front, a bit out of the way, but a good find. Very busy and trendy, got a table ok, kitchen shuts Sunday at 8.00pm. Oysters were amazing

Great seafood with a view. Tad pricey as you would expect and have to use those horrible app things to order or queue up but good overall.

First time eating here, i had the Day boat cod & chips, to be honest, I was very underwhelmed. My local chippy does far better cod and chips, and at half the price. I don't mind paying more if the food represents the price, unfortunately for me it did not. The size of the piece of fish was literally half a fillet. Having said that I did have a pleasant evening with a good view and great sun set.

What a rip off. Tiny lobster you can get bigger prawns. Salad was dry and old tasting with congeled dressing on top. Not particularly well cooked. Not particularly fresh. If you can get better quality and better prices in central London then there is seriously something wrong. Very disappointed

The oysters were fine but the batter of the fish was a tad dry

Went to eat their food. The whole family felt uncomfortable.

A real disappointment. Overpriced for the quality/portion of food and overall experience. No hello, welcome or goodbye or thank you. You find your own table, and move the chairs around so you can fit in a wheelchair. You have to download the app to order. The only time you interact with staff only is when they bring food/drinks up as they have no clue who ordered what. A discretionary 10% service charge which cant be removed and another transaction fee to process the order on their app!!?? It gets 2 stars for the being food being edible and the location.

We got poisoning from the oysters

Returning customer, lovely fish and chips and scampi and chips. Also the Crab salad was delicious.

Apart very long waiting time my expensive lobster arrived without clam!!! (Believed or not). Didn’t realise this immediately, when I spot that that was no staff around to report that. Don’t recommend Lobster Shack (been there in several occasions, but last couple of times we always had some issues). Our last visit in that restaurant

Fabulous food !! It was a hot summers day and they had the windows open. It has great views of the sea, if you get a window seat. The table set up seems a little chaotic but the food more then makes up for that. We had a couple of lobsters and they were delicious. Will definately return !!

We ate at the Lobster Shack, Whitstable and had the Prawn and Lobster Brioche roll and a pimms. Total price, £29.00 each. The roll came with a side salad. My honest opinion of the roll is that it was very prawn heavy with very little Lobster in it. At that price, I'd expect more Lobster. It was essentially an overpriced seafood roll. The quality was good and the sauce was nice but it seemed that the seafood mixture was pre-made up, not freshly made as the food came out so quickly. Literallyjust after the pimms. Another small detail, the Pimms was served in a plastic cup. I would've expected it served in a glass. Overall assessment is it was nice but not worth the price.

It’s not the mistake but how you fix the mistake that matters. We waited 35 minutes to be seated (always happy to wait for a table, typically that’s a very good sign) then we waited 50 minutes before my partners food came, 8-10 minutes later I asked where mine was, someone went to check, over 10 minutes later I asked again and then another 5 minutes and after seeing many lobsters leave the kitchen I asked for a refund….. My partners plate of food was now cold. How was it fixed for waiting over an hour and a half for nothing. Just a refund of my food that I didn’t have. Little apology was offered. As for the food we did have, 2/10. Do not go here, waiting for nothing is not worth it.

Overpriced for what it is, prawn and lobster in brioche bun may just have well been advertised as prawn mayonnaise, 2 pieces of lobster in it😮local fish and chips £21 95p, had better in my local chippy. And would have liked a glass for my aperol spritz eating inside the restaurant not a plastic cup. Overall not a happy customer, won't be eating there again.

Beautiful Glorious Sunday road trip to whitstable. We visited the Lobster Shack for lunch restaurant recently with family. Mixed feelings, great location however the overall experience was just average. Frustrating no table service, the need to download an app to place orders, and paying in advance left me wondering about the service charge, plus online fee ? Overall, found the service was slow had to remind waitress / waiters several times of my order. My half a dozen oyster arrived after we almost finished my meal of Whole lobster, fish & chip, had to chase / remind of my dress crab ordered. Although meal was nice overall experience was needless to say rather underwhelming the ordering process and service could do an improvement.

Great food and lovely atmosphere However it is pretty pricy. The portions - other than fish and chips- can be quite small. It was 100 pounds for the three of us for lunch. There is always a queue despite there being enough seats as they try to stagger people and the wait can be quite long.

Fantastic place to grab a drink and oyster. However avoid the short man who works on a Saturday, very patronising and rude. Walked past the queue by accident and felt like I was back In school, lol.

Excellent food with an amazing sea view.

Wonderful gem of a restaurant. Well staffed - all super polite and friendly not pushy. Food fresh and exciting. Really fat juicy oysters. Amazing lobster. Really good wine at right temp and amazing beers. One point off for plastic glasses. Not so eco chummy with that. All in all - I loved it. The atmosphere and vibe was great. Yes you have to queue but a hot busy Saturday lunchtime was only 15 mins. Great place. Thank you.

Seafood bowl was really bad. Large shrimps were frozen to pieces, no skewers for the sea snails were provided, the bread was old and dirty, they had not even baked it, no cleaning wipes were given to clean our hands afterwards, we had no mussels. And when we told this to the waitress, she didn't even tell the manager or the chef. After you order the food you have to pay immediately, very guest unfriendly.

Great portions. As fresh as it comes.

Hiddden Gems in Whitstable This is a shop that makes farm oysters that couldn't be any fresher. What you have to try is fresh Oyster and what's more unusual is Osyster Stout beer. The taste has a slight oyster smell but is considered drinkable. We tried The Whole lobster with butter and Garlic. It was very delicious and worth the price paid. This shop looks very secretive. When I walked in, I thought that there was no store because it was separated from the other stores. And when walking in, it was like walking into a factory alley. But in the end, it's worth a try. #TravellingAsACouple