A Maidstone grill restaurant failed to whet its customers' appetites when chefs couldn't serve more than half its meaty menu.

Waiters at Harvester, in Sandling, greeted hungry diners with the usual list of meals - but the warm welcome was dished up with a notice to say at least a dozen options were not available.

The eatery, off Chatham Road, had sold out of ribs, several types of steak (rump, sirloin and ribeye), southern-fried chicken, steak and chicken wraps.

Mixed grill meals were also unavailable, as was the Jack Daniel's combo, which features ribs and a rump steak in a sticky sauce.

Macaroni cheese was struck off the list and the deserts were also light - with the fruit salad, coconut sundae and banoffee pot all out of stock.

Management blamed the lack of choice on an unprecedented amount of customers who headed into the venue in the last week to avoid the town centre floods.

A spokesman said: "Due to these exceptional circumstances, we had run out of a number of the most popular menu items.

"The team clearly communicated this to our guests, and we apologise for any convenience caused."

One unhappy diner took to Twitter to vent her disappointment after settling down for a Sunday dinner with her family and discovering their main choices were limited to fish, burgers, a few chicken meals and a couple of vegetarian options.

She tweeted a picture of the notice to the chain's account on the social networking site.

The company's online team quickly issued her with an apology and directed her to the customer services department.