Reviews in Essex

We visit the barn as our little treat and always enjoy the food. However the change in the Buddha bowl is very disappointing. Raw onion beetroot and the kale are awful additions. Ring back the old recipe please!!! The butternut squash salad however is amazing! Also please make more white chocolate cookies as these had run out!

Plenty of choice,food was hot and everything was clean and tidy Friendly and helpful staff

Amazing 6 course taster menu at the Blue Anchor last night to celebrate my friends 60th birthday. Food was delicious and we weren’t rushed through the courses. Although not too busy, the pub still felt very cosy and welcoming. Staff were very attentive at all times. Would thoroughly recommend a visit. I will certainly be going back again.

Nice place. Good food. Good presentation and friendly staff

This time service was noticeably slower- we waited a long time. Food was still great

Excellent venue for shopping & meeting with friends and family in restaurant. Quality food, friendly staff and lovely setting Highly recommended

Lovely as always at The Barn but one day they will have to solve the temperature problems in the shop. It was cold in there and is like a furnace in summer!!! We don’t come for coffee and cake in the colder weather as the extended cafe where they always seat you is too cold. I’m sure major investment is a challenge but would make a huge difference to customer experience (prob staff too!) needs to be done. Thank you!

Pleasant surroundings. Excellent service. Lovely food. Very enjoyable place to visit. Nice toilets.

Love the new autumn menu as they now have a few chefs specials on each day. I had chicken leek and ham in a creamy sauce served in its own little dish with mashed potato on top and separate roasted vegetables. Food was delicious and staff very helpful. We had hoped to have shepherds pie but they had run out and they offered us this instead. Highly recommend this place for good value and service.

Breakfast with friends delicious food staff very friendly and chatty had a great time thanks

Lovely breakfast and very good service .

Had the buddha bowl, normally it’s lovely. but they have change the ingredients. the sweet potato used give the bowl and lovely warm taste. The dressing, curly kale and beetroot just wasn’t the same and very disappointing.

My wife and l visited the restaurant on Sunday as it was half way to a visit we were making that afternoon. We were warmly welcomed and shown to our table immediately. The serving staff were friendly and efficient and our roasts were delivered promptly. Unfortunately we only had time for a main course but both our meals were perfect.

We’ve enjoyed several meals over the past few months here & been very happy with food & drink quality each time. Our roasts & desserts yesterday were full of flavour (though my husband prefers potatoes just a little more crispy/floury inside - but that’s personal taste) & Emily was very efficient & attentive. I like that they are diversifying with different events - breakfasts, steak nights, rum & ribs etc. & look forward to visiting over Christmas & NY when my brother is here from Australia.

Lovely breakfast and served by friendly staff.

Treated ourelves to Sunday ĺunch. The staff were attentive ancd gave excellent advice about the wine. The mackerel pate starter was delicious. My trio roast was excellent as was my wife's turkey roast. Finished with a light sticky toffee pudding with fantastic ginger sauce. A great experience.

We have made several visits over the past few years to the Blue Anchor and I think this visit was probably and very sadly, our last. We were greeted fine and sat down at a wobbly table with a bench-style seating behind with a large gap between two coverings right at the point where you would sit, very uncomfortable so we shuffled the table over. I get old pubs turned into restaurants have uneven floors, but tables should be steady and solid enough to eat on. We were handed the wine menu, main menu and a-la-carte menus, no mention of a specials’ menu which to our surprise was the main topic from the table right next to us from the same waiter. Starters were disappointing to say the least, I had the rack of corn served on an Asian slaw with crispy seaweed. The corn was dry which I can only put down to being frozen or old stock, the slaw was not pickled and simply strips of carrot and cabbage stalk with no more than 6 small pieces of seaweed. This was surrounded by a swirl of plum sauce, clearly bottled supermarket special. My wife had the goats cheese which was cold, very disappointing. Mains for me was a delight, the lamb rump with samosa - this was absolutely perfect and melting in the mouth beautiful cuts of meat. My wife had a flat-iron steak requested cooked medium and received a very blue undercooked steak which went back for a second blast. Our waiter was not so attentive, wine was served without being taste tested, and at no point did he return to top up our glasses. We left feeling rather sorry to see standards drop in what was a delightful restaurant. We can only imagine that the previous 'steak-night' event must have exhausted the staff or not gone down so well. What a shame.

We love the Barn and its cafe - the food is excellent quality for a 'garden centre' and is one of our favourite places to visit. I absolutely love the Salmon Buddha Bowl - a real treat!