Reviews in Essex

Visited on Sunday, booked our table for lunch with a friend, as always good food, friendly, polite staff. Went today by chance to shop in the garden centre and went to the Sugarvine for a pot of tea and sandwich with no booking but they were happy to accommodate even though on a Monday lunchtime they were full. I am amazed how people walk up expecting a table with no reservation, no-one was turned away even though it was full, no money around wasn't evident!! Staff are human, working to earn a living and some of the general public treat them so poorly, why can't we have a table, someone asked, why are we waiting, it's expensive. So are wages, food, fuel and everything that goes with running any business, if you can't afford it don't go, for the many there yesterday and today they clearly can. Book a table as requested but do treat the staff with respect.

Went for Sunday Lunch last weekend, and ordered the roast. My partner and I , both had roast turkey. You are able also to order extras, which is a nice touch, if your really hungry. The meals themselves are an adequate size. The service is amazing, all the staff are very attentive and really polite and helpful. There was just one thing, that was not good, the roast potatoes were hard, making them difficult to cut into, which did spoil the meal a bit. I'm hoping this was just a one off , as the rest of the food was very nice indeed.

The goats cheese pizza was so bad it was like a lump of rubber and the onions wasn’t caramelised

excellent atmosphere service food at an affordable price would recommend

Superb breakfast as always. Treated my brother and sister in law to their first visit. They also loved it.

Fantastic food, service & ambience

Fantastic evening, pizza best we had eaten, staff friendly, funny, creating a wonderful relaxed atmosphere.

I often visit skylark on my walks, and grab a coffee or/and slice of cake ... Skylark is a lovely place and great atmosphere. On our last visit we came with friends for breakfast and all left very happy. The food was delicious, great quality and plenty of it. Some in our party had special dietary requirements, but that wasn't a problem at all. Fabulous place, great beer ( so I'm told) and friendly staff . Highly recommended. Oh and they love dogs too

Lunch with the GD. Had to wait for the RM to return but she was working at the cash desk inside on a busy Sat lunch service. Very friendly greeting. Had to ask for the Children's menu, I had the Quiche special. It was ok but a bit bland. Too many potatoes for me but tasty , small dressed salad which was ok. Good selection of drinks. Very busy but service was good and pleasant . Noisy as little to absorb the sound. Think I won't go for lunch again but at breakfast time it is great especially if you can sit outside.

The Owl is now a regular haunt for us having discovered it last summer. This visit we went for Fish & Chips it’s always good and a match if not better than any other in the area including the local fish and chip shops. We were there over Easter and it was very busy , but we got our food in less than 15 mins and I was impressed to see 6 people behind the bar, this pub thinks about its customers and giving a good service across the board. The only problem we have is we don’t live closer, maybe we should buy one of the chalets in the park next to them!

Three of us went for a meal on Wednesday 8th April. We all ordered different meals and all of them were delicious. Service was good and staff very friendly.

Really lovely lunch to celebrate our son getting married in Australia!! Buddha bowl minus the avocado and dressing was just perfect! The tart was lovely too and our cakes very yummy! X

I had been here once before and liked it, but not this time. In some of the chicken dishes (the sweet and sour and satay chicken - don't know about the rest as I didn't try all chicken dishes), the 'chicken' seemed a weird clear white colour and was stringy and greasy; it was so disgusting and left rest of it. Most dishes seem to have nuts in which didn't need to have nuts in, such as chicken wings, thereby limiting the choice of things my children could have. Even though the restaurant was practically empty, they did not clear our plates, resulting in them stacking up on table. There was a weird public toiletty bleach smell near the kitchen area. As soon as you get into the restaurant, they tell you to pay and demand to know at the till what drink you want. It would be more appropriate to allow people to sit down and have time to look at the drinks menu, then expecting people to know what drinks you have. Or at the very least, if you want it paid upon entry, at least say something like, 'would you like to look at our drinks menu now (and point people in direction of said menu) or would you like to come back to bar once you've had a few minutes to decide. I don't think this is good value for money; the food quality has seriously gone downhill; perhaps switching to poor quality ingredients in order to maximize profits and take advantage of customers. I won't be back.

First time here definitely would not return. The food was luke warm and the meat (chicken) seemed undercooked and squidgy. Tried a little bit of various things but all tasted strange. Dessert choice was poor and chocolate fountain is unpleasant - very strange colour and watery. We left without eating much of anything and got food elsewhere . We did tell the manager our feedback. Very expensive mistake.

Had a lovely lunch! The food was really tasty, the cakes looked amazing but we didn’t have room for more. We weren’t hurried at all and we sat and chatted for two hours!! Thank you The staff were very friendly too. I will definitely be back

As always, we had a great experience at The Barn Cafe. The breakfast was excellent and it was hard to choose from such a varied and interesting menu. Can't wait to visit again soon.

Another wonderful afternoon at the Dukes. Roast was delicious as always!

Excellent lunchtime visit. Helpful staff and top steak and ale pie. Enjoyable relaxed atmosphere in a wonderful village pub.