Reviews in Essex

Family have come to stay and we all went to the Hare & Hounds. Ages ranged from 11 - 78 and there was something for everyone. The food was excellent and the service and atmosphere helpful and friendly.

We had Sunday lunch at The Ship. The restaurant was quiet, and the service was excellent. Our waitress was so attentive, and polite. She knew her stuff, and had everything covered. It was a lovely sunny day, and that would account for the quietness, as normally this lovely pub is packed. We enjoyed a rare meal out, and had a lovely walk in the park afterwards. Highly recommend and nicest pub in the area.

My husband and I treated ourselves to lunch at Stoked on Sunday 6th April and it was absolutely fantastic. Very generous portions carefully crafted and presented by a very diligent chef, Billy, while the loveliest lady took care of everyone out the front! I feel awful for not recalling her name! An absolutely amazing experience and well worth the trip out!

Had a lovely Saturday early evening with friends Staff were welcoming and friendly Food was great Good value too

Food good, amosphere excellent, staff not so much. Have been coming for a long time but this was the third visit on the trot where the staff and service was not good. One waitress was outright rude to me yesterday, which was embarrassing. Such a shame as it used to be very good.

Used to be our go to for lunch when we lived locally, and thought we would try it again as we were in Colchester for the day. Unfortunately it's not what it used to be. Staff, except for the clearly out his depth front of house greeter, were great, but the menu has go e backwards under the new management, with prices also significantly higher. Regret, likely to be our last visit.

Food was fabulous. Service quick and friendly. Will definitely return.

Excellent all round!

Our group was meeting up from 3 different counties and had an excellent lunch experience. It was a well balanced menus with a wide variety of meat, fish and vegetarian options. We were welcomed by polite, friendly and efficient staff.

Good food in a nice atmosphere. I was on a restricted diet and they kindly prepared a plain omelette and toast, which was not on the menu, with no fuss. Greatly appreciated

Eight mature ladies visit Barnplants cafe every first Tuesday of each month for tea and cake in the afternoon. The service is good and cakes are delicious, but we don't understand why the restaurant refuses to stock Redbush (Rooibos) tea, despite constant requests, as we all drink this tea by preference.

Unfortunately, the food wasn’t the greatest but the service wasn’t all that good either. The options for food was amazing but the quality in food was poor. On top of that all the servers were on their phones which isn’t the greatest look for a business, right through the hour and half that myself and my family were there. No music was being played just the sound of people’s voices, felt as though I was at a funeral. The servers all looked tired and like they just hated their jobs

After reading all the reviews we were a bit worried. We thought we would give it a whirl regardless. I have to say it was ok, if you eat anything and don’t have any dietary requirements. if you are vegetarian and gluten free it’s not for you as most dishes contain gluten and some of the vegetables contain shellfish /crustations. There was not a vegetable curry , which is a shame. Going around the foods twice I came away with green beans and some broccoli, which is disappointing considering it cost 20.00 pp. As a table of 5 it cost 96.00 without drinks , which considering what you can buy for your money in other restaurants is expensive if your not eating to its full opportunity. The staff work hard , dishes were replenished quickly and clearing away tables was done regularly. I wouldn’t go back but that’s due to the amount of dishes available for me bring v and gf but the others dining liked it.

My mum & I went for a Monday lunch here for a Mother’s Day treat for my mum, I chose a Monday as I was thinking it’ll be quiet. It was quiet but this made no difference to the staff being very unaware of us waiting 25 mins to be asked what we would like to drink let alone what we would like for our lunch. As by this time I went up to the til to then ask if we could order & mentioned myself & another table which I noticed had also been waiting 25 or so minutes. Food took a very long time to then come out & I had no apologies from the waitress about waiting or having to go up to the til to ask to order our food. This is the second time I have eaten here both times have been very slow & staff are not friendly. It’s a real shame as myself & my mum love to shop here but won’t be coming back for lunch.

Excellent meal we all had the Sunday roast and it was really good. Staff were friendly and a nice atmosphere

Service, food and atmosphere all very good. I would say it’s on the expensive side though.

Food was amazing- Buddha bowl is lovely, however we were left 15mins to choose our food, then we noticed people who’d arrived after us were giving their orders . I’d just got up to ask , when they came and took our order. But will return ..

Food was very good and setting is lovely but unfortunately we found a couple of the staff to be very bored and uninviting, I don’t blame them as I am sure it’s long days and I have worked in the food industry before so understand but found there to be a massive difference when we later got served by someone who was much more smiley and approachable. Also we were disappointed when they didn’t have the meat we wanted for the roast which is always annoying as we didn’t really want the other meats so would have been best if we were told before. Also we were unaware the mother’s day menu would be £50 each so would have also been great to be told as that is very expensive, we wanted just mains and dessert but weren’t allowed to have just that had to have the menu unique for the day, again just better communication would of been great. But have liked the pub in the past so probably an off day.