Reviews in Essex

Always lovely food, and good customer service. I go regularly because its so good. I love wandering around the garden centre always new products to see.

We recently help a birthday party for my daughter Hazel, with 44 guests . The tables ,decorations, lights etc all made for a lovely,atmosphere. The food was good, the service was good, everyone enjoyed their meals and commented on it . The only fault was the vegetarian meal which was dull and unimaginative. My gluten free meal was very nice.

Great meal for the family

Expensive food for what it is. Customer service / friendliness barely existent. Shame there aren't many other options in the area.

Unfortunately, we left before we ordered the meal. A few things prompted this. 1 the lady on the desk, checking people in was very abrupt and not at all welcoming. 2 the menue seems to only cater for main meals, not light lunches, at quite high prices. Nowhere could we find, sandwiches, jacket potoes etc. This is such a shame as we have been coming g for years. It was my late father's favourite place to eat, even though he lived in Brentwood. Whenever asked for his birthday or special occasion where he wanted to go, it was always here. I feel sad and disappointed that things have changed in this way. As it was always a treat to come to eat and shop

Lovely staff, great value for money and divine food, the sausages especially are to die for. It’s a long way to come from Basildon, but well worth it. A lovely little garden centre and cafe in the middle of nowhere

I & 3 friends enjoyed a lovely birthday meal yesterday (Sat 19th Oct) on the 6 course taster menu. Now our 3rd visit & would highly recommend for the food & excellent service! 5☆

Not the normal standard. Group of 6. The best thing was the coffee. The loop warm breakfast, soggy bacon and underwhelming size of portions. The scrambled egg was a tea spoon at most. The eggs royal must have been the smallest muffins I have seen. The poached eggs were bigger and the salmon… must have still been swimming it was literally nothing. A very expensive morning which normally I don’t mind at the barn but it was really poor this time. Did not want to complain as waiters and staff are brilliant. Maybe next time if I come back

The coffee is brilliant. The cake is brilliant. The food was pretty poor. Yes it was warm… that was it , but it was the smallest portion. Across the whole table of 6. Really disappointing. The bacon on the full English’s was soggy. Scrambled eggs was a tea spoon and the eggs royale was not so royal! Great service lovely staff!

The Baker’s Arms is a cut above pub grub and is our ‘go to’ for a pub lunch. The food is reliably good quality, the service always friendly by local staff and, weather permitting, you can sit outside. It’s also on the 300 bus route so we can all take advantage of good beer and the wine list.

First visit to Stoked. Very impressed with the food and service. Great choice of beers as well. Will definitely return

Hi we had a lunch with you on 16 of Oct,in fact our Anniversary, we both had starters which were very nice, I then had the seabass,lovely, my. Wife had the small ribs although the meat was lovely and fell off the bone her meal spoiled by the bar b q sauce which was baked on hardcase burnt,it spoilt the day,Not up to the usual high standard.

Awesome staff and awesome good, what more is there to say. Will definitely be back.

Went to celebrate my father in laws 98 birthday , he’s hard of hearing and uses a walker , the staff were amazing with him . The food and service was really good . Food was fresh and hot and the staff made sure we was ok without being in your face

Lovely Sunday meal with the family Good was great as always and the cauliflower cheese is unreal!

We had to wait an hour for our Sunday Lunch. The food was nice but service was poor. Nobody paid us the courtesy of managing our expectations about the delay. No apology was given when they brought the food over and said “apologies again” when we paid up. Too little too late

Group of 10 of us were all disspointed with our recent visit. The food was dispointing in taste and portion size. The roast potatoes were hard, the childrens portions didnt come with any extras (stuffing or pigs in blankets) or veg and my pudding had kitchen foil in it!!

We were celebrating an important birthday midweek, while we were staying nearby. Mandy found the blue Anchor online & I booked, very easy. A good selection of Beer & wine, but the local ale wasn't available, so we had lager, and several of the 2 for 1 offer cocktails, very well made, which Mandy enjoyed immensely. Everything we had was superbly presented, exciting to the eye and nose, and tasted delicious, served quickly, without us feeling we were waiting too long. Starters: Confit pork terrine, & Chicken bonbons starter. The chicken bonbons seemed larger than golf balls, well chosen Caesar dressing, crispy pancetta, decoratively presented. The confit wasn't pate on toast, it was a very tasty terrine, with sage mayo, black pudding crumb, charred spring onion, and brioche toast, again superb. Mains: Pan-fried seabass fillet, chive hasselback potatoes, this looked amazing. I don't do fish, but enjoyed a morsel from my partners' plate. I ordered Asian-style glazed beef short rib, stir-fried vegetables, noodles, charred pak choi, crispy onions. When given a spoon, I expected something soup-like in a bowl. I didn't know what to expect, but I got a slab of of slow cooked beef worthy of a 8-10 oz. steak. served on a mattress of thin flat noodles and spicy chilli with vegetables. The seasoned beef fell apart at the slightest touch of a fork, nostalgically reminding me of German style Kassler, from my youth. Superb. A 2 for 1 offer on desserts led us to have: Italian Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream with a refreshing lemon sorbet served with chunks of very sticky & gooey honeycomb and chocolate soil. This had a suberb quality taste, absolutely no chemically aftertaste, you get from cheap sorbets. The staff kindly put the large profiteroles made with light pastry and proper chocolate with chocolate sauce and honeycomb in a takeaway box for me to enjoy later. Service was quick & attentive, and the young lady server was quick to ask the chefs all my questions about the food & ingredients. A most enjoyable evening, & (when) we plan a break nearby, we will be back.