Acanteen in Chelmsford

Great place for food and entertainment, great people and just a fantastic atmosphere. Love it. Xxx

Big breakfast not only extremely expensive but the bacon was rock hard and over cooked and the sausages tasteless. Would have been better going to a greasy spoon for a quarter of the price. Very disappointed . The plate was full only because of two slices of toast.

As a Coeliac it is always hard for me to relax when dining out. But it wasn't any stress, everyone I spoke to was already aware of it from when we booked the table and they were confident that they could cater for me safely. The service was brilliant. We had a wicked night, food was superb and the atmosphere was excellent. 100% recommend A Canteen and we look forward to returning soon. Thank you

Great lunch, delicious pizza and very attentive waiter Sacha. Thank you!

Me and my brother didn't know this place served such a good full English breakfast Great staff Food was quick and very impressive very good quality food in my opinion. Lovely owners we met today very friendly Would definitely say give them a visit. Best place so far

Lovely vibe, very relaxed and welcoming. Staff friendly and helpful. Food was good size portions and very good prices. Lovely venue for a catch up with friends.

Average gluten free options are available - bread, full English etc. Not badly priced for near London, food was okay

Worst burger in the world, ever! Had dinner here last week, 8oz steak and chips, lovely. So came back this week and it's been taken off the menu, so went for a burger. My goodness, it was inedible, and trust me, I'm not super fussy. They did remove it from our bill, but still charged service, bit cheeky! Acanteen clearly no longer trades on it's good food, but rather its events evenings, whereby punters are so involved with the entertainment, they're happy to eat sub par food. Sorry guys, we won't be back again.... Very disappointing 😞... On the plus side, there are plenty of other, far superior eating options in Chelmsford now, thank goodness!

What a brilliant night, the Madonna tribute act was absolutely brilliant…. The atmosphere was fantastic .. what a lovely group of people. The staff are so lovely also. Would highly recommend Acanteen… was my first time being there and loved it.

We had a fabulous time. The Madonna tribute singer was fantastic! I haven't sang and danced so much in ages!

Great atmosphere, lovely food and a real personal service. Ideal for lunch stop. An interesting menu with plenty of choice. Would highly recommend.

Great service, food & drinks and atmosphere. A little independent gem in Chelmsford, thank you

Once food was ordered, service was good but had issues with drinks and had to call someone over to order our food. Not clear who was supposed to be looking after us.

Food is good, but not more than that. Service is kinda slow, but OK. The place itself is buzzing with life which is nice

Delicious food, service pretty slow

We booked a bottomless brunch and it was a great experience. The wine was regularly topped up keeping our glasses full and the food was great. Sasha our waiter was very friendly and was very polite and friendly. He was very accommodating and made our time here very enjoyable, definitely recommend to other for a bottomless brunch.

Sasha was very attentive and friendly. We really appreciated his service and grateful for his charm.

Came here for a DJ night so cannot comment on the food, great event space. Drinks were reasonable and the venue felt very luxury for a 'club night'. Toilets were large and clean, music system was decent enough and the lineup was VERY good, it's nice to see Chelmsford have some good dance music events. I hope the event was a success and they host more similar things. We even got a free shot on entry! Only negative was the opening times were listed as 9pm-3am but at 1:15am they told us we couldn't come back inside and that the night was ending. Not sure who's error this was but it would have been good if we'd have been told beforehand as we planned our evening according to opening times.

This was our first time visiting, chosen as we needed to accommodate vegan dietary needs along with gluten intolerance. The service was excellent. The skin-on fries were delicious. The salt beef was particularly disappointing. I am familiar with melt-in-the mouth sliced salt beef, but the version offered here was tough and stringy. If you look at a Reuben sandwich, the salt beef is sliced, not stringy pulled beef. 2 of us had this dish and neither of us enjoyed it. The atmosphere is perfect for families; however, the acoustics mean that it can get very loud, which can make conversing difficult if you are in the main dining area. I would visit again for a coffee, but would try elsewhere for a meal out.

We hired the private room for a party and the team looked after us superbly. ACanteen is a great lunchtime option, coffee shop, restaurant and live music venue, and their evening menu is outstanding. I look forward to the day they’re open 7 days a week! Bravo ACanteen. Would give you 6 out of 5 if it was an option.

Go to local independent restaurant, always fresh, well cooked food with excellent service.

It took a while to have our orders taken but appreciate it was a busy night. Everyone in the group loved the food and had a great time

Just popped in and was pleasantly surprised with how nice the food was and very nice staff

Draq Queen boozy bingo was absolutely brilliant fun ! Violet and Saffron were simultaneously glamorous and terrifying hosts 😍🤣

Lovely food. Service was great to start. But we were left for half hour after we finished our main, no offertory of dessert and had to to the check in to pay.

We did the bottomless dinner. The food was great and the server was always topping our glasses up. Nice atmosphere and a great night. Would defo come again.

The waiter was really Friendly and cool

The vibe, staff and service are the very best Chelmsford has to offer. Great food and evening music. I've been twice and I will definitely be back for a third at some point.

It was just perfect. We felt like we were at home.

Lovely place to chill out, love the sofas, coffee options good, nice seevice

Lovely staff, great music and atmosphere and the roast dinner was gorgeous!

Pleasant surroundings and decent, but expensive, food. Waited over 50 minutes for a sausage bap and avocado on toast which seemed excessive - staff were unapologetic “it’s busy”.

Let's break this down. I'm writing this kind of heart broken because I had meals there before and it was lovely. On my previous visits I had breakfast and I have to say it was amazing. Probably one, if not the best breakfast out I had! Now the dinner meal was a great disappointment, considering the high standards of my breakfasts. I had a steak wich was overcooked (nobody bothered to check on our meals BTW) and tough as shoe sole. Service was great when it happened, but the luck of it is the main issue. Everyone was polite and helpful but we literally had to wave them to get any attention. Atmosphere was something else! We went out to celebrate my 40th birthday. The info I got from their website, suggested nice dine, drink, and dance experience. Just by looking around I thought I was in the right place, until the DJ arrived. Music was not as advertised and extremely loud. After asking if that's going to change, we were told he's not that kind of DJ. All I mean is "read your croud". Overall, I'll probably go back for breakfast. Definitely not for dinner, drinks and dance. Very disappointed 😞

We had the private room today for a Mother’s Day meal and everything was spot on! Sasha, Tom and Omar were great and were super helpful with everything we needed. The food was delicious and everyone enjoyed it! Would definitely recommend

From the ambient music to the chill atmosphere, chef cooked the food well and the service by a friendly and attentive waiter Sach!?, sorry if the name is wrong, would definitely come again.

Late booking for 10 for Sunday lunch, accommodated really well, was busy within but served in good time, food came not long after. The roasts were very generous and we all left happy and full!

Delicious food great selection of vegan food on the menu. So fresh as we could see straight in to the brilliant looking kitchen. Although it was rather empty due to our early eating time the atmosphere was very pleasant. Staff were super attentive

Atmosphere, menu and staff are always the best option in town. We reserved a sofa, a great option whether you want a glass of wine or a coffee!! Chelmsford needs more places like this.

Food - due to being fully booked busy day due to Chelmsford Half Marathon Sausages and bacon were sold out and off the brunch menu, disappointing. Food that arrived was good. Also sold out of apple juice but good bar staff offered us to try the fresh apple juice. Atmosphere in bar area was good for sunday lunchtime. The window benches are too high for tables making awkward to eat and uncomfortable. Host man at door was great, professional and polite, including when coming to tell our whole table what was sold out on menu Drinks service slow on 2 occassionz ordered - Restaurant had quietened down so wasn't that. All young Waitresses and waiters lacked customer service. Minimal, if any, smiles, polite communication and training when delivering. No offer of sauces, forgot cuttlery, had to go ask. Even my 11 year old neice noticed the grumpy Manor.

We always love a visit to ACanteen. All staff are really friendly and helpful. It’s the perfect place to go after a dog walk through Central Park for a coffee and bite to eat. Our little boy especially loves the pancakes with banana and chocolate!

I just wanted to share how wonderful and kind one of your staff members was when I visited today with my autistic son. We were part of a large group and my son started having a meltdown after we had ordered some food. The man serving us very kindly offered to cancel some of the order for me and box up my garlic bread to take away as a matter of urgency. Thank you so much for your kindness, as it doesn’t often happen in situations like this. Plus, the garlic bread was absolutely delicious!

Wonderful place. Never disappoints. Professional staff and quality ingredients. Lovely relaxed atmosphere. A template for how to run a restaurant!

Sasha was our host and was brilliant

Me and my friend came for bottomless dinner. Josh our server was absolutely amazing, non stop Prosecco and went above and beyond! Thank you so much. Definitely coming back and will recommend. Thank you!

We had a brilliant time at the Drag Boozy Bingo night.The hosts, staff, music and bingo were all great. Such fun! We will definitely be coming again. Thank you

If anyone's thinking about going to a tribute night at Acanteen, don't bother it's a complete waste of money We went to the Whitney Houston Tribute night last week and was so disappointed. It's marketed as 7-10.30, the tribute act came on at 8.45, sang for 45 minutes then had a break. When she came back she sang other songs and no more Whitney. So the tribute was actually only 45 mins! Didn't even sing I will always love you! I spoke to the manager whose attitude was appalling and emailed to complain the following day and have not even had a reply! Such a shame, I Have always liked the restaurant being independent and always good food and atmosphere, Am so disappointed in their customer service, they've completely let themselves down and I now have a different view of them! Thank you for your response, disappointing that it is the exact same email as my friend received. She only Sang to I'm every woman, so didn't sing all the play list and certainly wasn't singing for 2 hours!

Great place amazing food and music

Had a great evening here last Friday with my girlfriend. Great service, the 6oz burger was very good, would recommend it. Later the dj played some great music as well, at the right volume. Created a lovely atmosphere. Perfect night out.

Nice quiet dinner with my boyfriend enjoyed the DJ at 9pm

Our first time at A canteen. Will definitely be back! Food for everyone and caters well for allergies too.

Spent a fantastic Valentine's night at A Canteen. Great food from the chef and great music from the live band and singer.

Visited Acanteen with a couple of friends of the weekend for Sunday lunch and enjoyed a very delightful roast dinner. I myself had the roast pork which came with seasonal vegetables, roast potatoes, stuffing and a Yorkshire. Overall the flavour and portion size was good, the Yorkshire was a bit too well done for my liking (it’s was basically air and was crumbly). The roast potatoes were gorgeous! Likely to return again my only niggle is I wish the service had been a little more attentive post ordering food. We had to wait quite a bit of time for our plates to be cleared after finishing and we’re not offered any additional drinks until the end of our meal. Pricing isn’t bad for the what you get however a service charge was added to the bill which we reluctantly paid just so we could get out quicker having waited some time for the bill. Not a bad spot for lunch, friendly atmosphere; love that it’s dog friendly :)

Really like this place. My first time here. Plenty of space inside and tables not too close together, a really nice feel to the place. Lots of vegan options. Very nice chai latte. Could build my own sourdough toast brunch. Had scrambled tofu, avacado, plum tomatoes and vegan bacon. Great plate of food. Probably was worth £18 but wouldn't want to spend that much on brunch too often! Great service.

Had a lovely roast dinner yesterday. Served nice and hot and a really good portion. We did however wait about 40 minutes to receive it

The best breakfast in Chelmsford 😍 There's a great selection on the menu, everything I've tried has been fantastic

Food was delicious. Our waiter Thomas was very friendly and changed my chair on request too. Definitely recommend this place. So nice to not go to a chain restaurant.

I always call in this restaurant cafe when in town , it has a great bar good food and coffee

Popped in with my six year old for brunch. He likes it as he can get waffles bacon syrup and he can choose me a different tea from the menu. Staff are always polite and interested, food was quick and after ordering via the online menu the waiter still came over to ask if everything was alright. Large portions, al fresh and tasty, very good. Not the cheapest place to go for brunch but all things considered I’m happy to pay the extra for the whole experience.

Really nice food. Also great place to meet up with other mums - especially if you all have prams!

A lady called Saffron was on duty and it was my daughter’s 21st birthday. Saffron spent time with us talking to my daughter and made her feel very welcome. A lovely lady and a credit to ACanteen. Thank you

We had a great time at the boozy bingo evening. Ruby Violet was hilarious! We will definitely be attending again soon

Team gave us a warm welcome, gave us a great suitable table (given we were a big group with lots of babies), allowed us to stay longer than planned, and looked after us really well.

Me and a friend went for the bottomless prosecco with dinner option. Was really great value and the pizzas were amazing - so big I couldn't finish mine ! Also, a DJ started to play when we finished but we had other plans so didn't stay on this time but would if we went again. Will definitely be back.

Lovely lunch with a friend. Great food, service and atmosphere. Thanks!

Lovely atmosphere, good service and food, definitely coming back

Great food and place to meet and eat. Very busy, need to reserve to ensure you get a table, we will be back

We had a Christmas Party of 18 people at Acanteen in December and it was utterly diabolical. Firstly, one of our guests was gluten free and got served normal bread. It wasn’t until she questioned that her bread looked the same as the others that the waiters realised they had given her gluten free bread to someone else and were shouting up the table that somebody must have the wrong bread. This is unacceptable and could have proved a massive problem had she started to eat the wrong bread. Another one of our guests was served the wrong starter completely and another, who didn’t order a starter, had prawns written on her place card. What is the point in doing pre-orders if the food served is not even correct? And what is the point in asking if guests have allergies/ intolerances if this is treated so blah-say by your staff? The next disappointment was the hour long wait between starters and main courses. It was near on 9.30pm when the mains were brought out. The staff serving us lacked any enthusiasm to be working and were not attentive to the fact that the majority of the group had empty glasses. I myself gave up on ordering alcoholic drinks as it just seemed too much effort to get a member of staff’s attention. I just stuck to the tap water that was on the table which was a shame as it was an evening we were all looking forward to having a few drinks and a dance. The way the tables were laid out meant that it was impossible to communicate with the others down the other end of the table. It would have been better to have 2 smaller tables next to each other where you could have at least turned around to speak to our group. This leads me on to my next point that the music was diabolical. How can this be called a festive evening when not one Christmas song was played?! The majority of our group had left by 11pm as the music choice was so questionable and did not entice anyone to get up and dance. I would in fact go as far as saying the music was boring. The final straw was the insult of having a service charge added to our tab - this had not been mentioned before and, as the groups organiser, I had collected everyone’s payment before the night so this cost would have been down to myself to cover. I also think it is totally wrong to leave the final payment until the night, given the fact I had asked several times by email when the balance would be due but had not received a response about this question. At £59, this was one of the higher priced Christmas party evenings that we had looked at but had chosen Acanteen as we thought we would have a better quality evening. Given the large amount of money that we as a group had spent, Acanteen could only offer us a pathetic £10 voucher in compensation for the diabolical night that we had. Needless to say this was not an acceptable apology and non of the group will be returning. Do not waste your money on booking a Christmas Party at Acanteen!

Hired the private room for mine and my partners baby shower. Amazing room for such event and well worth it if looking for a venue to hire. Service from the team was fantastic. Special mention to the Acanteen team for looking after us, All the Chefs, Josh, Nathan, Tom and Saffron. Thank you all.

The roast was amazing, loads of food, food was served hot & you can tell its home made. Delish! Definitely will revisit for Sunday roast again x

We had a very nice brunch at A Canteen. The staff were very attentive and friendly . Excellent food .

Overall, a good experience visiting for a family lunch

We had a lovely afternoon celebrating my friend who is having a baby soon. The restaurant was busy but our food arrived in good time and was delicious. Lovely staff, a really enjoyable visit. Thank you.

Lovely breakfast place! Egg Benedict was very good, perfectly cooked poached eggs with rich hollandaise sauce.

We had a great evening and the Abba tribute band were very good. It didn’t feel like good value for money though as the menu was quite limited with only one drink included (although the food was good). It was also disappointing that table service ended at 21.45.

Food was very nice .Entertainment was just ok

Attended the last “Jimpster Presents…” session for 2023 Along with resident musical maestro Jamie were the guest selectors- the don of good taste Oliver Knight and the iconic legend of music and lens that is Normski. As ever the music and vibe is incredible. The door and bar staff are super friendly and efficient. Jamie and Emma and the Acanteen team have done a brilliant job to host a classy, no attitude night with just a great vibe. I cannot wait for what’s in store for 2024

Had a wonderful night at a fabulous Funky Dory event in this great venue.

Food was fantastic, the booze flowed for our bottomless brunch, served by the wonderful Sasha! Thank you so much A Canteen for the superb service and wonderful evening!

Went for the boozy bingo had a really good time was really funny and food was amazing, Service was really great, it’s one of the rare places that I feel safe as a woman

Me and my friends truly love a night out in Acanteen. It never disappoints! Good food, great music and brilliant staff that make the place feel like home.

Hadn't visited here for quite a while. Booked for 9am Christmas eve eve. Was fairly busy from the off. Did take a while for someone to rake our order, considering we were the first customers through the door. Food was as nice as I remember, looked lovely on the plate too. Look forward to visiting again soon.

Had a lovely breakfast here on a Saturday morning. Lovely and spacious yet intimate. Food was fantastic

We had a really great evening at A Canteen for the evening brunch. The roast we had was fantastic! Haven’t eaten here for a while but we were very impressed with the food.

Went to pay a £5.10 drink with a £20 note and was told no change as no cash tills. There are no signs stating this before entering the premises, at the place where you wait to enter the restaurant area and bar. Luckily I had a card so could pay but I definitely will not be returning. Absolutely disgusting as not having bar tenders pocketing £15 for £5 drink.

Our company attended a Christmas party night at ACanteen. Everyone agreed this was the best Christmas party we had ever had. The service was excellent and so was the food. We were a party of thirty very thirsty people and I was very impressed that the staff brought our drinks so efficiently and quickly considering how busy it was. The DJ was great and got us all up dancing in no time. I would thoroughly recommend ACanteen. I am sure we will be back very soon! Thanks so much to all the staff. A great night was had by all.

Good size portions of food, we selected several small plates. Staff were attentive and food service was fast. It was a very busy lunchtime on our visit. The only reason for not providing 5 stars was the menu choices.

Nice experience although frustrating that I was overcharged. I didn’t realise until I got home and too late to rectify.

Good food, great atmosphere and decent Prosecco!

A Canteen is a fantastic local venue - great service, food and atmosphere! Always enjoy our visits here.

Disappointing Sunday lunch. The good points. The staff were very pleasant but we were served by at least 6 different people and the lack of continuity may have played it's part. Yorkshires were a good size and quite tasty and the lamb was the best of the meat. The not so good bits. Drinks - one of the drinks wasn't as described on the menu (missing it's cream and extra bits) but we decided it wasn't worth making a point about it. All 5 of us ordered the roast lunch. 3 dinners were delivered along with a portion of cauliflower cheese for 2. We were then asked if that was everything. Surprisingly it wasn't. Asking where the other two dinners were seemed to come as a surprise - back to my earlier point, if we had had the same waiter they would have known we'd ordered 5 dinners. Apologies made but no real explanation as to where the dinners had got to but one of the party did get an extra drink for their trouble. This was the same drink as before but this time it also came with a candy cane and biscuits but still without the cream. We did seek clarification re the miniscule amount of cauli and extra was brought out. The two missing turkey dinners came without their pigs in blanket, all of the sprouts were like marbles and the roast beef was extremely tough and over-cooked. No doubt other people have had good food here but the experience was very disappointing. Not a place I shall be re-visiting.

I brought my Sister's family in for breakfast after parkrun. My nephews loved it, especially their milkshakes.

Fantastic Xmas party meal at Acanteen. Food was delicious and there was plenty food on the plates. Everyone enjoyed it and all the staff messaged me today saying what a nice atmosphere Acanteen provide.

Attended a Christmas party evening. £59 for 3 course meal. Absolutely shocking food compared to their usual offerings. The prawn cocktail was tiny shrimps with no flavour, the sea bass came out in a puddle of oily hash browns and the biscoff cheesecake was grainy and warm! Felt this was mass catering with no care. The vegan butter supplied with the soggy sour dough (tasted like it had just been defrosted) on the starters tasted like plastic. We asked for some real butter but apparently they don't have real butter on site. There were 11 of us so they made a huge amount of money from us as no drinks were included and their prices for drinks were not cheap (£30 a bottle of prosecco). We had such high hopes of a great Christmas evening out with good food but completely let down. The dancefloor could hold half the people that attended so we left early. Their food on a regular visit is sooo good! I would not recommend their party evenings at all.

Just been to Acanteen for Xmas works party. Red and his team always give the best service and a personal touch. Food was fantastic and as always atmosphere, in my opinion, is the best Chelmsford has to offer.

Works Xmas party absolutely brilliant night good food good atmosphere had a wonderful time and staff went above and beyond would definitely recommend

Great meal for our Xmas party! Great service from Red and the team :-)

Josh & Saffron took good care of us, we are really happy with the service we recieved in the private room for our event. Thank you.

Great food and atmosphere. Thanks to Red for looking after us!

Great food, great staff, well managed. Go here every other Sunday with a pal. Can’t fault it. Run very well by Nathan

Love the good- really good portions, good quality and lovely flavour! Service was great however slightly slow on the drinks! I appreciate it was busy but not fully sold out busy!