Ego at Running Mare, Chelmsford in Chelmsford

We were very disappointed, poor service, indifferent staff, small portions, food average, slow service. Won’t be returning.

Be very wary of this restaurant if you have food intolerances or allergies. My wife pre booked some weeks before our reservation and we did visit the restaurant in person to ensure she could still be catered for as she has an unusual intolerance to oils and fats. We were assured she could be catered for by the person who took the booking. On the night however we were bluntly told she could not be catered for and there were no alternatives even though we have successfully visited this restaurant in the past. We had to leave the restaurant shortly after sitting down. This ruined a special family evening planned some time in advance. If you have any kind of issue with food or special requirements I strongly suggest going elsewhere.

Had heard good reports of the Running Mare from family members, but had never been there, in my 50 plus years in the area. Chose it for lunch, for a catch up with an old friend as they lived near by. Booked a table and turned up to find the disabled bays blocked by a delivery van!!. Was shown to our table, which resulted in a long wait made longer by the fact that the table next to us, was served before us even though they came after us. I ordered the steak from the special lunch menu, which was very small and very tough. So not impressed, as to cost and quality offered for the price

We had another really enjoyable visit to Ego at the Running Mare - delicious food with a great menu selection and efficient and friendly service received from Dylan. Highly recommended.

Hands down my favourite restaurant locally. The service is always fast & the servers are very attentive. It’s a busy restaurant but the team are always giving 110% effort. Food is excellent and they have a great range. I love the Moroccan style lamb 👌🏽 Thank you for always giving us the best experience! I’m looking forward to trying these mango & passion fruit Eton mess!

Outstanding service. Turned up as a family of 10, but there was confusion with the booking and they were fully booked. Staff ran around, found a table (built a table) and we were in. It was very busy but there was no delay for service. Stunning food, with 10 clear plates! (That goes for starters and deserts too) Fantastic, thank you first accommodating us.

Outstanding service. Turned up as a family of 10, but there was confusion with the booking and they were fully booked. Staff ran around, found a table (built a table) and we were in. It was very busy but there was no delay for service. Stunning food, with 10 clear plates! (That goes for starters and deserts too) Fantastic, thank you first accommodating us.

Friendly service, flat white was spot on, and I would definitely recommend the fish and chips, generous portion size and was cooked to perfection. Would definitely revisit again.

Lovely dinner out with my family. Food was excellent and the service was fab too. Lots of choice on the menu for kids too

I went here a few days ago for coffee and cake The coffee was served Luke warm and took ages to come and it wasn’t even that busy. We did mention that we weren’t happy and they did offer us a new coffee. It would’ve been nicer if they just took a discount off the bill But this didn’t happen. Disappointed

Lucy-anne was very lovely, and attentive. Gave great recommendations and always smiling :)

Top service today at the running mare! To top it off the weather was great and the beer garden was a real nice touch

Fantastic meal and reasonably priced. Couldn’t fault the staff who were all amazing

Absolute 1st class experience food excellent service brilliant TOTAL pleasure looking FORWARD to my next visit

I have been to this establishment on many occasions and never had any problem in recommending it ,but this time the chips were cold and the chicken on the kebabs was tough. The lamb dish however was delicious but the although the service was good extremely slow.I would think twice about returning

Always good food, really good value with offer of the day. Never disappointed with Ego

Mediocre service and food was ok nothing special just felt a bit deflated as new and drive quite a way for a birthday meal

The waiters are very attentive, service is 5-star!

I was celebrating my 80th birthday with members of my family ly lunch one at Ego at Running Mare on 8 March 2025 which in itself was great but the dining experience and service by Lucy-Anne was marvellous and made an occasion to remember

First time at the Ego at the Running Mare, WOW ! lovely food topped off with world-class service from Ann. We will 100% be back and will bring family and friends. Thank you for a lovely evening. see you again soon

Top quality food with amazing staff. Can't wait to visit again soon

Went for Sunday roast with family but was extremely disappointed. Very small portions of meat, 3 small soft roast potatoes, extremely small potions of veg and lumpy gravy. Yorkshire pudding was the best bit for amount and quality. Expensive for what we had (£83 for 3 lunches, 2 pints of lager and a glass of wine) and when we paid in cash, the waitress asked if we wanted our change. Won’t be going again.

A welcoming pub with friendly staff, the food is fine but somewhat over priced considering the quality. The service was a slight let down, trying to get the attention of staff every time we needed something, not bringing cutlery with our meals and weren’t checked on once.

Really helpful staff, good food and a pleasant environment with which to enjoy a meal with friends. Thank you...we will all be back soon. X

Food is incredible, staff are great

Started off being berated for no reason about our pre order. We had a couple drop out ( which we communicated well beforehand) and I was told off for them not ordering! It was a Saturday so I get it, it's busy. Orders for additional items such as drinks were confused and took ages. Food was okay, although I was told the vegie options were fabulous! It was value for money however so I was not disappointed at all. Just didn't have to start off that way!

We had a pleasant enough experience. Starters were good and my husbands meal very nice apparently. My steak unfortunately was rather grisly with little taste and the chip’s overdone. Also I have to say the glass of red Merlot wine I had was extremely poor and left an unpleasant after taste. Staff were friendly and very welcoming and they seemed confident on my allergy order. They also have an extensive gluten free menu. This is why I’m still giving a 4 star rating. It’s good to see good reviews on Mitchell & Butler restaurant chains as they are not all consistently good if you view my previous reviews.

Food tastes like it has been deeply frozen and quickly unfrozen in the microwave. My wife got food poisoning and I felt unusually bloated. We only stopped here as we were passing by however food license should be reviewed as someone will get seriously ill from this. I am not sure if it is safe enough to operate.

Great food and service. Great atmosphere. Our waiter Ryan was excellent. We will definitely return sooner than later. Highly recommend.

Just had the best meal at Ego at Running Mare, Chelmsford. We had Harissa Chicken to start which was so flavoursome it's one of the best starters we've ever had! Then we both chose Duo of Pork which is Serrano ham wrapped fillet & honey glazed belly pork, with braised savoy cabbage & pancetta, wholegrain mustard sauce & dauphinoise potatoes, oh my word it was sooo delicious! 😋 We weren't going to have a dessert as we both felt stuffed but we decided to have the Ego mini's, which is a mini dessert with a choice of any coffee or tea, so my husband had the triple choc brownie and I had sticky toffee pudding, they were soooo good! We sent our compliments about the meal back to the chef via our waiter. Ryan was our waiter and he was very friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. We highly recommend the Running Mare they were so busy and rushed off their feet tonight as it is valentines weekend, but the staff were lovely and we didn't have to wait too long between courses 👍🏻 Will definitely be back!

Great food and service . Love Ego Well done

Greeted by the door with a smile.Amazing service. Attentive to details. Food was excellent place was clean and tidy.

We've been going to this restaurant regularly and enjoyed it every time . Staff always very happy and smiley except one member of staff that makes you feel like you've just walked into ' boot camp ' !. Makes you feel like a hindrance rather than welcoming. But overall love the place x.

Had amazing sunday roasts . We had 4 roast dinners 1 lamb,1chicken 2 beef .all presented well vegetables were amazing . Starters were good as well thank you xxxx 😍🤩

Really lovely restaurant with a great atmosphere! Food was lovely, and the staff were extremely friendly as well. Thank you to George for his brilliant service and recommendations. We will be back! ⭐️

Very tasty meal. With excellent service from George today. Quite a long wait for food but obviously not George's fault.

1st time at Ego, Mediterranean restaurant. Christmas office afternoon. Festive menu. I'm glad I've finally been to what was The Running Mare. Quite a broad menu. I was disappointed in the duo of pork as the belly *part was 4 cms × 2 cms. I did enjoy the bread crumbed Camembert starter. Though service in the full restaurant were polite, the wait to order was long and 2 of us had to leave before dessert to do the school run despite us arriving at the restaurant at 1215. Maybe it was due to excessive demand on the kitchen and I am sure on most evenings it's totally cool 😎 *This makes me sound like a lardy biffer, greedy for more. Such a "1st world" issue.

Fantastic brunch on weekends, totally worth it. Stunning interior design too.

Delicious food and friendly and attentive staff. Amazing gluten free options. Will definitely be back soon

Easy to reserve a table online, good food, varied menu, pleasant staff and good value.

Fabulous service, George was a star!

We regularly eat at Ego Chelmsford, and the service and food was excellent as always. We have got to know the staff who are always very friendly and cannot do enough for you in particular Rebecca C , Anne , Mia who served us last night. Thankyou to you all we will of course be back soon Robert and Veronica Dennehy xx

Lush food, excellent service and great ambiance.

Arrived informed the person we showed us to the table that we had a discount voucher. Ordered the food and although I eat here fairly regularly would say it was not service with a smile. Food was very good and enjoyed, however when we requested the bill waited quite a while was handed the bill and I showed the code for the discount waitress went to get an alternative bill. The waitress returned and I was scolded for not having mentioned the discount before requesting the bill. I pointed out that I had informed the staff as I came in. This put a dampener on this occasion hence 4/5. Just a smile would have been nice

Delicious food, ample portions and great service in a very warm and welcoming atmosphere. Lots of choices for vegan/vegetarians, especially the nut roast, yum! I would highly recommend.

Slow (very) service, inattentive staff, and bland food. Served a vegetarian paella with sausage and chicken in it to add insult to injury. Must have been a bad night.

Roast dinner not bad.... Bit too much focus on the veg

It's fine, nothing special - the last time I visited for lunch there was a lot of the menu unavailable. Service can be hit and miss, but if you're looking for a decent meal it's fine.

Lovely friendly pub for family birthday Good food choice Children welcome Excellent customer service which is rare these days . Much appreciated

On entry at 5.30 we had to wait a while before being seated even though it was empty. The restaurant looked very impressive nicely decorated and clean. It took a long while before we were served for drinks and able to give our orders over. The waitress was quite flippant on her service towards us , she didn't ask us if we wanted the Monday offer, I had to ask if it was still available but we wasn't given the specific menu until I asked. The garlic mushrooms were too salty and sickly for me. The fillet steak was divine although it needed to rest longer as blood juices was on my plate when I cut into it The lemon tart although beautifully presented was very sharp in taste for my liking. The restaurant became very busy by 6.30pm and I noticed there needed to be some light background music to lighten up the atmosphere. On the whole, very good quality food for the price would recommend a visit and wouldn't mind going back to try their Sunday roasts.

Lovely place and great staff and food,would go again

My wife and I have been going to this restaurant regularly and have usually enjoyed the food and been treated with great kindness by the staff.Today our order was mislaid and, Having waited in excess of half an hour, upon my wife questioning the delay , it appeared a few minutes later.I felt that our wait was treated with indifference by the staff ,except for Our server ,Ruth, who was apologetic and who explained that our bill would be adjusted, to allow for our excessive delay in being served .Unfortunately ,we were presented with a full bill and only on my reminding Ruth of her promise,was the bill adjusted by about 15%

Great place, I would recommend, the food was excellent x

Quality of food absolutely dreadful, not enough staff however, the ones that were there were trying their best to serve people as quickly as they could. Would definitely not recommend or return.

We had a 10 person Campbell Family Twixmas meal here. Every aspect was excellent from the very efficient booking/menu option selection process, welcoming us even though we arrived early, quality crackers on the table, getting everything totally correct on both the food and drink orders, accommodating an awkward vegan to bringing in Jack’s birthday cake at the end. Every course was delicious, looking forward to going back there, thanks so much!

Great from start to finish. Fab service, accommodating friendly staff. Lucy-Anne was amazing! Food was delicious!

Anytime, it is a nice place to go to eat. Although the parking lot is not the greatest.

The food was good but the portion sizes were small. We had 2 espresso martinis which were expensive and tasted alcohol free when they should have contained vodka. I also expected to be able to order steak from the special Tuesday menu but was told in a superior manner that only the festive menu was available. No decent beer on offer.

Great atmosphere, food was very good considering how busy they were. We would eat there again.

I went for the afternoon tea package. Limitless tea, excellent savoury and sweet treats on a proper tiered platter. Definitely recommend especially at the price.

Really disappointed with my visit to the Ego for lunch today, service was very poor had to ask for another drink 3 times to the same waitress, and when our food didn't arrive after 50 mins was told it would be upto another 20 !! - experienced the same service when I visited in the summer, but thought it was a one off, but clearly not. Disappointing.

Went to ego Chelmsford for lunch today and I said to my wife how bex absolutely makes that restaurant what it is. It’s a warm friendly environment and it’s clear that her staff follow her example. Such a lovely place with excellent food.

Went for lunch today and met Bex. Bex made us feel extremely welcome and couldn’t do enough to help us. We have a small dog and nowhere have accommodated us like Ego in Chelmsford. Bex went out of her way to make us feel comfortable and, where I can be picky, made everything seamless. Thank you so much to Bex and all the other staff who genuinely seemed delighted to have us. Can’t wait to go back.

Been a few times here now but never again. My breakfast had items missing of it! It was awful. The waitress didn't notice and served it up wrong and the chef just couldn't give a dam! Our Grandaughters breakfast had the granola missing. They just didn't care! The last time we went was awful and so was this time! Such a lovely place but so short of staff and they don't do anything about it!

Nice meal. Couldn't understand what 'wet' was on the bill, have googled it but still don't understand.

Phoned last minute as in the area for a Sunday roast well worth a visit food and service was excellent

Surprised and disappointed by yesterday evening's experience. My wife and I have eaten here on probably half a dozen occasions previously, have enjoyed the experience, and have recommended the restaurant to friends and acquaintances. Yesterday evening however, did not start well, with the disclosure of many non-available menu items, including the preferences of a number of our party of nine. Service was slow during the meal and became slower, ultimately becoming inattentive in the extreme, some of our number drawing the conclusion that we had been forgotten altogether. Added to the menu disappointment and poor service, there were mistakes in the bill. Our party eats out regularly and EGO had been suggested as a venue to be included on our list of good places to eat, but I somehow doubt that there will be many votes in favour of including it now.

Food , the ambience of the place very relaxing .

Extremely busy which meant that the servers/waitresses weren't able to give full attention whilst sitting at my table . I could see the floor manager helping out also in a packed restaurant. Food was good and reasonably priced and well sourced considering it was a chain restaurant. All in all I would visit again as it's a great venue for family. If it's what the customer is met with you'd think the cooperation would allow for more front of house , the blame is within them .

Great service, food and value for money!

Busy but if a restaurant isn’t busy on a Friday night they would be in serious trouble! Plenty staff, all very attentive and cheerful, Drinks were offered and delivered before ordering food! The menu is basically Mediterranean but Berners and stakes ready available but few chips! Available as an extra ! Puddings were good and very sweet. Cheese and biscuits were not on offer but coffees of a many options were there ! Parking was tight but easy for disabled but loos are upstairs,so there must be one on ground level but I didn’t see them! Yes I’d recommend it for a cut about pub grub and yes I’d go again.

We had a great Sunday lunch here just over a week ago, the staff were great with taking the kids' food order as they only eat certain vegetables. The trio of roast was amazing as where the cocktails. We have rebooted for next week in a different site we hope it it as good.

Lucy-Ann was our waitress for lunch yesterday and she was amazing. So accommodating to the family and the best service I have received from anybody in a long time. Thank you once again to Lucy-Ann but also to all the staff that we encountered yesterday, everyone was so friendly and kind. I hope Ego at the Running Mare appreciate how great all their staff are because they are truly one of a kind!! Food was GORGEOUS too so it’s a 10/10 from me!!⭐️⭐️

First time at this restaurant and l loved everything about it. Will definitely be going again!

This was our first time visiting. The overall experience was amazing, from the friendly staff to the amazing food, everything was perfect. We will definitely be visiting again.

Very good variety of food and reasonable priced lunch menu. The chicken wraps were not best quality with a lot if brown meat rather than usual white breast. It's just a shame we were unable to keep table/ move to another area for longer with 2 for 1 cocktails available as we wanted to sit and chat. When we left around 5.15pm there wasn't any other diners, we were leaving all tables empty, hence they lost out on our custom for more drinks and coffees.

Had lunch here with my friend a few weeks ago . I was very surprised at how nice it was there ! Food was lovely and service was fantastic . Would recommend.

Excellent food and service in a very nicely furnished and decorated gastro pub with excellent seating areas good car park and garden seating, highly recommended ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Had lunch here for the first time today. Food was fine. Unfortunately for us the whole experience was spoilt for by the attitude of the person who greeted us, and pointed out our table. ?? the manageress. On arrival there was no smile/ nice welcome- she chastised us like school children for using the wrong door. A lovely young waitress took our order. There was a slight misunderstanding on the part of my guest , not realising that what she had ordered came as a kebab, so consequently when it was was brought to the table by the ?? manageress, my friend politely said , she never ordered the kebab, to which the woman snarled back; That’s how it comes, before practically throwing the plate at my guest !! A first and last visit for us! Sadly !!

I visited here with my wife a few weeks ago. The food was amazing! The service was excellent too, the servers are laid back but professional and they always come at the right time, they don't bother you too much or too little. Great value for the top quality too!

Great country pub, always good food at reasonable prices.

We went for a Sunday roast and it did not disappoint- the Yorkshire puddings were the size of my head! Lovely atmosphere and super helpful staff, just a little slow due to being so busy

Maybe roast the potatoes more, they weren't roasted enough, otherwise lovely dinner

It was fully booked so we couldn't get a table

Ny wife, my five year old son and I visited this establishment on Sunday 11th August The place was really nicely decorated. I had ordered the three course meal. Starters was Grilled Goats cheese, which was scrumptious It was so melting in the mouth tasty. Then the main meal was trio of roasts, which was roast beef, pork and chicken, with all the trimmings It was huge, that I could only eat 3 quarters of it but each bite was a delight. The desert was Tiramisu torte. This was probably the best Tiranisu. It was so light but full of flavour. My wife just ordered the chicken pizza and she liked it, with my son enjoying chicken nuggets and chips Highly recommend this place, especially for a Sunday roast.

Always love this place. Good value. Great food. Nice atmosphere and good service. Enjoy.

Great food here - Mediterranean style ie think Spanish, Italian, Greek, but with sides of skin-on fries. More importantly for me, a proper gluten- free menu that's easy to read ,( no complex, hard to review ' allergy ingredients matrix' as you unhelpfully get in many places). Service started well, but declined to very slow to missing towards the end of our meal.

Visited Ego At Running Mare in Chelmsford last week and recived incredible service from Paulina and Bex . Drinks came out so quick same with food. All with a high standards . I can highly recommend this venue!

Ryan was amazing as our host. He made the night very special and was attentive, but not intrusive. We had a really lovely evening.

We've been a few times now and never been disappointed, the ultimate test was bringing my family who are super fuss pots and they loved it. Really enjoyed our meals yesterday, great service, lovely atmosphere... I would say it's my favourite restaurant in Chelmsford. Update:30/09/24 came for a evening meal to celebrate our wedding anniversary and I cannot believe how much the service has plummeted, we have been a few times in-between my last review and it's been nice and friendly but this evening my husband and I were truly shocked with the lack of expression and manners from two staff members one being the manager I think or shift manager, what a disappointment. Also to add our order was taken wrong and our bill was wrong at the end there wasn't much of an apology but even with the deduction they still calculated incorrect. Food was nice but don't think we'll be going back again after that experience.

Had a lovely birthday meal here. It was very busy and oddly they had about 6 birthdays that evening. Our waitress Lucy-ann if I remember correctly was great, very friendly, working hard and had a great personality. A few mistakes were made but were quickly rectified. Food was good but what made it better was the service with a smile. I would recommend.

Absolutely top marks for a superb Brunch at the Running Mare. Booked a table for 4 people and we had a brilliant pre-Christmas brunch with lots of great Xmas decorations and a real log fire. The staff were friendly and attentive. A really nice experience. However not the best pub to just go for a few drinks as it is table service only and can take a while to get served... not great if your thirsty.

Service a bit slow. Had been before and was better.

Super place for a meal. Good quality food staff are first class. Great night out… menu good variety . Various offers across the week… some good deals to be had

We had an amazing meal, couldn’t fault it at all, it’s my 4th visit in as many weeks and each time it’s been amazing. The service was excellent. Will definitely be going back there again.

Great food but restricted on the time allowed at the table which I didn’t like

We had another good lunch at the Running Mare, today. The service and food were as good as usual, despite it being very busy.

Food was really good and value for money, the staff were extremely helpful and polite, It has a fabulous menu with something for everyone

This was the best visit by far we've had to this restaurant. The table was perfect the ambience was great, the staff were cheerful, friendly and helpful and the food was delicious. We chose from the 2 eat for £30 , because everything we wanted was on that menu. Both hubby and I had a long day and arrived in diff cars. Therefore we didn't go with the wine option Nevertheless it was a great meal

Nicely fitted out in a typical Restaurant Pub Style. Staff friendly, Mia our waitress greeted us with a lovely smile and happy attitude every time she came to the table. The difference this can make to the meal is under rated, thxs Mia! Ego do a good job in making the Menu a little different from other Restaurant Pubs which is a good thing. Unfortunately like all restaurants prices still feel a little high post covid for the type of place and type food. But overall we had a nice time and meal!