Saxon King in Southend-on-Sea

Been a few times and it’s just meh. Sometimes the service and food is great, and others it’s really poor. Just depends on the day. More times than not we’ve encountered lukewarm food that we’ve waited ages for and had to query after, and staff that don’t seem to care (wait staff as opposed to bar staff). If you go on a good day you’ll have a good time, but as locals we don’t want to go back again since we’re not guaranteed good food/service. Such a shame

Went in after receiving an offer of discount on main meals thought we would try it out Sat in a very crafty area Got a starter fairly quick then waited 55 mins for mains and it wasn’t that crowded in there Main roasts were not great vegetables hard Yorkshire over cooked Potatoes small and watery not crispy Meat the pre sliced you buy from a supermarket Overall disappointing visit Olivia our waitress was nice

The menu offered excellent value for money.

Amazing place, always nice atmosphere

Service was great, food was really nice and the manager was really engaging

The food was amazing the waitresses was very welcoming and the plates and knives and forks were we clean I would definitely recommend this restaurant

Olivia served us today. Thank you so much for making my sisters birthday special. The roast was lovely. The desserts were amazing and the candles in my sis pudding was amazing Thank you X

Service was awful had to ask for our drinks order as it got forgotten, and kids desert's took 35 minutes to come

Good choice of beers, staff friendly, food good.

Lovely food served hot. Megan our waitress was helpful and friendly whilst ordering with allergens.

Great service and food. Greatly improved over the last couple of years. Would highly recommend.

Food was good and atmosphere relaxing.

Lovely place to eat, reasonably priced, good quality food, pleasant, polite, friendly staff, definitely going again 😀

I just wanted to say Lyle was an extremely and professional young man. He was great.

Went with group for Sunday lunch. Only reason for 4 stars ordered bass.tthe fish smelt very strong and was covered with some slimy sauce and one small tast convinced me it was not fresh. No trouble at all returning. Everyone else in group had Sunday roast and theirs were smashing. Service was quick but no sauces for roast given without asking(horse radish/applr etc) desserts were yummy)

Absolute disaster of a place, no real ale, no Guinness, no Irish whiskey, various lagers run out! "Waiting for our delivery tomorrow" In response to their answer, we didnt go for food (which sounds like another lucky escape) we only went for a few drinks after a funeral and for a pub to be out of beer for a few days is a disaster in my book!

First time at Saxon King came here for Dads birthday, excellent food with excellent service and very reasonable priced as well

great service and even better food

Had to wait over an hour for food and the restaurant was not that busy

We went here today en route to an appointment. A really soul destroying place. Service was mediocre but the food was truly terrible and took so long to arrive. I ordered a prawn cocktail - this came as a handful of prawns on a plate, a tiny salad and one small slice of bread from a french stick. Marie Sauce was almost non existent and what was there was curdled. My husband order the BBQ chicken sandwich - which was basically a couple of chicken nuggets on a piece of lettuce and a tiny piece of bacon - in all covering about half the bread. Total bill just for the food £16.95. We had no time to complain as our appointment was a funeral. Shocking.

We were served by vicky and she was brilliant so attentive and sweet! Thank you

Lovely meal at the Saxon King. Thank you to Vicky for being so accommodating.

We travel miles and miles to revisit this pub/restaurant. The food is incredible, really reasonably priced aswell! The manager James is so welcoming, friendly and can not do enough for you. Would recommend it to anyone!!!!

Always guaranteed food quality.

We had booked out an area for a wake, the staff were friendly, accommodating and we look forward to returning to try the menu.

After waiting for over 45 mins the food and drink was very disappointing

The food was very nice, the staff friendly and polite .

Staff nowhere to be seen at times with the bar completely unattended. Tables not cleared for ages until you actually ask them to as flies are gathering around your plates!

It took an hour and a half for the food to come and then still my burger was overcooked. When we asked for the bill the waiter was very rude walking off muttering under his breath. The waitresses were nice and helpful at least. Overall a terrible experience and I’ll never go back

Only one chef on and no mains available just lunch time menu.

We went for Christmas Day Dinner ....we often go for dinner to saxon king throughout the year. This visit on Christmas day was worst service than ordinary days...xx we had pre ordered a drink when we arrived and had to ask for it....we sat at a table that felt sticky...no Christmas serviettes. The only thing on table for decorations was a piece of stiff netting and two Christmas crackers....we sat and waited 15 minuets to be asked if we would like a drink although I had pre ordered , when our main dinner arrived we had to ask for our bottle of pre ordered wine , we had already eaten our starters. My coffee liquor was bought to me while I was eating my starter. I had to ask that it could be bought back after my meal....however the food was OK...the staff were helpful when asked...my conclusion is that the staff maybe should of had a bit more training on how to serve tables on special occasions...some people look forward to this and save money for this all year....our usual service we have received is good , it appears total disorganisation on Christmas day....

Very nice mixed grill cooked to taste 😋

Food was lovely, clean and the staff were very accommodating especially vicky

Highly recommend for a drink and to eat.

Thanks to Vicky. Made our experience so lovely. Very kind and attentive.

Great food and fantastic service 👌 Served by Vicky who was lovely 😍 will definitely be back

Food was great. Service great. Vicky was great.

Good service and Good Food that is reasonably priced

Went for my birthday today great place food came out hot good atmosphere what else can you ask for A+++ get booking

Really nice food and service. Out waitress Vicky was really helpful and overall nice experience.

One of the best pub food I ever had. And let me tell you I don't love going to pubs because of the food quality. They have oven baked pizza, which we missed as we went for burger. Dog friendly inside is a bonus for us, they provide treats and water bowls. Definitely going back when we're visiting southend again.

Served by Molly who was very lovely

Great service, great feed which was large potions and hot

Lovely place to go ! We went on a Sunday so the menu i think is slightly different but was still a pretty good selection of mains. Fussy eaters would find the menu good so it makes it comfortable for them to eat here. Childrens menu was good and reasonably priced Service was great with Scarlett being our waitress. She was very polite and catered for us well . All in all a nice place to go out to eat and will most definitely eat here again.

Lovely lunch time meal. Vicky was very friendly

Excellent service great staff and they do hawkstone too!

Came in for lunch with a big party with no booking. The team was extremely friendly and gave us an area even though it was very busy. Food and service were fantastic. Kids had a great time in the play area. Would highly recommend a visit to the Saxon king but maybe book in advance :)

It was a great experience from the moment we walked in very friendly and welcoming service for food and drink spot on

Great experience, great service, great food, great value

Was ok. Service was slow. Food was ok. Limited menu items.

Good food, good sized portions, good prices (especially with a voucher), great service. I think we have been lucky or perhaps it is because it is winter, so far no sewage smells.

Go to Saxon King regularly . Served by Vicky on many occasions. She is always very friendly, polite and helpful. Exceptional customer service. Find the Saxon King always friendly and staff always helpful and friendly. Atmosphere is welcoming and comfortable.

The Saxon King is a great family-friendly pub and one of our go-to spots within walking distance. The staff are always welcoming and helpful, adding to the relaxed atmosphere. The menu offers plenty of variety, with the Sunday roast being a particular highlight. The roast potatoes are especially good! In the warmer months, the outdoor space is a real plus, with areas suited for both adults and children to enjoy. It’s a lovely spot to unwind and makes the pub a fantastic choice for families. All in all, The Saxon King delivers good food, friendly service, and a great setting. Definitely worth a visit!

The Saxon King is a great family-friendly pub and one of our go-to spots within walking distance. The staff are always welcoming and helpful, adding to the relaxed atmosphere. The menu offers plenty of variety, with the Sunday roast being a particular highlight. The roast potatoes are especially good! In the warmer months, the outdoor space is a real plus, with areas suited for both adults and children to enjoy. It’s a lovely spot to unwind and makes the pub a fantastic choice for families. All in all, The Saxon King delivers good food, friendly service, and a great setting. Definitely worth a visit!

Friendly helpful staff. Quick to take the order & vitually no waiting time until the food arrived

Nice and pleasant place, great for both a quick meal or a leisurely meal. Staff are very pleasant and helpful (Megan is very polite and friendly).James and his team have gone out of their way to welcome and host on a busy Good Friday . Food is above average, and the chefs need a recommendation, too. Megan is her normal, bubbly, helpful self. Found us a new favourite.

Great pub good food and beer would definitely recommend to family and friends and would definitely return in the future

Great boozer, good beer, friendly staff 👍🏻

Excellent boozer with a roaring fire, staff very pleasant and an excellent pint of estrella. Very reasonable prices

I visited The Saxon King with some friends on the weekend. The staff were so lovely and the food was very good, especially the steak and the Lasagna. The whole group of us had a great night and we will definitely be going back.

We hadn’t visited here for a while and it was just hubby and myself. Food was outstanding and great value . Blue light discount available on food . Service was excellent by our waitress Megan who was very attentive polite and helpful. Definitely coming back with family in the near future

Always brilliant, Victoria always makes us feel welcome.

We had a great time, the food was excellent and very good value for money, the staff were friendly and very efficient. We will definitely be visiting again soon

Millie was a kind and attentive waitress

Great xmas day with the family. Busy and hectic but good fun. Nice set menu enjoyed by all. Definitely book for next year!

Lovely little place. We have been here twice. The food was nice, hot, portions reasonable without being small or huge. Prices good. Choice, a lot, they probably could scale that back. Really good little spot. Plenty of parking. Little play area outside. Could have swept the broken glass in the outside area as children running about. Friendly staff, busy when we went as only 2 staff on, at the bar and serving the food. But I still rate it. It was nice. It was very warm inside. Like, exceptionally warm, the heating bill must be huge. It felt warmer than a nursing home!!!. Thank you

Excellent food, love coming here. James and the team really know how to look after people. Will be back 5*

Great service from the lovely Vicky who seated us in a quiet spot when it was so busy. Understood our children’s needs with the food and was very helpful amongst the Christmas chaos being the only restaurant server we saw apart from drinks from the bar staff. Food was enjoyed. A few issues which Vicky sorted. Only gripe is how hot it always is in there. It’s quite uncomfortable each visit but always return as the kids like it.

We had a group visit so it was a nice get together The food was nice average The drinks were far to expensive so only had 1 each

Another lovely meal, as usual. Steak cooked to perfection by Harley. Never had a bad time there. Food, staff and surroundings are excellent

Went with a group for a Christmas meal at lunchtime. Great food.

A group of us went here after a funeral for the wake. The food was fabulous and service was all good. Plenty of parking spaces.

Vicki our waitress, very pleasant.

Out with a group of friends, we had booked a table foe Dinner. I ordered Fish/chips. After waiting almost 30 minutes. My order arrived but only the Fish and peas. I asked where the chips were and was told that they were on there way. 10 minutes later after eating the fish the chips arrived, no apology! Now I get a response- No apology tho!

Ok, wasn't expecting the world but the service was poor and the food just about average but cold. Unfortunately we were allocated a table right by the toilet and seemingly out of the sight or consideration of the waiting staff. The pub was either understaffed or poorly managed as we waited for ages at every step and had to go up to the bar to ask to be served numerous times throughout. Food was ok but cold by the time it got to us and the coffee we ordered never arrived.

Visited The Saxon king last night, and it was by far the best restaurant in the area! Beautiful food, lovely friendly staff and a great atmosphere. Will be visiting again soon

What an amazing experience at The Saxon king! I highly recommend this pub. Great staff that go above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect. Absolutely fantastic atmosphere. I will be going back very soon.

Nice family pub/rotisserie. Lovely place to take children, lots of facilities outside in the garden area. Food is a bit 'hit and miss' depending which chef is on. Recently had chicken wings which had been reheated! They were tough and stringy. Husband had mixed grill, steak was rubbery. Think the menu needs to be reviewed.

I was put with a grouo of friends. We had decided to eat at your pub. I Ordered Fish/chips. Had a very long wait, when the food eventually arrived I was given a plate that just fish, peas a few lettuce leaves, NO CHIPS! I had to ask where the chips were, was told they were be arriving soon. 10 minutes late, still no chips. Another member of staff came and asked if everything was OK with the food. I had to ask again. The chips then turned up!!

It was amazing with Top Customer Service. Highly Reccomended

A Tale of Mrs Jekyll and Mr Hide. The food here is proper comfort fare - a chicken and mushroom pie that hits all the right notes, accompanied by fresh veg and mash that would make any Yorkshire nan give an approving nod. Simple, satisfying, and spot-on. Now, about the service... You might recognise our landlord from his local fame, making a charming appearance on BBC as a life-sized Yorkshire pudding. Unfortunately, on this day, he seemed more interested in reminiscing about his television debut than noticing a hungry customer. After briefly clocking my existence, he performed what I can only describe as an impressive vanishing act. But every cloud has a silver lining! A wonderful lady server stepped in, menu in hand, and saved the day with the kind of service that reminds you what Yorkshire hospitality is all about. She even offered an unexpected discount, having witnessed my brief stint as the pub's invisible guest. Food: 5/5 Hero Server: 10/10 The Landlord: Perhaps just having an off day... being magnanimous. P.S. Dear Landlord, being a local celebrity is great and all, but maybe focus less on being a Yorkshire Pudding costume and more on being a proper host? Just a thought from one of your invisible customers.

Food was very nice as was the venue. Service was pleasant but we had to wait a long time for both the mains and desert to turn up

Service was very good. Food excellent. Staff and manager friendly and welcoming. We visit around once a month because of the great experience.

Terrible experience! We waited 1 hour and 15 minutes for our food with no update at all. When we walked into the restaurant we should have been notified about a wait time on food. We went to the bar to order drinks twice whilst waiting for the food because the staff was not offering drinks to our table. When the food eventually came it was satisfactory not great at all! Half an hour after we had all finished eating we gave up on waiting for our plates to be collected from our table and just asked for the bill!

Went to Saxon King this afternoon for a Christmas Dinner, our waitress was Scarlett who was very attentive to our needs. The food was very nice and came out hot and we were not rushed to finish. Should have been a party of 4 but one had to work, there starter, dinner and dessert were put on a plate to bring home.

We always feel welcome and the service is always very good. Nothing ever seems to be to much hassle. Always has a good, nice, friendly atmosphere

Waited 20 mins for our drinks then had to ask for them and was not busy cut my mushroom and my plate was filled with black water gammon was very salty

Friendly welcoming establishment

We visited yesterday and enjoyed two delicious pizzas and drinks. The food was excellent, and the drinks complemented the meal perfectly. However, the service was slower than expected. It was clear that the waitress was working hard and doing her best, but she seemed overwhelmed with the high demand and despite arriving exactly at 1:30pm the service could not be kept to your 3pm table availability, we left 15 minutes after. We understand that busy periods can be challenging, and her effort was appreciated. Perhaps additional staff during peak times could help improve the overall experience. Despite the wait, we left happy with the quality of the food.

Vicky is amazing, an absolute star, great with kids and I have heard, a great skater!!!

James arranged a healthy buffet with hot and cold food, fresh fruit for dessert for 26 people and it was absolutely amazing. Excellent food, service and great value for money, everyone had a great time, thank you 🙏

Great food, great service, great atmosphere. Its just a great place to go for food and a drink.

I used Saxon King for a venue for a wake and I must say I went for the gold option hot buffet and was definitely not disappointed. The whole party 20 of us thought the food and service was amazing it was all hot and very tasty. The pub setting was clean and the staff very Courteous. We were not rushed to finish our time slot and the made the sad reason for us being their very pleasant. Thank you to James for ensuring everything was as perfect as it could of been.

Great gluten menu with a good variety of foods to choose from. Good for families, friendly staff clean and tidy. Service was a little slow but apart from that it was good.

Missing from the Sunday roast.....braised red cabbage, pork and apricot stuffing (stuffing was there but powdery packet stuff) and cracking.....when we were there we remembered there was no crackling last time and said we would go back for the road but forgot!.

Just got in from having my mums birthday here. Service was slow and our server lacked in every way it's a shame as she didn't have many tables but was just absent. No smiles, no service. Mum had the scampi which she enjoyed. We had the steak and alle pie! Not too bad. Mash was a bit stingy and the veg was wrinkly and they forgot the peas. We had to flag our waitress down for drinks! We ordered puddings. The two toffee puds were bought out in a tiny bowl, no presentation at all and was way below the previous quality. I had the brownie Sunday which was £6.99 for three scoups of ice cream a flake and a 50p sized bit of sponge cake on top! Definitely not a brownie. I returned it uneaten and asked for it to be removed from my bill. The waitress and manager insisted it was a brownie off the children's menu whatever that means. However a brownie Sunday should have square chunks of actual brownie in it! Not a sprinkle of chocolate sponge onto. What a shame. No attempt to right it or please the customer. Sadly no tip left and we won't go back!

Great wheelchair access. Lovely food. Didn't wait to long to be seated or served food. Great staff. We had Vicky and she was very welcoming and made our experience a very enjoyable one. 10/10

Always enjoyed a nice meal with helpful and friendly service

Served by a very pleasant lady nothing was too much trouble would return.

Great staff, the food was good. Had mash&bangers. Took my dog and enjoyed a nice Guinness