The Albert Beefeater Grill in Colchester

***** NO WONDER THIS PLACE IS CLOSING DOWN ***** Paid for a taxi to have breakfast only to find they have no chef and no staff and greeted by an unapologetic receptionist. Can’t find this anywhere on their website, met another gentleman standing in the Carpark after also booking a taxi for breakfast. DO NOT BOTHER WITH BEEFEATER AS A WHOLE COMPANY IF THEY HAVE SUCH LITTLE REGARD FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS.

like gods waiting room good job its closing down tomorrow

Good food served in a timely manner plenty of choice and my little granddaughter loved it in there

Always great service and lovely food ... would definately recommend for family and friends always made to feel welcome and very well looked after! 😊

Had dinner here as part of a group.. was OK.. expensive for what it is

Wow what a dull, slow, uninviting place. Food very bland and limp warm. Staff very slow and worn out looking. Charged for bottomless drinks, but no where to get an actual refill. Definitely wouldn't come back or recommend

Visited for breakfast. Food was served promptly. Good choice. We were the only ones in for breakfast

The food was good the staff was friendly but the service was very slow For an unlimited breakfast, we only had time to order once because the food took too long to be served!

Family of three came for Sunday lunch. Service was excellent and prompt. All had Sunday roast, meat and the trimmings. Food was delicious and with the discount, made the visit even more worthwhile.

Awful service & food isn't great 😕

We enjoyed the food we ate. The poor waitresses seemed to be rushed off their feet even though it was only 6pm. There were 3 waitresses dealing with a few tables of 2 people and then a large table with a family group of about 15people. It appeared that the waitresses needed help, some customers were getting frustrated with the service. We were going to a concert at the Charter Hall, the Beafeater was the perfect location. We wanted to be in and out quickly and even with the wait we achieved it. Thank you to the waitresses.

Great friends and great company. The staff were so friendly and were really helpful with my GF allergy. X

Sadly not a great experience today. Despite not being busy at all it took nearly an hour for starters to appear. Once our mains arrived some of it was cold so needed to be sent back. Staff were polite but even though it was so quiet things took too long. Real shame.

Thought I would try again for my birthday, booked a table for 2 at 19:00 and arrived on time. Waited 12 minutes to get seated, then another 10 for our drinks to arrive. Started to order and the first 2 items weren't available, why couldn't the server tell us this when he handed us the menu?Gave up, walked out and went elsewhere. On way out a quick chat to people waiting and they had been stood there 20 minuted having also booked, so not an isolated incident. Old review Lunchtime menu was adequate and tasty. Drinks are rip off prices. Edit. It was £4.20 for a bottle of Beck's Alcohol Free Lager. In Asda just down road from you it is £7.50 for 15 bottles. Management asked me for more details following this review and then stopped responding.

Great ambience but very poor service rendered by Sarah to my partner and I. We were given a table by the Manager and waited 15 mins for our order to be taken. The only server Sarah attended to everyone else around our table, cleaned tables, took the dessert orders of other customers but didn't say a word to us. She basically ignored us despite catching my partner's eye several times. It appeared that there was a racist element to this behaviour as I was the only black person at the restaurant, with my partner and the others being white. At the very least, we expected a 'how are you guys doing? I will be back to take your order'. We got nothing of that sort. This is unlike the other beefeater branches we have visited around the UK, and unlike the service received at this branch on previous occasions. We complained to the manager and he noted that it's nothing personal since we hadn't waited that long, and gave a cursory apology. Quite disappointed in the service, but won't affect our visiting other branches in the UK.

My second time stopping here and second time just sat endlessly waiting in the restaurant to be seen to. 15 minute wait at the door, 15 minutes after reading the menu I still hadn’t been able to order even a drink. Place was mostly empty, yet still everybody complaining about the service. Hopelessly understaffed, and place is a bomb site. Honestly no idea why Premier Inn management seem to let this go on. Please do not waste your time visiting this restaurant, it is genuinely awful and the worst bit is literally nobody cares. 😂

Turned up and told no walk ins but no signage or info posted anywhere to support this. Staff really snotty about this too and rather rude.

Booked a table for Mother’s Day. We were sat 45 minutes late and waited nearly 2 hours for our main courses. Will never visit here again!

It's a nice restaurant, with an big menu for meat eaters. Besides that, plenty of options for vegetarians. Staff is nice, it was not very busy but it took a while before dinner was served. Food was well cooked, tasty and good portions. Maybe visit the table one or two times extra for ordering extra drinks.

Sorry but I've got to put this I went in for a drink, it wasn't that busy yet it took me ages to get served There were empty bottles and glasses on tables and at the bar it was a mess! I think they must have been understaffed.

Husband booked here for Mother's Day. Normally go to the Southend or Stanford Le Hope one, they have amazing service and food! Been this one around five times and we never learn. Walked in, waited for about 15 minutes, along with two other couples and three large familes. Rude host lady barged passed me and then barked "have you booked?" husband gave details. She then said "well, we are seating people from 4pm onwards, go get a drink, and we'll call you" our booking was for 4.45pm! 45 minutes behind! No apology, nothing! The bloke behind the bar was on his own trying to serve drinks, clear glasses and book people in their cars! I felt for him! We got a drink, and decided that as they had clearly let people outstay their tables and not asked them to leave, then the service and food were going to be poor. We left without eating and a very hungry three year old! From reading the last three reviews, I'm glad we did. As having cold food would have been the nail in the coffin. We went home and had a Chinese and it was the best decision we made. I will never return to this Beefeater. I have given it far too many chances and Mothers Day was the last straw. I will be going 40 minutes out the way to go to Southend or Stanford Le Hope. I would suggest that there is training in time management, customer service and more staff employed!

We arrived on time for our 18.30 booking, we waited 10 minutes before anyone spoke to us and then had to wait 30 minutes to be seated. It took another 20 minutes plus for our drink order to be taken by 19.45 we still hadn’t received our drinks or had our food order taken by that time we had all had enough and decided to go elsewhere. They need to improve on customer service and employ more staff

First of all despite the poor review all Credit to the staff , the staff are run off their feet this pub clearly has poor upper management I feel sad for the staff here as it’s not a nice atmosphere and supplies clearly are not fore planned and it is a complete hovel to work in . Steak very good but literally a few cold chips bit of rocket and one mushroom , no side of onion rings avail despite being ordered , husband ordered chicken with chunky chips this came out with roast potatoes and veg , dessert apple pie and custard stone cold , cutlery being wiped off with the most disgusting cloth so much so I washed my own knife and fork in the toilet sink as it came out sticky ,to top it off the place is absolutely filthy floor is caked in food and stains , ceiling wall paper hanging off whole place needs a serious overhaul only thing that saves it are the staff who seek to be fending off complaints due to what they have to work with .

Never again. Booked a table for 4:15pm. Place was completely lacking in enough staff. Quing out of the door when we arrived. Not even seated by 5:10pm so we left. Complete joke, don't take bookings if you can't even come close to fulfilling. Mother's day dinner ruined, thanks a lot!

Have attended here for a Mother's day get together of 5 people. Was booked for 12:45, arrived at 12:35, didn't get a table until 13:05, then proceeded to wait a further 1 hour and 30 mins for STARTERS and a further 45 mins for mains. Clearly understaffed and was not prepped at all for the day ahead. Food was food and thankfully came out hot, but the overall appalling service will not be coming back.

Not a great mothers day meal experience for 3 of us mums plus the kids today. Arrived 10 mins early, had to wait 40 mins for them to seat us plus loads of other people who had booked. A lot of agetated customers espesh as raining and people was queing out the door! Couldnt put our reg in the tablet to avoid a fine as they wouldnt put the unlock code in. This place is always short staffed for some reason. Makes you wonder why! Tables were still dirty and uncleared from breakfast sittings. Finally got seated and waiter read out a list of everything they didnt have! Totally unorganised and dissapointing. Our table wasnt cleared for a good 20 mins after our meal until I asked staff to clear it. Extremely slow service. Used to be regular here but will take my custom elsewhere as a lot of the other customers said too. Food tasted average. False advertising with pictures on their website. Food was nothing like pictured. Took a photo of the poorly thrown together "showstopper" dessert. First 2 are from website and 3rd pic is what we got 🤣 Someone needs to takeover this place and get it back up to scratch. Such a shame.

Shocking experience. Very clearly understaffed, run down down and generally bad. Arrived on time for a slot, only to be told due to 'unexpected demand' it would be a 45min wait on food, which is actually typical at this establishment so hardly unusual, however it took close to 20-30mins to be seated. Then another 30-40mins to have our drinks order taken, which never arrived before we decided to abandon our table. In the end, we left after over 80mins, with no drinks in sight and no food order being taken. Clearly staffing is a big problem here. Staff morale was very low. Needs a good refurbishment and investment by management.

We been waiting by the entrance to be seated for long time. We had a good service till our waiter finished shift, after that I never got a sauce I paid for, they added to final bill one of my bottomless coke, but when we complained they removed it.

Read the latest reviews, those of you that organise staff...!!!!... The staff that are working are lovely, but so overworked.. been going here for a few years, and the last year or so, the service is so slow... they are running around unable to keep up... Sort it out, because you are losing customers because of your incompetence..

ZERO SERVICE-STAY AWAY Very understaffed Abysmal delays on being served Tap drink machine wasnt working so no refillable drinks Facilities need a revamp ASAP So, STAY AWAY!

Died a slow death this place. Probably last time had a good time here was 4 years ago! Under staffed, cold/barely warm food. Staff not attentive! Long long waits for drinks and then when they finally bring the food and its warm its just a slap in the face. Won't be coming back

Understaffed, shocking wait times.

Best all you can eat breakfast in Colchester.

I have visited here whilst down from Manchester after my friends suggested The Albert as their experience was previously good. After waiting half an hour to be seated, with no apology for the delay, we ordered our food and drinks, our drinks took 45 mins to arrive. Our starters arrived cold which was very disappointing and there was again no apology for the delays. The other couples around us were also making the same complaints, cold food and abysmal delays. The mains arrived which surprisingly the meat was hot and suitable to eat but the chips were not. We ordered another round of drinks when the mains were served and they arrived 20 mins after we finished our food. I do appreciate that they are clearly understaffed but this is an absolute disaster as the restaurant was barely full. We have all agreed we will not be returning customers.

Went for a brekkie here recently. Food was hot tasty and nice. Plenty of choice. As it was a school holiday with an offer, it probably wasn't the best time to choose going. Electric toasters although Russell Hobbs need upgrading as they take forever.

Popped in for lunch. Place was quiet but service was very good evwn with staff changeover. Food was lovely. I had smothered chicken and hubby had the mixed grill. Recommend both.

Orded filet steak medium rear could not even cut it, happy to say cost was removed from my bill. The serving staff so lovely & very friendly

The food has got 100 times better than the last time we were in just need to get more staff when busy service was very slow and that made a bad atmosphere unfortunately. But at least the food is much better now.

Visited this Valentines day as I had booked it for me and my partner to enjoy as an evening meal and dont get me wrong, the food was absolutely amazing and so enjoyable and the staff who waited us were so polite and friendly the only issue is that unfortunately it is very understaffed and we were there for a total of just over 2 hours and only 30 mins at most of that time was actually spent eating. I felt bad seeing that 2 staff members had been running around trying to help as many customers as possible and they really do need another few members to really get things effectively moving at a good pace.

Lack of staff Food always good, and staff do what they can to serve, although very slow

Friendly staff good atmosphere parking good will be back as good breakfasts are hard to find

Sarah and Tanya were working on my visit and they couldn't have been more helpful, great service, great food and a gluten free menu they have completely changed my opinion of beefeater after a bad visit to one in Farnborough. Would definitely visit here again

We stayed the night at the primer inn next door with the kids and we had dinner and breakfast at the beefeater. The staff really made the effort to make us feel welcome and the food was well cooked. Good value for money seeing as we need a place to stay whilst visiting Colchester Zoo. Thank you Benjamin

Staff were brilliant made sure we were ok and making sure we had everything we needed. Food was amazing. Would highly recommend it.

Quick service and good atmosphere, a cosy and warm place to stop for a drink. Light bites and full meals available, although basic options for the full meals only. Drinks are expensive, so wouldn't recommend more than a pint or two.

We had our first evening meal here when we arrived at The Premier Inn. Stewart was working at the bar as well as showing people to their seats in the restaurant. He was very friendly and easy to talk to. We had a lovely meal, I had a crunchy chicken burger and my hubby had a mixed grill, both meals were very nice. Not many staff due to sickness but the staff waiting on, Joe, did a good job.

Great cocktails and the steaks and burgers were lovely, a shame that half chicken and pie were not available. They were short staffed there were mistakes on our bill we had 3 items from the table next to us, we got the wrong bottle of...

Grace was darting table to table giving us great service. Always nice to have a nice server 👍👍 Food was banging, I love BBQ sauce so this place is always a nice place to have some scran. Good pint of Guinness too!

Really polite and lovely, made sure that we had enjoyed are food and had a lovely smile the whole time.

Steak unable to cut let alone eat. Waited 20 for one drink. The poor waitress was run off her feet

We came to The Albert on a Friday evening, with my husband having booked my 40th birthday meal for our family of 4. From the outset, Grace and Karra were absolutely amazing - attentive to the kids, and surprising me with a birthday brownie and...

A breakfast cooked to perfection by Chef Mason and served by the wonderful Sarah will definitely be making a return visit

We were served by Grace today and was very kind, helpful and overall pleasant. I always enjoy coming to the beefeater, but think this is the best service I've had to date. Thank you very much.

This is a fantastic place to get t breakfast, staff welcoming & polite. Good quality food & served promptly

Stewart was absolutely brilliant from the moment we stepped in there. Once he found out me and my friend was in the care industry he treated us like queen's. The food was lovely and so service even better. I will be returning. Highly recommend especially...

Very tasty rump steak cooked to perfection by the chef on duty. Ed Always give star service by sarah and the team can’t wait to return again

Really nice steak a little overcooked but very tasty nice maybe wine ribs eccelleny

A good place for a drink and a meal

Stuart and his hard-working team do a wonderful breakfast here. Very friendly fast. Clean. Tasty. Highly recommend.

This is one of our most visited food places within a 20min drive of our home. Food is always hot, staff are friendly, free parking for a few hours , willing to amend the menu due to allergies. Matt has great team there and lets...

My mum and I came for lunch on Saturday 6 January for lunch. We booked a table online for 12:45. We arrived a little early and were still able to be seated straight away. Our host, Stewart, greeted us and gave us a choice of...

Absolutely fantastic can't fault them in the slightest Stuart was so helpful. We where a big group of 14 and they where so accommodating. Didn't mind singing happy birthday and bringing out our cake they where happy to do this even though we hadn't booked...

Great spot, small team but they work fast. Amazing food delivery speed! Stuart was really good especially

Total disaster from start to finish. Long wait to get in many tables poked up with dirty dishes Ex gif over an hour causing seating delays. Cold under cooked main meal that we sent back and waited ages for it to replaced (as did several...

We went here for the first time for a family breakfast. Great value, 2 adults and 2 children for £19.98 inclusive of tea, coffee, juices and water. Cooked orders are taken at the table and you can help yourself to continental options and cereals. We booked a later breakfast at 10.15 so nearer the end of service. Still good selection of pastries etc but no mugs etc by coffee machine, and only 1 machine to service all tables, so a big queue at times. Cooked food was lovely. Continental options varied.

For £63 per adult & £25 for children, Went for Christmas day dinner booked for 4:30, didn't get seated for well over a hr, our 2 & 3yr grandaughters didn't even touch their meal as it took to long as they were tired, Brussels carrots was well hard, roast potatoes & stuffing was over cooked parsnips were burnt, won't go back for Christmas meal, total of over £300 excepted better

Food was lovely, cooked to order so nice and fresh. Nice clean restaurant and great service from our waitress Jade.

Slow slow slow service. Never had to wait so long for literally everything . Then food stone cold when it arrived. We were late for our show and had to leave without having had our mains. Manager was unhelpful so we refused to pay for...

Gave them a call and spoke to Jade who did what she could last minute and managed to get 12 of us in for breakfast so couldn't ask for more. Once there Jade and Laura took all pur orders as soon as we was ready...

Worse place ever for service. It was meant to be a surprise meal with family for my daughter's 18. What a joke, waited 75 minutes for the main meal to arrive, the sauces arrived 15 minutes later once ever one had finished. Then sat there...

So understaffed that despite the abysmal service that we received throughout, we left actually feeling sorry for the staff, despite paying a lot of money for very little. They simply can't get around to everyone.

Oh dear Poor poor staff. They were very short staffed for boxing day. No fault of their own. Come on beefeater improve your service. We walked out as it was pandemonium, with no let up for the staff.

Bad from the start no staff front of house had to go and find someone after waiting ten minutes or more then on being sat at table our pre booking was wrong as they had put us down as gluten free which was their mistake...

My first Christmas day off work for 10yrs so thought we would treat ourselves to dinner out. Very disappointed! 😞 Table was booked for 5pm, eventually got seated at 5.50pm due to lack of staff! Starter came out quite quickly, main course followed shortly after, several plates bring returned to the kitchen as food was cold! Waited nearly an hour for our pudding! Restaurant was emptying. Staff were clearing tables. We waited and waited until a staff member announced we are now closed and felt they were trying to hurry up the last few tables. We never got our 4th course that we had paid for of a mince pie and a coffee! Shocking! The staff were rushed off their feet and looked absolutely shattered. Doubt we will return.

Horrendous….. spoilt our Christmas Day. Had to wait ages for the table we had booked. Waited ages for the food. No one bothered to clean our table between starters and main course. No cutlery for 20 minutes even after manager brought our mains to us...

Absolutely terrible service and food when it finally arrived. Table booked at 4.30pm so wasn’t busy time. 6.15 our food arrived and was freezing cold . Manager was rude and unhelpful. Avoid this place !!!

Fantastic staff, hard working . Food was is amazing, only down full is need more waitresses the 2 amazing girls are rushed off their feet but they done a fab job under pressure. Well done 👏

We booked months in advance looking forward to a Christmas dinner. They had no Turkey and no other roast options. They had no fish for fish and chips. They had no beef lasagne. I do believe they did have a salad available .....yum yum. Table was not cleared between courses leaving us to talk over piles of dirty plates.

Absolutely terrible service. Booked a festive meal for the family before our annual visit to Colchester panto only to be told on arrival no turkey! Options on festive menu were burgers or salmon(at extra cost). Not very festive! Once we were seated it took 40 minutes for our drinks to arrive and we had to collect them from the bar ourselves. Manager advised he had found sufficient turkey meals for us but these were not served until an hour and twenty minutes after our arrival and our children had to wait even longer for their meals. Whilst the food was good by the time we had finished our meal we did not have time to order the deserts that were included in the festive menu as we needed to get to the panto. All in all a very miserable lunch experience and we were charged virtually full price.

Great staff good choice of food grest service

Very dissappointing booked festive lunch Sunday 17-12-2023 after being taken to our table was given the festive menu than waited 20mins before the waiter returned to take orders the veggie option I asked for they did not have so asked for veg and were told no vegtables so we all left and will never ever go to the Albert again we went to another eating place and were very happy with our festive meal else where.

Visited sat 16th and what a shambles. One waitress doing everything led to nothing being refreshed, Inc plates, mugs, spoons, white bread, pastries, fruit juice or fresh fruit. The coffee machine wasn't working with no alternative on offer. Then to really put us off the...

We visited today for our family Xmas dinner and there was 21 of us in total, with family that travelled 2.5hours to join us. I want to say Joe was amazing and although the restaurant was super busy Joe was always polite and kept smiling...

Always been good, but unfortunately last vist was slow service and kids being allowed to run around.

Used to love the breakfast but has gone down hill since we last went

Brilliant crunch wings to die for 😍 Reasonably priced nice interior clean and warm friendly. Great place to visit with family or a date night

Decent enough place to eat. Service was great, good was adequate, had a lot of time for our 1 year old who throws food about.

Had booked table to have a Christmas meal with my family as it was our only chance over the festive season. Sat waiting at table for 20 minutes before they came to take our order, to be told that at 3pm on a Sunday they had run out of Christmas dinners….. Disappointed isn’t the word 😢 drinks order took ages to arrive. When main course Finally arrived, mine was stone cold, my granddaughter was given fries & 2 bits of cucumber rather than the peas and corn that was ordered, & the vegetarian version of a Christmas dinner was nothing but a joke! We ordered a second round of drinks at the time our Mains were served, which finally arrived 15 minutes after we’d finished eating. (Oh and then another round arrived literally 5 minutes later!) Only two of our desserts arrived due to them not being able to take the order properly….. All in all… a total shambles & a really disappointing ‘Christmas dinner’ with my family 💔 we had around 5 different members of staff dealing with our table and not only did the left hand not know what the right hand was doing, the food was less than mediocre. Certainly won’t be returning as this has happened Many times here before, but ruining our family get together was the last straw for me.

Went for lunch here today. Waited half hour for our order to be taken, another 40 for the food to come out Luke warm & drinks order come out wrong as well. I love it here usually but I really felt for the staff that was there - they looked exhausted & there was hardly any of them there! The restaurant was packed and they just couldn’t keep up! Staff were lovely - just not enough of them. Such a shame

We really enjoy our meal last night after a theatre visit in London . The service was prompt the food hot and delicious and we felt very welcomed by all of the staff. Thank you for topping off our special day guys .

Booked this venue for a wake. As we was staying near by we decided to go there the night before said wake. Dreadful Was informed that there would be a minimum of 45min wait and that there was no roast dinners, this was a Sunday Staff were pleasant enough but was a little concerned about my booking which was highten the next morning when we went for breakfast only to be told that there was no cooked breakfasts. Voiced my concerns about the wake and was told all should be good. As it happened they did have enough staff. We have been there a few times now and there is zero atmostphere. It is always empty. Our wake finished at approx 4.30pm on a Mon afternoon and the place was empty. Doubt very much I would go there again. Food was good, although not a wide selection for a chain like Beefeater

Very bad experience. Only 2 members of staff working the front of house on a Sunday lunchtime. The food was about average quality not much to get excited about.

Food was amazing fresh hats off to the chefs 🙌🤍

Arrived on time shown to our table, then waited to be served Only 2 staff on duty eventually had our order taken drinks and food, our starters arrived but no drinks . Staff were trying their best, but not enough of them.

Food was amazing, very good value for money pleasant atmosphere and lovely staff Jade who was on her own and was very helpful polite and smiling

Walked in, and a terrible smell, possibly coming from the toilets, not very nice when waiting to be served and taken to a table. it appears that they only had one person serving and clearing the tables. Not a very good experience and this isn't for the first time.

We visited for my boyfriends birthday as he really wanted the mixed grill. He was not disappointed so that's a bonus. But I did feel for the young waiter and waitress who seemed to be doing so many jobs aswell as serving. We did have to remind one of them for our drinks. All in all we enjoyed our food. Myself and sister in law had steaks and they cooked really well. The new sauce range they have were nice too. I will say that I think more staff on the floor would be beneficial . Also it looked a bit untidy in the bar area of christmas Decs that we were in the process of being put up .

My mum texted during work today, saying my sister and her family wanted us both to join them for dinner, which was a great surprise, especially since it was my last day for a while. During the busy yet warm atmosphere, our waitress - Laura...

Appalling. Booked, waited 25 minutes just for someone to register we were even there. Had to wait to put reg in machine to avoid a parking ticket. Only two staff on duty, not even anyone in the bar serving drinks. Not sure when we’ll be...

It's lucky 3 hours free parking as it was that long for service. Also food cold and over cooked and people just getting up and leaving