The Red Lion in Tendring

Very nice food, quiet but it was a Tuesday evening in November.

Nce beer wine and service however there was only one table to sit at. Could do with some fitted sofas across the front bar area with tables and free standing chairs and the same in the main bar. Felt very awkward to gave a quick pint.

Had a chicken curry,, and bread and butter pudding, both very tasty and plentiful,, lovel seroundings, good car park.

Exceptional food. We had the Fritto Misto and Mackerel pate starters which were tasty and sensible starter portions - followed by the Dover Sole and Salmon Roulade. The food was exquisite and the menu extensive, particularly the Specials board. Service was great and the atmosphere would only benefit from more people in there so get yourselves down on a Friday lunchtime. You will not be disappointed.

Very lacklustre. Felt awkward when we entered as it was like the pub in American Werewolf In London where all the locals stop talking and turn and watch you as you come in. Fire was nice but tables near radiator were freezing as heating not on. Staff friendly enough, menu was ok. Opted for roasts and was expecting a decent meal for 17.95. Oh how disappointed were we. Meat was ok. Potatoes had seen the oven for about 20 minutes, pale, no scrips to them, and not great. Table spoon of cabbage with a bit of hard swede chucked in it and 4 thin slithers of floppy soft parsnips. Yorkie had a strange smell and was very poor, not crisp but so tough to cut. Didn’t stay for desert as needed to go for a decent roast!

A beautiful selection of food served at this pub. We all had different dishes and thought they were superb.

Full disclosure as this is our local and about 300 meters from our front door. We have eaten there a number of times and always enjoyed the food. And last night did not disappoint. I had halibut and crayfish thermidor and it was excellent. My wife's skate wing was also delicious. The portions were very generous service is fast and friendly. The desserts matched up to the mains and were quite obviously home baked!

Great place to go for a meal with a menu with something for everyone.or just call in for a pint or 2 . Lovely manager and friendly staff make you most welcome 🤗

Really great food and nice wine.

Really lovely place and the food was great - all homemade and delicious.

Great food and friendly service.

We was happy, the spare ribs were very nice, friendly

On holiday from Australia, called in as the car park looked busy, always a good sign. Glad we did, such great food, lovely atmosphere and welcoming and helpful host. Hubby rated the ribs in his top 2, and for me the liver, bacon and onions, always worth the long flight, we’re simply the best.

It's a quiet restaurant. Food is normally good and portions are big. Definitely a place to come back.

Short on vegetables and not cooked enough very disappointed

Went to the red lion this evening as it is dog friendly. Not only did the lady lady welcome the dogs but so did the customers. Great atmosphere. The food was amazing. I had rack of ribs and my wife had sea bass. Excellent. This was followed by a sweet. The food was reasonably priced. Really cant fault this pub and will return soon.

Lovely lunchtime meal, food was gorgeous and service 100%. We will visit again.

Great food, fabulous service. My mum is disabled and they helped her such a lot

Hi all we had our first meal in the lion last night so I wanted to place my review..many thanks to the staff for a warm welcome ...and the food....wow...loved it so much perfectly cooked and a fantastic flavour absolutely beautifully.. .see you again very soon...

Had a lovely meal in there Friday just gone. Starters from the Specials board and the Fush and Chips was enormous and lovely. A lovely little pub/ restaurant, the village are lucky to have

Had a lovely meal in there Friday just gone. Starters from the Specials board and the Fush and Chips was enormous and lovely. A lovely little pub/ restaurant, the village are lucky to have

Fabulous food again. Great service. Shall be back.

Christmas Dinner food was awesome staff great highly recommend this place will definitely be visiting again

Our family of 10 enjoyed a lovely Christmas day dinner , perfect in every way thoroughly recommend .

Been here several times, foods good, not the usual pub grub, and some meals more like homemade. Particularly nice as it has never been over noisy. Lovely atmosphere more like the old pubs of yore. Happy to say never been any noisy or uncontrolled children, and there's a lovely garden too. A very nice cosy relaxed pub run by a lovely couple. My son and I don't get to meet very often so we go there and know we can have a nice long uninterrupted private chat over dinner without yelling over an ambient din.

Xmas fete badly organised. Should have been in the field with ur own gazebo plenty of space. Could have had donkey rides . A proper santa with a fitting outfit that wasnt obscene in a grotto. . Space for a choir to sing and ppl to sit and listen with a hot toddy. Was no room for buggies and children to move around. Was nice but could have been so much better x

We hadn’t been to this pub but are very glad we returned. It’s extremely cosy and had a lovely fire and is very nicely decorated for Christmas. Very good menu and everything seemed homemade. Two of us had gorgeous venison pie with mash and veg that were perfectly cooked. Friend had roast turkey, also great she said. We finished off with home made bread and butter pudding with custard which was great. Generous portions, lovely staff and fantastic home made food. A bonus for us is the dog friendly area. We will be back.

The owner should be ashamed asking people to leave when the pub was empty , what was it the way they looked ??? There is no room in todays society for being a bigot against peoples colour or how they may look I certainly will not be visiting there again shame on you

Avoid at all costs!!! They refuse to entertain any people of colour and lied saying they were fully booked even said they were closing up waited in car and white patrons entered and got seated in restaurant will be reporting them to the appropriate authority in respect of this blatant racist behaviour

Empty pub . Lady happily was letting us sit down and dine until boss man see a black family all of a sudden fully booked out with two people eating in the whole pub. Would never ever step foot in there again. We shall take our hard earned money somewhere else. Disgusting.

Good food, great service, reasonably priced and a warm & friendly atmosphere.

Menu on website has not been updated therefore prices are incorrect. Also completely different menu! We went there because I like vegetables and potatoes with my meal , however the new menu has very little of this choice. My husbands burger was so dry and inedible. The dogs got lucky! Meals expensive, quality poor

Called in randomly for a Sunday afternoon bite and walked out very happy! Amazing food had by all and the Sunday roast was great!! The two ladies behind the bar and serving us were fantastic and very accommodating. Lovely old style pub with modern twist on pub classics.

Arrived at 3pm, sign said serving food until 4pm. Table was available but chef has gone home so no more food. Clearly don’t want the business.

They advertise Sunday lunch 12-4 we arrived at 2.20 to be told there were no tables available. There were people at 3 tables ! They obviously don't need the custom.

Excellent service Excellent good

A great little pub to stumble upon. Cosy interiors, a great menu and huge list of specials alongside it. I had the baked avocado with crab and prawns, although it was tough to choose, and it was fantastic. The staff were attentive and helpful too. Recommended!

Lovely little pub. We had lunch there and it was delightful. The decor is really charming and the staff were friendly. Would definitely recommend eating here if you're in the area.

Worried at first when we phoned to book and were able to get a table for 5 within 30 minutes and we arrived at the car park it was empty this won't be like that for long when people find out how good the staff and food are

Four of us ate at the Red Lion. We were greeted by a very friendly hostess. The menu and the blackboard specials bore little resemblance to the on line menu but that met with our approval. A great choice of dishes. 3 scallop starters and one meatballs. The scallops were good and served with a hugh piece of homemade bread. My husband had the meatballs but found them dry and hard.Service was super fast at this point, almost too fast as the main courses came along almost immediately the starter dishes were cleared. I has fish pie which was really lovely and packed with salmon, cod, prawns and scallops and piping hot. The salmon and tuna were apparently very good but the vegetables were very fatty and soggy and not much of them. The fourth main course was a smoked haddock risotto and unfortunately was disappointing. The fish was undercooked and not very large.In fact the whole dish was somewhat meagre. The waitress gave us the dessert menu but didn’t return to get orders. In the mean time a large group took up the table adjacent to us. Loud, rowdy and just plain awful. We decided to skip dessert and coffee as we couldn’t even hear us talking. So, as the title suggests, a mixed bag.

Excellent sausage and mash with onion gravy.

Stopped for a drink mid afternoon. Nice pub and cheery staff. A bit pricey but nice atmosphere. Looked at menu and fairly average prices. Nice outside seating area.

A quaint little pub with excellent food. Plenty to choose from, meat, fish, vegan. Friendly staff, clean and tidy.

We went here on a very positive recommendation. The outside of the pub looks very impressive. Such a beautiful building. But sadly we felt the interior of the pub and the food missed the mark. The seats were so uncomfortable which made the experience difficult. The mains didnt quite taste right for what they were. The Thai curry didnt taste thai. The lasagne was abit mushy. The Eton mess had frozen berries in it rather than fresh which was disappointing. It was also super expensive. The toilets also needed a serious refresh. Sorry for all the negatives. We really did have high hopes!

Stopped off en route to the coast for breakfast and wasn't disappointed

A lovely family meal. Excellent service portion sizes, very large

I would have loved to have given the Red Lion 5 stars as it’s a lovely place and food is generally good with big portions. I had a lovely rib eye. What really let it down was the pudding. I ordered the Eaton mess. I was presented with a very sloppy mess with tinned strawberry’s and black currents and shop bought meringue broken and mixed up with the tinned fruit (the type of meringue you buy from Tesco in a pack of 8 for pence.) not a bit of fresh fruit in sight. Come on Red Lion you could do so much better, it English strawberry season. I would go back for a meal but would give the Eaton mess a miss.

An excellent lunchtime menu served by super people.

Excellent....Great food, top quality, excellent hosts :-)

Lovely lunch today out side..Good menu and food..Great service. We will return

At last, a pub that does not just do the typical pub menu. Also, a choice of lovely fresh sea food, pasta, and Italian dishes. Great service, too. We will be going back again to sample the Specials Board.

Good service. Nice drinks But bad food

Amazing place fantastic service

Lovely small old pub/restaurant with open fire and exposed beams. Cosy atmosphere and great menu selection. Burgers were tasty and well presented. Will definitely be back.

We had a pleasant evening here on a Friday night, food was nice, service was good, maybe a little pricey, but everywhere seems to be these days. I would visit again, enjoyable night.

First class food , excellent staff who were very friendly and efficient.... We were a walk in but I'd recommend booking as it was busy 😁

Friendly local pub with a great dinner menu. Had the lasagna and venison cottage pie, they were delicious!

A last minute stop at this pub as we passed. A warm welcome as we entered. Lots of choices on the main menu and specials board. Portions a very good size, tasty and nice and hot. Would highly recommend and will visit again if ever in the area.

Since it’s been taken over, I’ve had nothing but good food, specially the fish dishes amazing service lovey atmosphere lovely people. Often go to eat here. And I’m extremely fussy when it comes to my food. 5 Star ⭐️

From the moment we walk through the door to when we left, what a gem. Friendly welcome, the service to taking orders, the timing was spot on. The starters, the mains and pudding excellent, all 4 of us had nothing but praise, including a vegetarian. Good portions, wonderful presentation and taste. We will be going back again and again soon

Had a lovely evening here, great food and great staff will definitely go back .

We went as two couples and thoroughly enjoyed the food, each meal was presented beautifully and tasted just as good. It was a Friday night and Christmas Carol singers also arrived and gave us a copy of the lyrics to join in if we wanted to. This wouldn’t usually be our thing but the staff and everyone involved were so inclusive and wonderful that we joined in and had a lovely night!

Great night we went star gazing localy and we all went to the Red lion great atmosphere. Lovely log fire .have been twice .haven't eaten there yet but no doubt will do. But just a great pub .must visit find out yourself .

Fantastic food,reasonable prices

Nice menu but a little overpriced. We enjoyed what we had though as a little treat for my grandaughter

My self and partner had the most amazing meal. The staff are out of this world and couldn't do enough for us . They Brought the special board over and the menu. Everything sounded wonderful. We both opted for the home made steak and ale pie. It was probably the best we ever tasted and whilst eating we observed the other meals coming out . I had the lemon merange roulade after . Amazing We are definitely going back to try everything Thank you Tony behind the bar and the chef

More of a restaurant than a pub. Nicely refurbished with original wood beamed roof. Lovely wood-burner for the winter months with comfy seats nearby. Good range of food, but the Italian is worth looking out as it's run by natives 🇮🇹 They have interesting specials available - so new things to try. Generous portions & the chicken Milanese is a joy 🙂 Reasonable range of beers available for those who enjoy a pint 😉

Went for a Sunday roast with my mum and her partner. We all had the beef. The beef was tough over cooked and seemed to have been chucked in the microwave. Poor selection of vegetables and the roast potatoes were under cooked. Really disappointing and...

Visited the Red Lion Saturday night and I couldn’t fault the food. There was four of us and we all found the food delicious. I was desperate to try the Baileys cheesecake but far to full. We will definitely be going back.

Ordered Roast Beef Sunday dinner and was very disappointed . It was only luke warm ,very small amount of vegetables and overall not value for money .Would not recommend.

Really friendly pub thay serves delicious food at a reasonable price.

The salmon dish was delicious! Can comfortably recommend this place

Lovely restaurant, friendly service, excellent choice of food.

Really good food, menu choice is excellent. Why go to a mass produced food chain when you can get home cooked good food here at affordable pricing.

We went there for an Anniversary meal the food was great so we’re the staff, however behind us sat three women one whom complained about everything including the food, two people from our party had the same dish as she had and said it was lovely, this lady however ate over half of it then complained how bad it was think she was after a freebie so when she leaves her review like she kept saying she would be it was sat the 27th evening and when she says how bad her beef stroganoff was believe us that was not the case can’t wait to go again thanks for making our Anniversary evening so nice

Visited the pub after many years. With new management, the staff was great - made very welcome, the food was excellent.

Probably the best food experience in a pub in the whole of the UK

Visited The Red Lion today for the second weekend in a row. Food is absolutely delicious! Not your standard village pub food by any means. So much to choose from, from the usual fish and chips etc to venison pie. Today we had the italian...

Enjoyed a nice refreshing cold beverage in the outside garden area which has its own mini bar as well as the main indoor bar. Friendly staff and good service,what more could you ask for!

We have been promising to visit this pub for nearly a year having moved to Weeley last year but for one reason or another hadn’t got round to it until last night. The service was excellent, as was the food. We had fish and chips and the portions were massive! Next time we won’t have a starter because the main meals are so large. The food was so fresh and we couldn’t fault it in any way. The atmosphere was so friendly and we will most definitely be back. They all made us feel really welcome 🥰

We had been looking to visit this country pub for some time having moved into the area last September. We sat in the bar area for a few drinks and chatted to a few locals who were very keen to engage in conversation with us....

Lovely food, lovely atmosphere, lovely service

Having walked through all the stinging nettles from Brightlingsea had an excellent lunch sitting outside in the glorious essex weather. Food was Very good all freshly cooked, very tasty and plenty of it. Service was also excellent and a good selection of beers .

Great service and the food was excellent definitely going again

Great country pub with good food with a strong Italian twist. Large and impressive specials selection.

Love the family room some classism games to play, Really nice place to spend the evening, has a good selection of drinks and friendly staff. Was worth the walk from Great Bentley.

First visit to this place today, meal was excellent and very good value

Had sun lunch with friends all good first class service and lovely roast beef dinner Will be coming back Give it a try you won’t be disappointed

Staff very friendly beer ok shame no piped music otherwise great

Great food good selection of drinks friendly staff

Lovely food lots of choice friendly staff

Excellent service and quality nice varied menu choice Lamb chops were great!

My wife and I stopped for a meal today, Can't rate the food highly enough, Top Staff and amazing Chef, definiteg ing g

Amazing food, friendly staff and guests, look out for the specials board, all locally sourced products and home made dishes, definitely going back.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Five star Absolutely beautiful food the service is spectacular always a great atmosphere and friendly Can’t recommend this place enough Have visited many times and definitely my favourite place to eat in the erea Nothing is to much trouble for them Huge portions really is worth a visit OUTSTANDING And the liver and bacon mmmmmwah In fact every meal has been perfect

Lovely pub, we had a enjoyable evening.

Lovely roast, only thing missing was cheese sauce with the cauliflower 😋

This afternoon we had a table for eight . The food was lovely the Staff looked after us well and the food was great . Thank you .

Went there today. Food was amazing and portions enormous. Can't wait to go again.

We are a group of walkers who each week like to finish a mornings walk with a pub lunch. This was our first visit to the Red Lion and hopefully it won’t be our last. The staff were efficient and helpful, the beer was excellent...