The White Hart in Chelmsford

We have been back to The White Hart quite a few times since I posted this review. We have had excellent meals every time. Todays meal 20/11/24 was truly excellent. The moules marrinaire were absolutely delicious. The skate was enormous and delicious. My wife's cod was also a really generous portion and delicious. Again the whole experience was first class. A spur of the moment decision to try The White Hart on a wednesday lunchtime for the first time. What a lovely place to eat and relax, really friendly and welcoming staff. From the initial phone call to book to being served we were looked after by Olivia she was absolutely brilliant. Friendly, funny and really attentive. We had Skate and Cod with chips as our main courses with tempora prawns as a starter. All of the food was really nice, delicious good sized portions and piping hot. Really reasonable prices. 2 drinks 2 starters and 2 mains for £45 ! Really good value and will definitely be returning. It was a really pleasant experience and judging by how busy the place was a lot of other people thought so as well.

Our second visit in three weeks and on both occasions, excellent food and amazing service from your professional and courteous staff, especially the young lady who accommodated a couple of our guests who were late and also the gentleman serving us your generous, hot and oh so delicious meals. Thank you so much, will be back soon

Served by Katie Tom and the tall smiley chap everyone was great as was the food! Would highly recommend!

Everything was very good but where we were seated by the kitchen window it was very tight for the waitresses to serve us we had to keep putting our chairs in so they could pass. Other then that we had a great time

Good atmosphere food and servicegood

Absolutely excellent, it's great for everything 👌

Always a good option Great place food.and.service

Quite hard to find good pub food on a Monday locally. What a lovely pub with fantastic service and a great atmosphere. They have Monday night roast which my wife has and it was lovely, I had the burger which was equally as nice. Don’t need many extras as the size of the portions are more than adequate. Well worth a trip if you fancy a good pub meal

Had slow cooked beef and mixed grill both of which were delicious. Great service and very welcoming and polite man. Marion and Craig

Nice food and staff, and a very well designed interior. Good that there are still decent places to go with so many rubbish ones about.

After visiting here a few months ago I knew if I was in the area again I would have to visit again. The food and service doesn't get much better than here. A top place to stop if you are passing

A breakfast meeting with friends but where to eat? Not many ‘decent’ eateries around our area for breakfast so checking out on Tripadvisor and, from a past experience, we decided on The White Hart. A very positive choice for all four of us. We arrived earlier than our friends but were greeted at the door by a very cheerful, ‘front of house’, young lady. OK, let me say, this was somewhat unexpected at 9.00 am. She was a delight. Took our order for coffee prior to our friends, held up in traffic, arriving. After a while the four of us ordered breakfasts, all different. Timing was brilliant as it gave us time for a good chatter before eating. The time taken for the food to arrive proved that everything was cooked to order, not that we doubted it. Food, in all cases was delicious and filling. Full English with wonderful bacon, Egg Benedict with a couple of extra rashers of bacon (my friend stated he wished he hadn’t ordered the extra), Scrambled egg with smoked salmon and, finally, Poached egg on avocado with sour dough toast. Can’t be beaten anywhere. With a pricing that was, also, impossible to beat. Nice atmosphere for the time of the day. Comfortable seating. Very clean, in fact sparkling clean. Interesting décor. But the main pluses are great food at a reasonable price. Good friendly service but very professional. Would we go back? See you soon guys and gals. THANK YOU one and all.

Food and service were both excellent during our visit today, however we were seated on a very uncomfortable table. There is a small inner room without ventilation, and there were 16 people squashed in. It was over 26 degrees according to the thermometer in there, and our party and the other guests took it in turns to sit outside in between courses. The other party sat apart on separate tables in another part of the restaurant for dessert, as it was unbearable. We stopped at another restaurant on the way home for dessert - all 8 of us managed a meal in just over half an hour, which is a testament to the efficient service and also our desire to get out as quickly as possible! Would return, but be sure to check table is not located in this area.

Visited for Sunday lunch. We were a party of three couples who eat together regularly and enjoy finding new venues. We were seated in a small side room and made to feel very welcome from the get go…our waitress, Olivia, was incredible and she soon picked up on our humour and relaxed attitude and joined in to perfection making us all laugh and feel at home, she is a total gem and deserves high praise. The food was wonderful, five of us had the roast and one the nut roast..we didn’t leave anything! All in all a great lunch and we plan to return to try the man in menu asap.

Absolutely lovely lunch today. Great menu & yummy Monday roast. Staff & service was excellent. Great value for money. Will definitely be returning.

First time visiting, food was lovely, had the crispy beef salad, really good, and the fish and chips was excellent.

Gorgeous food, Very polite and friendly staff.

We had an amazing lunch and was served my Olivia. She was lovely and engaging. The food was 10/10. We had roast dinner and my wife had the veggie fish and chips. My father in law and his brother also had the roast dinner. It was the best roast I've had in ages. It is now my go to place. Cheese cake was delicious 😋😋🤤.

Nice pub with lovely decor. I had the sea bass with chips. Very nice. Especially the chips!

Very nice lunch staff polite and attentive beautifully kleen

Modern country pub in a lovely setting overlooking the green. Good choice of food, perhaps a little pricey but well worth it.

I’m sure the food is great but I popped in with my daughter for a quick drink and was charged £7.40 for two tiny bottles of Coke Zero! Obscene price! Paid less in the West End!

Sunday lunch with friends, food was gorgeous, sun was shining so Sat in the garden. Beautiful afternoon.

Lovely place to go. Highly recommended and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Food and service were great

Really nice pub just outside Chelmsford. Very polite and professional staff. Excellent breakfast menu. Looking forward to visit again!!

A lovely place, warm welcome from Mark and delicious lunch (pan fried sea bass, mixed grill, prawn and crayfish salad).Thank you very much

Just had the most delicious chicken skewers lunch in the beer garden. Lovely food, excellent service and lovely atmosphere/location. Great !!

A delicious meal, very good / large portions, Tasted as good as it looks...Highly recommend 😋

Food amazing. Waited 1 hour 15 minutes for pur meal.

Lovely food, very large portions for some, something to think of if ordering a starter and main course. Very well presented. Great friendly staff...

Nice food and good choice of drinks

A family get together celebrating my birthday. Sunday lunchtime. With most of us having 3 courses plus drinks. The portions were generous tasty and of good quality. The service was excellent and friendly staff made the occasion most enjoyable. Thank you once again.

Me, my husband, son, daughter in law had lunch in the pub on Monday 1st July we was so disappointed with the food my son had battered large cod of which looked very dried it had bones in it we did tell the table server and he did offer to get a fresh meal for my son but my son no it’s ok but he didn’t enjoy the fish it smelled more like haddock than cod we also got charged extra £2.95 which we thought came with peas so I thought that was outrageous to charge us separately for a small portion of peas if we had known that we would not of ordered that food as for our roast dinners it was just so tasteless the large Yorkshire puddings was so rock hard, burnt i honestly thought they was heated up from the day befores roasts dinners the vegetables was not cooked properly, no taste the pigs in blankets, stuffing was also tasteless and the gravy also was tasteless we will never go back there again to eat it’s such a shame as my son, daughter in law used to eat there and said the food was so tasty well I am guessing the chefs have change I think they need a lesson how to warm up the days leftovers lol 😂 we paid a lot of money for 4 meals that was not a pleasure to eat so very disappointed Won’t be going back there again and wasting our money it was meant to we a treat for our son, daughter in law.

If Carlsberg made pubs! Lovely staff!

We booked for my recent 50th birthday meal and were not disappointed. The food is fantastic and so is the service. We will definitely be going back again. Their prices are really good as well.

This was our first visit to the white hart & we were very impressed. The outside area was very pretty with lots of colourful flowers and felt very welcoming. Inside the seating was comfortable. Menu was good and food beautifully presented. Our waitress Olivia was just lovely. Very friendly and helpful. A real asset to the company.

5 of us went to watch the football last night and had a really good time. Martin and the 2 girls were very attentive, very cheerful, and polite. We had free hot dogs at half time, which were lovely. We eat there quite a lot as the food is always top quality ! 5 stars always. Cheers. Dean & Family.

We visited on the day the new menu was offered. We went for two courses, calamari and grilled skate wing, tempura prawns in a chilli dipping sauce and large cod, chips and mushy peas. Both meals were well prepared, presented and tasty, although my cod could have been seasoned. Although previously it was 2:1 , the new menu shows a reduced price, so for two courses and two drinks, it came to £53. We shall return on a Wednesday as it has a dedicated fish menu. Well done everyone. Paul

Family trip on a Tuesday night to celebrate a birthday. A great venue, with a friendly atmosphere, good service and a fabulous menu. Our four meals were all really nicely cooked and enjoyed by all of us. We're definitely going back. They do some great 2 for 1 midweek deals, which are well worth looking out for and you could make work really well for you. Highly recommended.

Lovely, relaxing meal with my husband, after having a recent operation, a real treat. New menus today to, we really enjoyed the Fish Menu it was delicious, very tasty, great selection. All the staff were lovely and friendly and very helpful especially as the pub was extremely busy all tables booked. A very nice ambience, would definitely recommend this local pub.

I had the guine fowl which came with bubble and squeak. All cooked perfectly, really tasty and enjoyable. Reasonably priced too. Thank you!

A gem of a find as was an impulsive moment of hunger. Food was beautifully presented and so tasty.. 😋

Found this place on our way to another food place that we had searched for on Google. Decided to try here and am extremely glad we did. Welcomed by a friendly and helpful young lady, and then the service by all members of staff was pleasant, attentive, and helpful. Food was lovely, and the bartender made my wife a drink that she requested but was not on the menu! Our first time here, and we already said it will not be our last! Left very happy and full up!! 😊

One of the best pubs I’ve been to. Lovely indoors and outdoors, great staff and incredible food. Chicken pie 10/10.

Fantastic food service great atmosphere

Marek the chef is absolutely brilliant. Nothing is too much trouble when messing about with some of the dishes ! Also, Mark behind the bar, is very attentive and very qiick. Well done to you both. Dean Ketley

Love this place. Only thing wrong is too much food! Can't manage 2 courses.

We visited the White Hart for the first time along with friends and were not disappointed at all. The food was superb, especially the rack of ribs! Service was brilliant and for that we thank Michelle. We will certainly return again.

Always excellent. Great food, service and range of good beers

The food was so greasy I felt sick I would not go there again

Made to feel very unwelcome when we popped in for lunch after a reasonably long dog walk. We sat outside as the weather was pleasant and the dogs a little muddy. I went in but wasn’t allowed to order drinks at the bar, I had to order from the table using my phone, which would have been fine apart from 25 mins later, we were still waiting for our drinks. The food arrived after about a 20 min wait (which would have been fine had we had our drinks promptly), but avoid the satay chicken. It was very dry and served on some slimy cucumber and carrots, not the salad as stated in the menu, fries were cold as well. Husband said his sausage and mashed potatoes was nice, but didn’t come with any veg, you had to pay extra for that. All in all very disappointing. We have eaten here a number of times in the past, but won’t be rushing back.

Have eaten here for many years and to be honest the meal last night was one of the best! The staff were attentive, didn't have to wait long between courses, the menu was excellent, a very good choice, and the food itself was very good. Even having a nut allergy didn't seem to effect what I could and couldn't have off the menu, chef bringing out the food and making sure I got the right food, good atmosphere, sensible pricing, all in all a very good evening, would certainly recommend

More interested emptying the dishwasher than serving won’t be rushing back. Thought we would give it another try only to find a pint of beer 6.15 a pint.

£6.15 for a pint of beer at this point we just laughed and left. What’s with these local pubs in Chelmsford ripping people off.

Food was very good. The 2 for 1 offers are well worth it.

Lovely food and great staff. What more can I say.

Love our local. 2 for 1 deals are awesome! Best place stood for food. Also dog friendly!

My fish & chips was very oily and left my stomach uncomfortable. My bottle of beer was tiny - 330ml - which i think should be said on the listing.....rather deceiving & bad value.

2 of the 3 ales on tap were off but the staff happily replaced them. The food is very nice and good portions so a bit more pricey than your average pub grub. Nice decor just very few people in

Ordered some sharing dishes which were amazing.

Nice place for an evening out...lovely food, nice atmosphere and good service...enjoy...

Good friendly service, excellent food

We have been to your establishment on serval occasions New Year's Eve good food .Tina Tuner good food .Sunday lunch not so good in fact very poor .Sunday lunch revisited even worse . Sunday 4th Feb tried again the food was degustation the service was no better for what you charge for food I will never revisit.We were sent upstairs where there was children running around every where.I have four grandchildren so have no proble with children at all.I can only imagine that the white hart has changed hands.Over all commit disgusting

Hidden gem! Love this place! Great food and great beer. Service with a laugh and a smile too. Lovely decor and very welcoming, highly recommended.

Four of us had a very enjoyable evening meal here, although service was a bit slow at times. We were at the table near the window, past the bar and in the corner, and there was a really cold draught from the direction of the wall, coming under the table. I would happily come back, but not sitting at that table on a cold day.

Found by accident. Took a wrong turning. Popped in. Loved it. Wil be back.

Having booked more than a Week in advanced for a Family meal. We arrived 10 minutes early for our 4 O’Clock booking to be ignored by staff. That would rather watch the dirty used glasses stack up on the bar than clean up or engage with patrons. We waited until half 4 to be taken to our table. We then waited a further 20 minutes to be asked for drinks, at which point the waiter stated that the table did not exist on the POS system. So again another wait to be served. We finally got our drinks ordered and brought over. We also ordered starters and mains at this point to have the starters brought out about 10 minutes later. Mediocre at best! Then a further long wait for the biggest disappointment of roast dinners to arrive it was over cooked and the Yorkshire puddings were dismal, I wouldn’t through it at risk of breaking a window. The roast turkey meal arrived to the table with crackling on it, after picking it apart to check it was turkey. We sent it back to be replaced, they removed the crackling, reconstructed the plate including a half eaten stuffing ball, they then sent the same plate sent out now slightly cooler. Safe to say at this point the evening was ruined and we left with the complete intention of never returning. If I never visit this establishment again it would still be too soon!

Great food, great service, great beer. Love the interior of this pub feels very welcoming and homely as a good pub should be. Food was fantastic.

Love this pub, it's my absolute favourite. Food is great, service good and beautifully decorated. Recommended for casual or special occasion dining.

Lovely good, friendly staff and beautiful venue

Terrible with an officious and rude manager who failed to direct staff during a busy spell or help customers. Openly rude and witnessed by other customers who were shocked. Please provide details of who owns this pub or contact details for the brewery . We waited 50 mins for a table that was precooked, food came before drinks . The cauflower was off but otherwise the food was nice. The serving waitress was very pleasant and apologetic but the manager was out of control. There was no attempt to check who had made bookings . Chaos

There was no 2for1 offer at our table today so we assumed it wasnt available Thursdays & ordered a la normal carte. Starters ok, drinks ok, mains got switched at last minute due to steak pie being off. Oh well, chicken pie instead then; should be ok. No, not ok; no discernable chicken in there. Gave up on dessert & asked for bill. Bill came with a 2for1 menu; err shouldn't we have been offered this at the start?? A word with manager please.... he just kept pointing at the mains on the menu card saying "yeah, 2for1 steak, Tuesday FROM Sunday"!!! But there's absolutely no mention of 2for1 steak on the menu. His bar staff stood behind looking mildly embarrased at his lack of English & inability to even understand our point. We are not poor, but not rich either, & I feel £60.00+ is way too much for what we just had. We were only there in first place for a 2for1 deal. Im still giving 5 stars because i know the owner, but really not a good experience today, & over charged.

Lovely place. Perfect lunch 2 for 1 Beef roasts and delicious desserts.

Went with my daughter and son.in.law brilliant place.

Faultless. Went for Xmas breakfast with my colleagues. Food and service 10/10

Fantastic food. Will definitely return.

Disappointing. Staff clearly very busy and we were in a side room so service was slow and it was impossible to get their attention for drinks etc. Food very average. Luke warm soup. Salmon ok. Turkey very dry. Didn't think it possible to get an Eton mess wrong .. but it is. A scoop of ice cream (!) with a red fruit sludge and a hunt for the slivers of meringue mixed in. Cheese board looked decent. From our table we could see the kitchen pass and a lot of dishes were spending quite a long time waiting to be taken to tables. I know they were very busy with the place rammed .. but maybe get extra staff in to keep the standards up.

Disappointed to say my Grandma missed her Christmas Dinner with her Bowles group due to a fall and not being up to attend. Asked if it could be taken home to her which they declined, kindness goes along way and it’s a shame it was missing today. *UPDATE - since leaving this review my mum has since spoke to the owner who refunded all the money and sent her home with a meal for my Grandma - she was delighted thank you!

The food came on time, was hot and was tasty, on a busy night at the Christmas season quite exceptional.

Food and ale were great. Friendly staff.

Have had many good meals here over the years but recently visited and ordered a Massaman Curry. Unfortunately my meal bore no resemblance to a genuine Massaman Curry. Not a hint of Coconut Milk which is the base for this dish around the world. The Beef was a dryish ,spicey casserole mix and was served with a lightly flavoured Jasmine Rice. The potatoes were served separately and appeared to be large roasted chunks. I have enjoyed Massaman Curries at many locations and never seen or tasted one like this. I didn't make a complaint at the time as we were with friends on a Birthday celebration and to be fair my friends all enjoyed their meals. However I did fill ln their feedback form and personally dropped it in the following day. I'm sorry to say I havn't had any response. So .... Nice place, good value but avoid the Massaman Curry option.

Having been to the sister pub (Axe and Compass) we weren’t disappointed. The food was just as top notch the service very friendly and attentive. The venue is bright and clean with good parking. We’ll definitely be returning.

Thank you for a fantastic birthday meal with family. Party of 11 in room overlooking kitchen. All the team were amazing......fantastic service from minute we walked in. Friendly, professional in gorgeous surroundings/decor. Our main waitress ensured everyone was looked after; food, drinks, timings were all spot on. All waiters/waitresses were great. Food was better than posh restaurants in London!! Went for brother's birthday few years ago, and although not local (hour drive from our house), decided to book here and travel. Worth it! Everyone had a fantastic time and felt valued and special. What a venue and team. All hard working.....seamless service. Special thanks to our lovely waitress who made our night. We all had such a great laugh. Outstanding. THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN ENJOYABLE TIME!

Nicely furnished. Good food and dogs very welcome. Part of a small chain of pubs in lovely old buildings and open for breakfast.

Food and service was 5 star all day long! Only problem was that it was like a sauna inside, had to take a few moments to cool off outside.

Brilliant restaurant great food excellent service great value

Excellent menu good service throughly enjoyed the meal and the surroundings

Everything, exellent, food, service, price. BUT just a small suggestion, turn the lights down just a bit for evening. The lighting is really too bright.

Lovely pub, great ambience and decor. Food very disappointing, this is a genuine review as I hope the managers read and listen. Service is great although waiter was on his own rushing around, drinks were great. Food was so poor had to send my starter back as contained fish and was obviously deep fried, yet cold in the middle. My partners calamari consisted of more soggy breadcrumbs than actual calamari. The double dippy burger was a sad looking burger with a bowl of what I can only describe as cheap american cheesy sauce? Why not get your chefs to make a decent homemade dip? Overall very disappointing food for a lovely place, and the prices they charge you should do a lot better. Sadly we won’t return.

I celebrated my 70th birthday with 22 family and friends. What a wonderful night. Olivia showed us upstairs and what a fantastic host she was. She made sure people were greeted and asked what they wanted for a drink. She was amazing along with all the staff. The food was so good, lovely and hot and we weren’t kept waiting considering we were a large party. The party menu was terrific, with so much choice. Many of my friends and family said how hard Olivia worked but also how good the other staff were. I would like to thank all the staff as they helped give me such a memorable birthday.😃

Food and service was excellent but the loud and foul mouthed table behind us rather ruined the evening for me.

We were a party of 10 adults and 3 children, greeted and made to feel welcome by Olivia who looked after us brilliantly all evening. We had various menu choices and every dish was excellent with each person being served at the same time. The other waitresses assisting Olivia also did a fantastic job, the whole experience ensured a great evening for my wife’s birthday. Look forward to seeing you again soon.

Beautifully laid out, nice patio and garden area, staff very helpful advising on drinks, good perfect 😊

Heard it was under new owners and thought we’d give it a try. Turns out it is excellent. Very friendly staff and amazing tasty food. I had a burger that was very good. And my father had a roast which he was very pleased with. We are definitely coming back.

Wow - simply ticks every box. Great atmosphere, scrumptious food, wonderful menu with so much choice. So hard to choose what I wanted as so many meals I wanted to try. Delicious cocktails and super service. Wish it was nearer to where I live but definitely will go again when I’m back in Essex.

Pre-ordered the Sunday menu for a family party. 20 adults and 5 young kids. Curtis was a real star. Made us feel welcome and a lovely atmosphere in the upstairs party room. Food was well presented and lovely and hot. Was just quite a long wait between courses, which meant the kids became a bit unsettled, but nice that there was an area for them to play. Good value and the staff worked really hard to ensure we had a good time

Fantastic place. Always good food, friendly staff and a lovely cosy place to visit.

There was nothing wrong with the meal and the service was great but I thought it was expensive for the standard of the food. We paid >£85 for 2 for a 3 course meal with 1 beer and 3 glasses of wine. I cannot help wondering how much of what we chose was bought in and just micro-waved or put in the pan. Locally I can get better food for less money. It was my first time here and I won't hurry to return.

A lovely pub, in a lovely setting with lovely staff and great food. Our waitress Olivia was super, very attentive and fun. This pub has been really cared for and looked after both inside and out. The decor, the freshness and its very charming. So also sell bags of sweets!!!!

The meal was excellent and the service was superb, particularly a waitress called Olivia who met all our needs. Nothing was too much trouble and she went above and beyond what is expected. The ambiance in the dining area was lovely.