Thebig Breakfast in Southend-on-Sea

Lovely atmosphere..good quality food..excellent service.couldnt fault in any way..staff great..especially Lisa who was top class waitress with personality to match...great night.

Absolutely appalled by the experience we had on Sat night. Booked a table for 11 people (family came down from Ipswich, a yearly catch up). It was booked a couple of months ago and confirmed on the day. Was never told there were a few sittings. Our meal came fairly quickly and all was good up to that point. As soon as our meal was finished so our bill came which we never asked for as we were still drinking. They never even asked if we wanted a dessert or further drinks. We sat for a short while but was asked to leave as they needed the table. We were fuming as it had only been just over an hour since we got there. A long way to come for an hour. Needless to say we will not be going there again. So please when booking there make sure they tell how long you have.

The waitress was an absolute star, she persevered with two pensioners. The fish and chips were a tad disappointing, though the fish was well cooked, the chips were suffering from anaemia. I would struggle to describe the mushy peas but my wife's side salad was brilliant. All in all, a little disappointing, though we would go again.

We visited for my husband‘s birthday. We were a table of five and arrived at 7 pm. On arrival. We were the only diners in the restaurant. Three other tables were occupied by the time that we left 9 pm. This was a sat night. The menu has changed fewer choices or maybe fewer fine dining choices. The signature dish seemed to be the steak either steak on the stone or cooked so we opted for steak. The menu even contains a little joke. “Don’t ask the chef to cook well or medium well “ I opted for medium rare so when it arrived, I struggled to find the pink meat. I also ordered some garlic bread for our daughters, it arrived smothered in cheese but no mention that it would have cheese both daughters don’t eat cheese . The waiting staff require additional training. A female server. Didn’t even apologise when I complained about my steak instead told me it would be a further 15 minutes for a new piece , that wouldn’t work as everyone else had been served. They would’ve been nearly finished when mine arrived. Her solution was to scrap the order all together, but I came to a restaurant to eat. That wasn’t a good solution, the senior server, or maybe the manager later came over and offered to compensate for the steaks and provided a discount, which is really good of him, the chips could’ve been triple cooked for that crispy restaurant feel they suspiciously look like they may have come out of a packet also . After we complained about the steaks, we didn’t receive any additional service. We had to request a desert menu, being gluten-free. I asked what was gluten-free on the menu. I was told nothing it’s not completely unusual but usually you’re offered either ice cream or sorbet. We had the feeling that we were no longer wanted so forfeited the deserts for our table of five, asked for the bill and left, one of our diners was in a wheelchair, no point did anyone offer to open the door so we navigate of the double doors ourselves and left disappointed . Positively the cocktails and the beers were delicious. My recommendation would be hire some staff that smile or are attentive, become a bar and do what you are good at. This used to be one of my husband’s favourite restaurants in Southend. I’m not sure will visit again though. Bad times!

Spot on. Best Chinese in the area