The best restaurants in Braintree East of England

Was initially disappointed to see a lot of me no u items unavailable - brisket, ribs etc all not on the menu but was excited for BBQ so decided to persevere. A decision we lived to regret. Ordered at 1820. Received delivery at 2045. In between were six calls with the restaurant during which they variously told us food was five minutes away (still an hour and a half to go at this point), was just coming out the kitchen now (one hour after ordering), had never been ordered at all before then informing us they'd run out of one of the item we'd ordered so they'd be replacing with pork belly. Eventually when the food showed up it was not worth the wait. Pork belly was somehow both over smokey (think creosote/sucking on a two stroke engine exhaust) and under cooked so the fat had barely rendered. The pulled pork bun was weirdly sour tasting and didn't have a lot to it. The wedges probably would have been tasty if they were hot and crispy. Unfortunately they were cold and soggy by the time they arrived. Coleslaw and pickles could have come straight out of Tesco's. Customer service was shocking, delivery took so long I could probably have raised my own meat in the time and when the food came it was bang average at best. To top it all of the restaurant acknowledged our complaints and rewarded us with a hefty £3 refund. Not sure what we'll spend it all on but it probably won't be this crap again.

One would expect a takeaway or restaurant to be ready for lunchtime with a large selection of goods on sale ready for a ruch. Sadly for this branch of Greggs this has not been the case on several visits on a Saturday. Arriving at a little after 12 to be met with empty trays, long waiting times ir to be told 'I'll have a look' is not the sort of response you expect to be met with. You could understand a few items to be be awaiting replenishment, but empty cabinets! Totally unexceptable. This review is by no means typical of all branches of Greggs, but is certainly the of the Halstead branch on at least four Saturday visits