The best restaurants in Chelmsford East of England

I recently attended an evening dinner service with my family and was rather underwhelmed. My expectations were high due to this establisment seemingly having decent reviews and on arrival the setting and service really lent itself to what I believed was going to be a wonderful evening. Unfortunatley the food was just bad. Not inedible, in fact I finished my plate of gnocci as I was pretty hungry, but just bad. My bruschetta, one of my all time favourite italian dishes, an absolute classic, was incredibly dissapointing. Just being a heap of sloppy chopped tomatoes whose delicate flavours were completley over powered by garlic on a thin slice of soggy toast. Awful. I will say that the presentation and portion sizes were very nice, but the quality and flavour in the cooking was lacking in its entirety. In terms of authenticity, centuries of culture and cooking are crying out in pain and anger as their name gets dragged through the dirt. I wasn't suprised for the carbonara to be a cream based sauce, thats pretty typical in Britain as it is a mild technical skill to pull off a classic carbonara and get it to the table. But even so it was just so heavy and flavourless that my sister couldn't even finish it and after I tried some, I couldn't blame her. I will say the Oysters were nice with a fun presentation, Mersea oysters are lovely. But lets face it, all they had to do there was open them and put them on a bed of ice. No cooking involved. I wasn't going to bother writing a review, bad food is bad food and I usually don't bother, but thought I would check them out in more detail incase we were just unlucky and had come on a bad evening. What I didnt expect to see was the sheer volume of bile, vitriol and belittling present in the responses to the honest comments and reviews of people that seemed to have a very similar experience to mine. At that point I thought it pertinent to ensure more voices are heard. I await your incoming tantrum with amusement and hope it comforts you that your imbecilic, emoji filled response will certainly trouble me for the rest of my days. The horror. Don't bother about telling me not to come back. You don't need to state the obvious. If you ever do find it within the grasp of your ego to listen to some constructive criticism, please look to the following. Make better food. You have a nice setting, decent staff and clearly some of the ingrediants you are using are of good quality. You have all the potential for something pretty special. Send your chefs to Italy, find some nice little local restaurants and find some inspiration to move forwards with. Because honestly I've had better pasta at a Wetherspoons at twice the quality and a 1/5th of the price.

Small but beautifully appointed restaurant and high quality food at reasonable prices. Very friendly and attentive staff too.

What a fantastic place Ruth went out of her way to squeeze us in ( didn't book ) my wife had bacon and sausage sandwich I had the sandwich stack absolutely delicious every table was taken Ruth is hands on and her staff don't stop 'great teamwork definitely will go back maybe i will book next time

Fantastic restaurant, fantastic food and Michelin star service . Highly recommended. The whole experience is one i will never forget

From the minute you walk in you'll know you've made the right choice. Friendly welcome, cozy and clean reception and then the FOOD??...it's first class. You will not find a better Indian takeaway anywhere

Lovely restaurant with lovely authentic, fresh food Good choice & all well presented Great friendly staff who are helpful too Thank you for again fabulous meal

Fantastic pre booked afternoon tea of cakes and sandwiches with plain scones . Originally booked for 4 people but extra person came as well and as we had let them know the day before it was sorted out fine. The food was lovely and so much for £12.95 a head. Service was excellent and very efficient. Would definitely book again.

I really want to like this place but feel the service is letting it down - although looking at other reviews, we might be an anomaly. We had reserved a table and ours was the last table free - a good sign. But after we had been seated, it took over 20 minutes for anyone to come to take our order, and even then it was only after we attracted attention. Obviously we could see that the restaurant was full, but the staff didn't seem like they were rushed or short-staffed, and were being very attentive to other tables around us. When we were placing our orders, we asked if the house wine - listed on the menu by the glass only - was available as a bottle, to which we were told it was. But when we asked for a bottle of the house red, the waitress said, 'Oh no, only rose or white.' Bit confusing and frustrating, but we were still able to order 2 glasses. After that service did speed up a bit and the food came out at a reasonable interval, beautifully presented and delicious. We decided we wanted to order a dessert, but once again we had to flag someone down to request a menu. I'm not sure if we were in a blind spot, or if there was a mix up over who was meant to be serving us, or that we booked for a bad time, but the service did mar the experience for us. The staff were all polite enough, but we felt forgotten and like we'd inconvenienced them when we drew their attention. It's a shame because the food is so good and the chef is so friendly, and clearly loves his work. I'm not going to say I'll never be back but I have been put off.

This cafe was so lovely! From the beautiful decor to the fab service, me and my mum were so impressed! We were both served quickly- we had toasties and a hot drink each, which tasted delicious, and the plates that the food was served on had a lovely flowery design. Also, the toilets were clean and nicely decorated.

We visited as a family for my dad’s 80th birthday celebrations for Sunday lunch. We had a fantastic table for 12 of us in a separate room but still felt very much part of the restaurant. The decor was lovely and the ambience and music made the day really special. The service was spot on, and the staff were really friendly. We all thoroughly enjoyed our food, starters were really nice and the Sunday roast was delicious. This is our second visit, and we will definitely be back. Would highly recommend.

We have just had a fully loaded pizza and it was delicious, I would highly recommend trying one of their pizzas and will definitely be back. Perfect with a beer 🍺

Dropped in for tea & Bacon sandwich with group of 4 fellow walkers. Orders delivered to table with only short wait. Filled a gap after walk in Central & Admirals Park which was also a pleasant surprise as I’ve never visited before although living in the area. Although we ate inside, in summer there was ample outside seating . Would definitely visit again when we revisit Park.

This place exceeded my expectations! The sushi was very fresh and tasty and the tempura prawns were very crispy! The owner was very friendly and he suggested some different sushi rolls for us to try and they all tasted amazing. I only had one picture because my boyfriend and I ate all the food so quickly😂 The best sushi in chelmsford I have tried so far I would definitely go again.

Awesome place i tried the curry goat was 10/10 so soft and delicious

Very poor experience nearly 1hr waiting for food and there was two other people in there. Food come up warm to cold. The sticky tables, VERY OVER PRICED