The best restaurants in Maldon East of England

I went to Southminster fish bar tonight for a cod and chips for me and the Mrs. I ask if it could be cooked fresh. When I got home what a load of rubbish. The chips were dry and disgusting and the fish was terrible. We won’t be eating from the southminster fish bar again. Disgusting

This is the 3rd time myself and my party have returned to Osea leisure park and we were planning on returning again next year until this experience at the deck house which has now made us pause to discuss other options. On checkin we were excited to be told of the investments that had been made to the deck house restaurant / bar - sadly that’s where the excitement ended. We were greeted in a very friendly manner as we bought bingo tickets for the adults and the kids played on the arcades at the other end of the room. In total due to the size of our group we must have spent nearly £500 on games, bingo and the bar/food. It then went downhill. Our kids were spoken to rudely by management because they were using the machines whilst bingo was on ( a simple rule of no kids in the building during bingo would have negated this), one of our party was asked to leave the bar as she had a baby ( in a very unprofessional manner) and then one of our party were ignored when they won at bingo because the caller ‘didn’t hear them’ - by the time of the latter all the kids had gone because of the way they had been spoken to - some regulars and staff actually shouted at them to ‘shut up’! All they were doing was playing on the games provided - no shouting or bad behaviour. The bingo caller and some of the other bingo participants who I assume were regulars were beyond unfriendly and so unprofessional that we all left mid through the game and came away shocked at how a purported family friendly establishment had got it so wrong. I have never been made to feel so unwelcome - it was appalling. The osea leisure park accommodation is great and our experiences until this point have been excellent. If we do come back we will not be going anywhere near the deckhouse and if management want a truly family friendly holiday village they need to address their staff and rules immediately. Very disappointing!

Nice pub with a decent range of drinks on offer. Large inside with a pool room, different seating areas and a large beer garden. Plenty of parking too.

Fantastic food, only once I’ve had a problem with it and they immediately put it right by sending out another one. Last order I made I fell asleep on delivery, I phoned to apologise and they sent me out another one free of charge! I made it right by tipping the delivery driver well. I can’t fault this company ! Great service, great food

We really enjoyed our four days in the room above the pub. Babs and crew are just lovely. Great meals, especially the breakfasts. Overall enjoyably quirky.

Dog friendly pub on the shore front. Decent food and excellent service

Me and my daughter went bowling and to the arcades and went to henris after which we have had done numerous times in the past and have always had really good things to say about it but haven’t been for a year or so, I’ve got to say I was so disappointed had the nachos and they were awful was literally just tortilla chips poured into a basket with some some cheese sauce poured over it for £7-£8 is a rip off!! I honestly don’t mind paying money for food but I’ve got to say it was a rip off! My daughter had the child’s fish fingers and they looked like they had been fried 5 times!! I literally ate a mouthful of my meal and my daughter literally just ate her chips with her meal, I was going to talk to a member of staff but either they just didn’t look approachable or far too young to be dealing with complaints, such a massive shame they should of never changed there menu and definitely need more experienced staff!

Unfortunately our experience here wasn't good but perhaps it was just a bad day. We were told they had a backlog in the kitchen. We wouldn't have minded but we had small hungry children and 45 minutes was a while to wait. Then the food came and our mussels were not warm. Staff were very friendly and apologetic and did give us our money back.

Visited this place for lunch on the way home from a shopping trip, the first thing we noticed were that the two ladies serving both had very untidy unkempt hair, none of them were wearing any sort of headwear to keep their hair off their faces, the welcome wasn't very warm either, the pies were slightly overdone but hot and the mash was just warm, the pies did not have a lot of flavour to them but there was a noticeable twang to them, possibly mixed herbs not quite sure, the meal was passable but doubt that we would eat there again, the hygiene issue needs to be addressed as we also noticed that the staff were also dragging big bags if potatoes around in between serving although they did put on a a pair of rubber gloves to do this but I doubt they washed their hands after taking the gloves off.

Look, the food tasted ok but I felt it the next day along with other family members with bad tummies. The portions are big so can't complain as much hence why 3 star and not lower. What did annoy me was I asked for garlic sauce, was given bbq in a doner kebab. When I told the gentleman this was wrong he replaced it bless him but the lady who took the order was so arrogant that I actually asked for bbq. I think i know what I asked for and wouldn't be arguing for the sake of it. She was extremely rude about it so I walked away. Also I asked for dippers not nuggets so clearly you were hearing wrong.

The worst fish and chips we have ever had, went to burham to have fish and chips at the jolly fryer unfortunately it was shut. So gave sauda village other try. Never again the chips were black the sausages were tasteless and dry. Fish was dripping in oil. The table outside was filthy had to clean it ourselves. I don’t know how they got a 5 rating from EHO

Food and drink was lovely. Excellent and friendly service. Highly recommended. Will definitely be going back with the family in the very near future.

We arrived as a group of six on a Friday night to find a bustling restaurant. We were welcomed by friendly staff and seated at a very comfortable table. Drinks arrived quickly; there was a great cocktail selection and a good selection of draught beers. Our starters arrived promptly, as did the mains. We were all impressed with the quality and amount of food offered, so much so that we did not have room for desserts. The atmosphere was great, and the female singer was excellent. Overall, it was a great night out, and we will certainly return.

The service was terrible and the food was terrible. Not sure what else to say? Sorry wlas staff had obviously not had any training so may not be their fault.

First visit since this restaurant changed from being a Wimpy to now being called The Diner, I believe it’s the same people running it but a vast improvement now. A great choice on the menu and the food is 100% better than it was before. I had the half pounder and chips and my wife had gammon egg and chips, both were well presented and tasted lovely. She managed to fit in sticky toffee pudding and custard which looked lovely and she said it tasted great. There is a good selection on offer here at very reasonable prices, well worth a visit.