The best restaurants serving Asian food in Uttlesford East of England
5 Restaurants on GastroRanking
580 Opinions in 2 websites
Clavering, Nr Saffron Walden, England
First of all, let me make this clear, we are well travelled foodies. We recognise the problems that the catering industry is under in terms of pricing etc. but we know poor food when we eat it and we know overpricing when we see it. We visited the Cricketers just before Christmas for a lunchtime meal, seven of us in all including my aged mother as a pre-Xmas treat. What a disappointment. What a mistake. We won't do that again. The essential complaints: pricing and lack of quality. The meal was dire and appalling value for money. Most of us chose the smoked trout to start. The portions were tiny, billed as "small plates" which was very apt. Most criticism is however reserved for the mains. The majority of us chose the fish pie. This consisted mainly of mash potato with some tiny fish flecks mushed into it. A fishy flavouring, as it were. No discernible fish pieces whatsoever. Mostly mash with a few peas added for colour. Appalling. I left most of mine. The only redeeming feature was the kale which accompanied it. One of our number chose the cod. This surfaced as a small slither of fish (not a thick slice as you would normally expect for this dish) placed on top of a mound of mash sitting in an overpowering saffron sauce. Finally, the majority chose apple crumble for dessert. Once again poor quality including overlarge pieces of apple which had not even been peeled. I can honestly say the pie masqueraded as fish pie. It was the worst value for money fish pie I have ever eaten. In short, the meal was amateurish and extremely poor value and not in any way what you would expect to associate with a gastro pub. The bill duly arrived. All the dishes chosen, three dishes in all were separately identified. However, we all assumed that we had in fact chosen from the fixed price menu. This was queried and we were directed to the indistinct reference to the three italicised dishes at the top of the menu to which the fixed price only applied. This was not at all clear and added considerably to the disappointment. Were it not for the presence of my 92 year old mother, rest assured we would have walked early on but only after registering our complaints. You know the vibe. In these circumstances, poor quality is often revealed at the outset. Our complaints would have kicked in once the inadequacy of the mains became apparent. Finally, it was uncomfortably cold in there. Lets put that down to energy prices! We used to eat here regularly and I might add fully satisfied under the old Oliver regime. Never again. The Chestnut group is clearly not for us. Incidentally the service staff were very good and cheerful.