Cafe Cornell in Uttlesford

We don’t know the area or the restaurant but we’re looking for somewhere to have a nice lunch. The building is beautiful and the interior of the restaurant was stylish. The staff member who served us was really nice, polite and helpful. However, we ordered focaccia which was out of the fridge or freezer and was cold in the middle. When asked to heat it up - it still came back cold. That was a bad start. I had sardines gratin, this was almost stone cold. The other half had chicken terrine which was lovely, the best part of the meal, plenty of flavour and a lovely chutney to go with it. I had plaice for my main, the fish was perfectly cooked, but again, cold! I got some chips with parmesan and truffle, they were hot, but everything else was cold. The other half had a steak and chips. The chips were hot, the steak cold! You can see a theme here. We didn’t bother with desert, which was a shame. I’d have liked to have staid for coffee and desert, but I couldn’t bring myself to - as the restaurant was also cold! I’m not sure if the issue with the food is that the hot lights on the pass just are not hot enough, or whether the plates are not warm when the chef serves or whether there’s a timing issue and the meat or fish ends up cooked too long in advance of the other elements. The food (which was presented beautifully and executed well, just really not hot enough!) was just really very let down by the fact it was all cold. I’m really gutted because I really wanted to like it, and it has so much potential, but I think that if they don’t sort simple things out, they are doomed to fail. You’ve got a really good setting, good looking food and you can tell that the chef is trying hard to have a fab restaurant but you cannot serve cold food. It was a real shame.

Had Christmas Day lunch here with relatives [two couples]. The service was as good as ever, the atmosphere perfect for Christmas Day and the food can only be described as stunning. We had small portions of 5 starters, 5 main courses and 5 desserts plus cheese, mince pies and coffee. Sounds like you would be totally stuffed but there was sufficient time between courses, beautifully served on two tier platters between two plus veggies on the side for all the table . Really took the stress out of cooking at Christmas and albeit not cheap at £150 pp, was fair value for Monday bearing in mind staff costs etc. Thanks for a great lunch to all concerned.

Great village pub, food is consistently good with some lovely touches, great roast dinner, very good pudding selection and super friendly service. In the summer it’s got a great outdoor space.

Lovely little spot on the flitch way. Stopped for lunch with the kids- very accommodating and peaceful!

Great atmosphere and lovely hosts Deb and Carl. Dave organises great entertainment on weekends. Quiz night, karaoke and disco.