The best restaurants in Braintree East of England

Be aware that parking is appalling. I had to in the end, park on a residential street with restrictions. Not a good start. Service was good. Not very French. I had sea bass with crushed potatoes with a sea food sauce. The sauce was like water with no flavour at all and the potatoes were cold. I will not be going back. I have been before, definitely gone down hill.

Great coffee and the staff were very helpful and friendly as always

Visited on a Monday lunchtime on a drizzly day. A fair few people were there for either a drink or lunch. Beautiful fifteenth century coaching in with lovely atmosphere, full of beams, old furniture, pictures etc. This place oozes charm. Good quality and tasty pub food. All what we had was homemade to include the chips. Always put off when the chips are out of a freezer. Not inexpensive but that does not mean bad value. Nice and helpful lady behind the bar. It’s nice to have a trip out to this pretty village. Used to come to the village when our children were young and eat at a lunchtime/tea shop place called Magnolia then Buckley’s. That closed down a few years back and now without the children this place is great and utterly charming. Will return soon despite the 40 minute drive from the Herts Essex border where we live. Highly recommended.

nachos we're really bad too much tomatoes puree

Very nice staff, reasonably priced too

Really friendly staff , friendly atmosphere will definitely visit again

Disappointed overall. I ordered a fish goujon sandwich on white bloomer. When it arrived it was on brown granary. How do you get that wrong. There was so much tartare sauce on the sandwich it was a soggy mush. When asked if everything was ok I said the bread should have been white and the man just said ok and walked off !! A lady came later and said the same and again when I said the bread should have been white said ok and walked off. It was like nobody was actually listening. . I gave up. The man then came to clear the plates and said did you not like the bread - I said it's not what I ordered - again didn't listen and scooted off. The coleslaw tasted awful - a veritable mayonnaise fest and the salad was a handful out of a Tesco grab bag. All in all a disaster. Won't be back.

Amazing food, warm and good portions for the cost. Delivery driver was lovely as well!

My husband and I treated ourselves to a curry from here New Year’s Day. It didn’t taste terrible but it wasn’t good either we were really disappointed. My chicken tikka masala was chewy the sauce watery and low and behold I’ve had an upset tummy all night and I still do this morning as does he. Will not be eating from here again :(

Great value great tasting food. Burgers and kebabs are best in town, chips are well cooked and taste fantastic, we order delivery at least once a month and have never had a problem.

After leaving another public house due to their "policies", we decided to stop at the White Horse Ridgewell for a family meal. We were treated with smiles, given a nice spacious table in the bar area. Didn't have to wait long for our drinks order to be taken. My teenage daughter really enjoys "mocktails", they didn't have any on the menu but the lady behind the bar agreed to make one up. My daughter loved it so much she had another. This was truly going the extra mile for us. 4 of us had their burger and my son had the fish and chips. We didn't notice any wait for the food as we were playing on the pubs pool table. The food was hot and delicious. We had such a great time. So much so that we want to return soon for their Sunday lunch. Thanks for being so great !

Lovely food, don’t get an Indian takeaway that often but will repeat soon. We shared House Special Mixed Biryani, Onion Bhaji, peshwari naan, and vegetable palak. All hot all fresh. Killer bhaji not experienced one so good for a long time.

Always good food and great ambience

UK fish bar has gone downhill of late, used to be really good here, but prices have shot up, £27.50 for 2 portions of cod & chips!! Will only consider eating here as a special treat in future, no longer viable to eat here very often, same for all chippies in Witham really. NB dont use the food delivery companys, they will charge you an extra £5 at least, even this shops own website gives you 10% off your order, but the prices are up 10% already!

I used to be a frequent visitor to the five bells when Caroline and Darren ran it. They Used to pride themselves on good food and ales. Admittedly, not the cheapest, but you were getting quality. The pub today just seems unloved, had a pint of Brixton lager which was off. Had to swap it for ale which was not much better. Pub is now mostly mass produced lagers It’s a shame the pub is not what it used to be or have the owners it deserves. Believe it’s owned by a chain?. Sorry….. just seen the pub at its best and it feels like a pub that’s lost its soul.