The best restaurants in Bicknacre and East and West Hanningfield 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.

Tried Abanico on Saturday night and so pleased we gave it a go. The care given to the preparation and quality of the ingredients was obvious throughout. Delicious authentic Spanish courses along with all the necessary instructions to simply reheat in the Oven. We also loved the Spanish themed Spotify playlist, thank you and keep cooking!

We visited Bella Italia this evening WOW from the minute we arrived we were greeted by a man in the car park who was very pleasant ,the greeting in the restaurant was so welcoming and pleasant ,the service was first class as was the food , the whole ambience was amazing Thankyou

Excellent Sunday dinner and fantastic pub

Omg what a delightful pub, beautiful decorated inside. A little gem in stock! Food was outstanding, staff were full on! A beautiful fire sets a warm welcoming with an outstanding xmas tree when you walk in. We had the salmon starter which was lovely and fresh. I had the lamb rump which was cooked to perfection loved the red cabbage. Hubby had the steak & ale pie. Sorry didn’t take photos as we was amazed by the decorations. Apparently they change them every few months for each celebrations & seasons what a wonderful idea can’t wait to go back for more on the menu. Roll on Valentine’s ❤️❤️ Hubby we need to book! Thank you all at the ship for a wonderful afternoon.

Excellent Indian and Thai food—I favour tandoori chops and pad thai. They also offer a good selection of drinks and cocktails and fantastic entertainment.

Review of the restaurant- staff could do with a course in politeness and ability to smile, not friendly or welcoming. This comment is about the younger people and not the older staff who were OK. Food was OK.

Friendly staff, beautiful seasonal meal and great atmosphere, we’ll be back!! Came as a family and all enjoyed our meals. Thank you so much.

Can’t recommend this place enough, first time for 4 of us today and will be booking again soon. Food was fresh and delicious and service was excellent!! Can’t wait to return, thank you

If you want to visit I suggest you find out when Rosie will not be there, she has trouble getting staff so that may be difficult. They don'y do food so ignore comments on food

Best roast around, friendly service and proper home cooked food, quantity and quality really good - highly recommended