Braintree
Greenstead Farm

Greenstead Farm

Greenstead Green, CO9 1QY, Braintree, United Kingdom

Lunch • Drinks • Coffee • British


"Firstly, in other 1 star reviews on here the owners of this cafe state that the establishment has ceased trading, so just to preempt that nonsense I can assure you they are very much open...On another review on here the owner threatens a reviewers reputation...nasty...check how defensive their replies are to some of the reviews below...Gordon Ramsay would have a field day...And now for my experience...Welcome ladies and gents to ‘greenstead green barn cafe’ where dreams are crushed with over priced hospital food and terrible, weak, stingy latte’s (I’m sure the cakes are nice tho ; On first impression my date and I were impressed. The interior was full of character and the waitress smiley and friendly, but then came the food. May ordered a jacket potato with cheese with a promise of a crusty potato skin. What arrived was a soft skinned spud with a stingy ‘sprinkling’ of cheese on top and a side salad. I ordered a jacket with chilli con carne. What arrived was a spud with a smattering of ‘beef worms’ slavered over the top. Extremely unappetising (see photos Basically the minced beef hadn’t been ground up and infused into a chilli sauce. Instead it occurred to me that the beef had most likely been lazily dumped into the pan and was undercooked....but that wasn’t the worst of it...The lovely waitress asked how the food was (the only plus May and I told her it was poor. She then grabbed the owner who was simply desperate to justify herself and play the victim. After telling her about our experience she ran off to grab an old crusty spud she’d baked earlier, and slapped it on our table along with a childlike justification...’see, I baked this a while ago, I take pride in my jackets so I didn’t use this one!’ (Apparently we were supposed to be thankful for that?? Ironically that spud looked better than the jackets we were given! When I went to speak the defensive owner yelled, ‘let me talk! I’m the owner’ desperate to justify herself about her terrible food. It got worse but I’ll spare you the full narrative....AVOID AT ALL COSTS."

La Mezze Turkish Cuisine

La Mezze Turkish Cuisine

5 Market Hill, Braintree, United Kingdom

Beer • Cheese • Coffee • Turkish


"I looked this up online and it said Book online and we will give you a discount , so I booked online, received a confirmation email, but no discount code. We arrived and were taken to a table. I said to the waiter I booked online and it said I would get a discount but I didn 't receive anything , He just walked off without saying anything, I assumed he didn 't speak english and had gone to fetch an english-speaking colleague but nobody appeared. Nobody came to take our order (we were the only ones in the place) so I went down the front to ask another person if we could place our order. I again said I booked online and it said I would get a discount but I didn 't receive anything and again I was ignored. Finally a waiter came to take our order. Again I said I booked online and it said I would get a discount but I didn 't receive anything , he told me there was new management, I replied that I had only booked that morning so there can 't be new management since then! he said he would sort something out but nothing was done and we didn 't get a discount so that was really disappointing. We decided to order a meze of hot starters for our lunch and thought the mixed plate for 2 sounded good value at £15.95 for 5 dishes as the starters were all £4.50-£5.50 so that selection would have been £23.95. We also ordered some extra starters but were disappointed they didn 't have octopus. When the dishes arrived, we were again disappointed as the mixed starters only had 2 of each item, so very poor value as there should have been 4 and having only half of each one would have cost £11.97 but we paid £15.95!!!! Also we paid £5.50 for 4 meatballs that were the size of marbles!!!! The turkish sausage was a slice of bacon grill out of a tin. The food was all tasty but VERY SMALL PORTIONS and the mixed plate was extremely poor value and I feel thats a bit of a con. Also early on in the meal music suddenly blasted from the speaker above us so loudly that it nearly burst our eardrums. My parents both wear hearing aids so this was excruciating for them until it was turned off again. We were all still a bit hungry due to the small portions. I can 't comment on the main dishes as we only had a selection of 9 starters, which should have been ample for 3 people. The stuffed aubergine starter states on the menu a whole stuffed aubergine but we only got HALF of a very tiny aubergine. So I feel very cheated. This small lunch cost £38 and we didn 't get the promised discount. We will not be returning. Oh and there was no toilet paper in 2 of the 3 ladies loos and when I told the waited he was totally unconcerned and unapologetic."

The Bull at Blackmore End

The Bull at Blackmore End

The Bull at Blackmore End Braintree, Essex CM7 4DD, United Kingdom

Beer • Pubs • English • American


"After waiting 20 minutes to be seated at our table in the restaurant my husband went to the bar to ask if we could be shown to our table. Ten minutes later the restaurant manager seated us and explained that they had some big parties in and one of their chefs had called in sick so service was 'dragging a bit '. We chose our food from the menu and waited for a waitress to come and take our order, which didn 't happen for another half an hour. Just as we were considering leaving, the waitress came and took our order finally, an hour after our booking time. Our first course arrived around 20 mins later (nearly half past nine) and the soup was very nice. When we asked if it came with bread, we were told no as it had croutons in it. I asked if we could have some bread anyway and the waitress reluctantly got us some. However, eating a first course at 9.30pm just seemed too late so by the time our main course came out at 9.50pm we just wanted to quickly eat it and get home as it was late and we had babysitters to get back for. We therefore asked for the bill as soon as the main course was finished and left. I understand some nights are busy and it cannot be helped if the chef is unwell but what I do object to is the attitude of staff, who really didn 't seem too bothered about serving us or making the experience a positive one. If somebody had told us on arrival that there would probably be an hour 's wait to order our food, we would have understood and we would have had the choice to wait or go elsewhere but being told that service was slightly 'dragging ' was nowhere near the truth. It was very delayed indeed. A simple gesture such as a complimentary drink and some snacks to keep customers happy while they were kept waiting would have been all that was needed. Nothing was taken off of our bill as a good will gesture for all the time wasted and there was no apology when we paid. All in all it left a bad taste in our mouths and we will not be returning."

The Bull At Blackmore End

The Bull At Blackmore End

The Bull At Blackmore End, Braintree, United Kingdom

Full • Soup • Fish • Dining


"After waiting 20 minutes to be seated at our table in the restaurant my husband went to the bar to ask if we could be shown to our table. Ten minutes later the restaurant manager seated us and explained that they had some big parties in and one of their chefs had called in sick so service was 'dragging a bit '. We chose our food from the menu and waited for a waitress to come and take our order, which didn 't happen for another half an hour. Just as we were considering leaving, the waitress came and took our order finally, an hour after our booking time. Our first course arrived around 20 mins later (nearly half past nine) and the soup was very nice. When we asked if it came with bread, we were told no as it had croutons in it. I asked if we could have some bread anyway and the waitress reluctantly got us some. However, eating a first course at 9.30pm just seemed too late so by the time our main course came out at 9.50pm we just wanted to quickly eat it and get home as it was late and we had babysitters to get back for. We therefore asked for the bill as soon as the main course was finished and left. I understand some nights are busy and it cannot be helped if the chef is unwell but what I do object to is the attitude of staff, who really didn 't seem too bothered about serving us or making the experience a positive one. If somebody had told us on arrival that there would probably be an hour 's wait to order our food, we would have understood and we would have had the choice to wait or go elsewhere but being told that service was slightly 'dragging ' was nowhere near the truth. It was very delayed indeed. A simple gesture such as a complimentary drink and some snacks to keep customers happy while they were kept waiting would have been all that was needed. Nothing was taken off of our bill as a good will gesture for all the time wasted and there was no apology when we paid. All in all it left a bad taste in our mouths and we will not be returning."