Essex Oyster Company — Restaurant in Basildon

Three of us came for lunch last week and first impressions were really good; the staff seemed friendly and the starters we had were delicious, however after that things went downhill! The a la carte menu had ‘brown crab claws’ as an extra, but when they arrived they were actually spider crab claws, and so over-cooked they were completely dried out and inedible (I checked online when I got home and your menu has spider crab claws on it, but the menus in the restaurant stated 'brown crab claws'). The ‘tiger bread’ I ordered was just a slice of plain white bread, and very disappointing at £2.75. My friend and I ordered a raspberry pavlova and a banoffee sundae for dessert, and asked if the Chantilly cream in these could be swapped for ice cream. We were advised that was fine, but were not told this would be at an extra cost. My pavlova arrived with both the Chantilly cream and ice cream, however it wasn't a problem for me as I do like both and didn't mind paying extra for the ice cream, however I believe we should have been advised of this extra charge so we could have made an informed choice. When the bill arrived, my friend was charged an extra £5 for the ice-cream in addition to the full price of £8.95 for the banoffee sundae, making it a very expensive dessert at £13.95. My friend spoke to one of the staff about this and said that surely the cost of the sundae should be less as it contained no cream, and as it turned out, no bananas!! The staff member couldn't seem to grasp what the problem was and just kept telling us how the ice cream was home made on site so warranted the extra charge. There was no apology or offer of a solution, she just couldn't understand the problem was that the full price of the sundae was charged even though it contained no cream or bananas, so in effect the £8.95 cost was just for some crushed biscuits and caramel sauce! After trying to explain this about 3 times we gave up and decided not to leave a tip to compensate, not just for the issues already mentioned but also having to wait ages for our main courses and desserts, drinks not arriving so having to remind the waitress more than once, plus having to ask for spoons which never materialised so having to go and get some ourselves. After this experience we have no plans to return, which is a shame as the meal started off so well. UPDATED: After leaving this honest review, the response from the restaurant was “ Get a life you sado, trying to damage the reputations of small businesses, your party, was rude and didn’t stop moaning from the moment you walk in the door”. They don’t need customers to damage their reputation, they can manage perfectly well on their own with a reply like this, especially when it’s completely untrue!!! Would NEVER...

First time eating in this place. Recommended by a colleague. Tuck away in a small industrial estate in North Benfleet. Has been in operation for 2 years. Nice decor and attentive staff. Seafood restaurant. Had the calamari with home made tartar sauce which was very good. My wife had the panko crusted pawns with sweet chilli sauce which she found to be be very good. For the Mains , my wife has the seafood soup. The depth of taste was very good and generous portions! I have the skate wing which was fresh and tasty and done just right. It was a lovely restaurant and food was excellent. A real find! Price point is also good. A rare find for seafood lovers. They also have a seafood bar in the day time for Wednesday to Sunday. The do breakfast on the weekend. We definitely go...

The website says “At No10 Restaurant, we pride ourselves on offering a diverse menu”. Not on the Sunday we were there. On arrival we were told that there was a limited menu as the main chef was not working that day. We had specifically booked as I wanted to have the halibut but had to settle for the grilled skate. And a lamb roast For desert we had pavlova and Bakewell tart The food was ok, but the atmosphere was lacking. It’s difficult to a create an atmosphere in a such a small restaurant. I did feel sorry for the waiter who had to tell the group of 8 that there was only 1 beef roast and 2 chicken roast meals left. Someone went without! Don’t know if I would book again? I would definitely phone in advance to make sure they were offering the full menu which is...