The King's Head — Restaurant in Basildon

Haven't been to the King's Head since before Covid, went tonight 13th June 2023 for my Husband's birthday. The Sourdough sharing platter was nice. The starters Mushrooms on toasted sourdough bread with a cheese sauce looked gorgeous but sadly no seasoning what so ever so tasted of nothing, the toppings do make the bread quite soggy aswell. The main meal I was quite shocked when that was bought out due to how awful it looked see photo added. I usually would have said something but as it was my husbands birthday I just hoped it tasted better than it looked. It was Chicken with spinach, mushrooms a sauce with bacon on the top, this meal was £16.95. The top part was burnt to a Crisp it looked awful I felt bad that the poor waitress actually had to serve that to a person. It luckily tasted a bit better but the mushrooms were over cooked and alot of them were stuck to the sides, I saw no spinach & hardly any sauce, again this had no seasoning at all & not worth the price we paid at all. The best part was the only thing the chef clearly didn't cook the ice-cream, I had the coconut sorbet, vanilla & bourbon and chocolate it was lovely. For the 2 of us the bread, a starter, mains, desert, 1 cider & 2 beers came to just under £90. I feel The king's head and the prices are trying to move away from pub food at affordable prices to more of a restaurant but without the quality of food for the prices. The waitress was lovely again I didn't say anything on the night but usually would have, but did feel I'd like to leave a review on the lack of seasoning, the presentation and the overpriced food for what it is. We would sadly not come back to The king's head with this menu, chef and the cost but will return to The...

Went today for lunch, we had not booked in advance, so my husband asked if it was possible to get a table for two, the young lady didn’t answer but looked on her laptop, she then picked up two menu’s, so my husband asked does this mean we can have a table? Still no reply she walked us to our table and we thanked her, we sat for a good 10 minutes waiting to order, eventually the young lady asked us what we would like to drink, so we ordered our drinks, I said we were ready to order our food but she said she would bring the drinks first, that was fine 15 minutes later she showed up with our drinks, I asked again if we could order our food, she said she would be back, another 15 minutes went by then she came to take our order, there was a baby screaming none stop the whole time we were there, now this is not the restaurants fault but I do think a staff member should have approached the mother and asked if they could do anything to help her! Other diners were moaning about the baby constantly screaming! So our starters came after about another 15 minutes from getting our drinks, my husbands calamari was delicious, my garlic mushrooms hadn’t seen any garlic in my opinion so they were bland! We both had fish & chips with mushy peas, fish was cooked to perfection with the most golden crispy batter, triple cooked chips were gorgeous too, the mushy peas were just green watery pea juice with one or 2 peas in, all in all the food for the most part was delicious, we decided against a sweet mainly because of the waiting time for everything, maybe they were under staffed today, this was a birthday lunch for me, so it wasn’t memorable, we may still go back if the...

The first time I experienced the Kings Head was in the beginning of 2022 and it was nice. This festive period I’ve been twice which included New Years Eve and both times it was in short, abismal…. Before the Nye dinner me and my wife had a normal dinner and I had the lamb kofte which absolutely did not look or taste like lamb. You did not have the Scotch I wanted so instead I went for the Japanese whiskey which I am familiar with. I know for a fact it wasn’t what was in the glass. On to New Year’s Eve. We were rushed to take our mains right after our dinner and dessert right after that! We were told it was because we were the last table to be served. I don’t buy that as an excuse. I’ve worked in the hospitality and restaurant industry before and for a long time too. If you are to open on a New Year’s Eve be prepared to cater to the timelines of the customers. We WERE on YOUR timeline, not our own which I feel aggrieved for and therefore could not relax or let my food digest fast enough to feel the most minute motivated to eat the next dish. The food was below average for the price you charge, the service was substandard for the price you charge and my family did not enjoy it. No amount of free Christmas crackers and party poppers on the table would change that. After a nice first visit I had hoped for the same, not more. The place has massive potential and opportunities to improve but until that happens I’m afraid I cannot set foot and part with my money for the standard you hold the...