The Magic Mushroom — Restaurant in Basildon

My third and final time visiting this restaurant. Came here earlier today to celebrate a 30th birthday and was not impressed at all. Firstly, I emailed over a week in advance to let them know that a member of my group had a broken leg and would need a table at the front of the restaurant, they replied and said that was fine but on arrival I was told the table was accidentally given away so we had to go all the way to the back of the restaurant. We didn’t make a fuss. First round of drinks came and some were wrong but again, understanding how busy they were, we just drank what we were given and didn’t make a fuss. It was well over an hour until we got our starters and an even longer wait for our main course. Yet again we didn't complain as the food was mostly nice. We were then ignored by staff for a good 45 mins and finally ordered a dessert. 3 of the 6 desserts were wrong and my dessert contained peanuts when it wasn't supposed to and I am allergic. I had a small mouthful before I realised and didn't eat any more. Luckily on this occasion I did not have a strong reaction. When I told the staff, I was pretty much blamed by them for not declaring my allergy. However not one member of staff asked about allergens at any point and I trusted their menu which didn’t state the dish had any peanuts. They then admitted it had been prepared incorrectly. I got ice cream instead and they still managed to get that wrong, at this point I just gave up. All I was offered was the cost of my meal taken off the bill which, in my opinion, isn’t close to good enough (not that any amount of money off could compensate for such a mistake). Eventually they took another persons meal off and I didn’t have the energy to argue further. I have eaten here twice before and both times it was good but unfortunately the mistake they made today was too great and I’ll never...

I nice little gem... Service was very good not overpowering. But there in the background. Good choice of wines and beer. Starters were very tasty and a good selection.. I felt the duck terainwas slightly to cold which made the duck skin leaving a fatty lineing in the mouth.. But the scallops and the salmon were amazing and so fresh... The skate wing for main was beautiful and cooked so we'll. The fillet steak was cooked to perfection and my wife enjoyed it.. The lamb was cooked well and very tasty. Most probably the best lamb rack I have had in a long time... Deserts the strawberry crumble creme brulee was stunning best desert in years.... The almond frangipane lovely.. White chocolate pana cotta very well made smooth and melt in the mouth... The orange custard tart we unfortunately found very disappointing. We coujd not taste any orange to the tart and also the overpowering taste and smell of eggs was not nice. We did mention this to the waiting staff. And they went and spoke with the chef. And came back and offered us a replacement allternitive desert. Very impressed. My only other comment is that when we arrived my daughter had requested a quiet part of the restaurant in booking the table as I have health issues with my hearing. And when we arrived we had a lovely table nice and quiet. But unfortunately as we were starting are starters a table of 13_15 people were put next to us.. They were obviously celebrateing something and we're in high spirits and very noisy as they were all talking at once. Which was off putting. And affected me communicating with my family. But to some up good disabled access and good parking with lovely clean toilets. I woukd recommend this lovely...

EDIT Jan 24

We had a date night the first in many months and chose the restaurant, food was outstanding, however felt that they could do with more staff.

Our booking was 7:15 and we left at 10:30 in that time we were asked for drinks just once. We had 2 drinks plus a coffee all evening and the 2nd we asked for as food arrived. We had actually finished our meal and were simply waiting for someone to ask if we wanted the bill from 9:30. In that time although we were enjoying having a chat, could have sank a few more drinks in between.

Food zero complaints as they accommodate even the trickiest eaters, but this experience lacked the service from our previous visit, the restaurant was busier since our last visit, yet needing an extra pair of hands would be my only criticism.

Previous review from 5 Years Ago

Had very high expectations as some of the reviews were really good and wasn’t disappointed.

I cannot name a single restaurant who can cater to allergies as well as here. We didn't phone ahead and warn them of a dairy allergy but they were fantastic. As everything on the menu is cooked from scratch they could tweak the ingredients on any item - meaning we were not restricted to a limited number of options.my wife ordered from their usual menu and they served a dairy free version of everything from starter and main course!

They even had a vegan ice cream which was not just plain vanilla aswell as a special banana cake and both were home made.

Will be booking again without fail. Staff were super helpful and friendly too - highly...