Bill's Braintree Restaurant — Restaurant in Braintree

We went to Bill’s Braintree for a catch up and dinner before the cinema and had a lovely time, we both really enjoyed our experience here.

The décor of the restaurant was really nice and felt slightly classy, they permit dogs in the venue so if you’re a dog lover this is an ideal place to see some four-legged friends. One diner had their small dog in a forward facing baby carrier which was really sweet.

The service was really good as well, we had three different waiting staff throughout our meal who were all quite attentive. The menu is nice and has some good options on it.

I went for the Truffle Chicken Two Ways, and my friend the Classic Burger which came with fries. The staff were accommodating to swap my friend’s rosemary salted fries for regular salted fries at her request. My friend’s burger looked lovely and consisted of a beef patty, linseed bun, tomato, lettuce, house pickles, secret sauce and red onion.

I really enjoyed my chicken, this was served chargrilled with truffle red wine jus and creamed potatoes alongside buttermilk crispy fried chicken and truffle mayonnaise. It was served with an extra pot of the jus, a lemon wedge and watercress which were all nice touches. The main was hot and a nice temperature to eat, though the Caesar Loaded Fries could have been warmer. These were still enjoyable to eat though.

I chose a Golden Latte to drink, which was very fragrant and spiced. This consisted of turmeric, agave, ginger root, cinnamon, black pepper and coconut milk with edible flowers on top. It was very nice and something different to coffees that I’ve had previously. The restaurant also gives the option to swap to dairy-free milks (soya, oat or coconut) for no extra charge.

For dessert we treated ourselves to buttermilk Bottomless Pancakes for a very reasonable price of £9.50, which are £5 on a Friday. This gave two options of Lotus Biscoff or Fresh Fruit and Syrup. I tried both and they were delicious, each plate came with three thick pancakes. The staff were really accommodating at our requests for an extra scoop of vanilla ice cream and extra syrup.

The bathroom was suitably clean and serviced when I used it at the end of the meal. Overall we really enjoyed our experience here and wouldn’t hesitate...

Service: Firstly, we were greeted by a quite abrupt lady manager, who I observed throughout the evening was quite a "presence" and made no attempt to quieten her conversations with her staff. She wasn't rude per-se but sat us at a poor table right near the main door when many other tables were better and free. I also observed her sit a blind person down right at the other end of the restaurant?! You could not ignore her presence. The rest of the staff were lovely especially the young tall gentleman. Food: Burger meat was nice the rest of it was tasteless, and the chips were not rosemary as advertised. The truffle chicken tasted of 1% truffle. The peach and mint drink had the mint did not taste of mint at all it just had the mint stick in. To top it off when paying via QR code they automatically default to a further tip (even though the 12.5% service charge is added on already) this is cheeky and I wonder how many people fall for this. I assume you have to ask them to remove the service charge but I couldn't be bothered and just wanted to get out. Totally not worth the price and would not recommend. Stopped us starving that's about it, the staff...

Bill's sent details of their 3pm to 5pm Bottomless Pancakes offer to my kids primary school. Seemed like a nice end of term treat for them so we booked a table. It was an enjoyable way to celebrate and the kids really enjoyed it.

Two American pancakes, a selection of ice-cream, fruit and syrup to put on top, plus a fruit juice. All for £3.95 is a great deal. Of course the grown ups managed to bump the bill up to nearly £50 with adult size portions at £6.95, beers and coffee.

The adult size pancakes are genuinely bottomless (within a reasonable 90 minute window), we managed two rounds with cream and strawberries - and were stuffed. The kids only got two pancakes each, so we sneakily gave them one of our six to prevent any arguments.

When we turned up they had to search for the special offer menus and ask a manager about it. Maybe we were the first? Guess t he offer might attract more people during the summer holiday, but on Wednesday it was very quiet. Few other tables dining, but no one else stuffing their faces with...