Crofters @ The Courtyard — Restaurant in Braintree

Booked this restaurant as birthday surprise dinner.

The restaurant bar was busy, it had a 40th Birthday function going on, the bar area was fairly busy mainly with couples. We were quick to be shown to our table, it was a fairly early booking so restaurant area was empty but quickly filled up. The menu had something for everyone mainly bistro pub food, service staff were quick to take our order and gave us time to peruse the menu. All our party had the breaded Brie which was lovely however my only complaint was the portion was too small £6.50 x 4 for 3 cubes of breaded Brie with cranberry sauce/jelly! For mains we ventured separately, I had the baby ribs that were cooked to perfection the meat fell off the bone, served on a slate plate with B-B-Q beans large sliced sweet potato … delicious. (A cleaning bowl and dish I felt could have been offered for the ribs) The mussels served in a spicy Spanish sauce, large portion served with big chunks of bread, which was automatically white, we didn’t ask for wholemeal but perhaps it could have been offered? Steak pie for the boys, offered with wholegrain mustard mash and mushy peas with a small jug of gravy on the side, both plates were clean! And no complaints, we were all full from the meal we had so didn’t venture onto the pudding menu. I chose the wine and Sauvignon (New Zealand) we had 2 bottles priced at £33 a bottle a tad pricey for a in the region of £12 bottle, I expect to pay for corkage but for almost 3x the price perhaps I should have chose a house white. Service was quick, the girls very polite and happy to banter with a smile, I witnessed a obviously new waiter clear empty plates from a table that were still eating (a big no-no in my book) and had he done it to ours I would have perhaps said something, but we all start somewhere. Cost for the evening just under £200(not including the tip) Great place to eat for couples, friends to meet, ambience was good. Would I go visit...

Entered the venue and got told there was an event on and food would be slower than usual.

Food service was actually okay, but we were put in a room of just us next to the bar so we had smokers air coming in for the most part and loud drunk guests shouting.

When booking, I had to choose my table from a list. As a first-timer, I have no clue what tables are where and what tables are good. Given there was an event on, I don’t think we got sat where I chose anyway.

That aside, we ordered two Crackling Pork Tomahawks both of which had zero crackling - the fat barely rendered. Meal was quite nice, but given crackling is in the name you’d expect crackling.

Starters were good. Brie bites and cream cheese poppers were very nice.

Overall, it’s a shame it feels like it goes against the majority of food reviews on here. As our local it was very disappointing. Pretty sure it’s a matter of consistency, so we’re not risking coming back.

An obligatory 10% service charge added to the bill felt a bit cheeky, but the service was as standard so we paid.

As a bit of a red flag, the menu says that food may take longer than usual as it’s made fresh…. Given it’s a normally priced restaurant, I feel like this sets you up for...

Celebrated Beaujolais Day here, four of us arrived at midday, left at seven pm. Two excellent nouveau beaujolais to sample and reasonably priced too. Welcome was great but service fluctuated between excellent (thank you Julie) and hopeless (nice young fellow but almost clueless). All of us had the duck pate to start and it was very good indeed. Three of us had the boeuf bourguinon and that was lovely - but small starter sized portions - really insufficient, especially for a two course meal costing over £32. One of us had the salad and that was very good in all respects. We ordered cheese to finish and that was ok but three slices of French bread and biscuits is just not enough for four people but more was provided willingly. Tried to order another bottle of beaujolais but Crofters had run out! On Beaujolais Day! So a bottle of house red had to do. What a shame, Crofters could have been 100% but some important issues like service, quantity of food and lack of Beaujolais (on Beaujolaus Day!) left us feeling...