The Henny Swan — Restaurant in Braintree

Visited for the first time as a group of 10 and was really impressed with the location and the surroundings...beautiful. The staff, without exception, were amazing and it had a friendly feel. Loads of seating outside as well as inside so no fear of being unable to get a table once you get there. All of these things led me to give the three stars (would have given five if this was all the ratings are based on) but our main purpose was to eat and I'm sorry to say that it was a very big, and very expensive, let-down for the majority of the group. Very limited choice of food on the menu. Soup of the day was a common choice for the group...they ran out so it was unavailable (crabcakes were very good though). Many of us opted for a steak as mains...£23 for what tasted, looked, and cooked like a £3 piece of steak (had better quality from Aldi), small for the money. This was bedded on a mushroom as big as the steak and then hidden under a whole comb of roast tomatoes on the vine. Steak was chewy, gristly and undercooked for most...I told the person collecting the plates and they simply said "I'll let chef know". Thank goodness for the ten chips on the plate, otherwise we'd be leaving hungry! Dessert...most opted for the roly poly. Was the only dish like this on the limited menu and it was vegan. Never tasted such a tasteless dessert in my life and this was reflected by other opinions in the group. In summary, great venue for a summer evening drink or a get-together with friends over a plate of chips, but grab a takeaway on the way home instead of wasting your hard earned cash on the food. Apologies to the hard working staff...just...

Having been to the Henny Swan on several occasions now, I have to share my thoughts on their food. It is terrible. I'm not sure where all these good reviews are coming from. The only dishes you can order on the overly complicated and seemingly never ending menu is their fish and chips or burger and chips. The rest of the menu is disgusting. The chef doesn't seem to actually like food, just their pay cheque. There is not a chance they have tasted the chicken Caesar pasta salad, otherwise they would have thrown it in the bin. Stop serving your dishes in bowls, all that's left is an oily soup at the bottom of everything you make. Cut the menu down by 60%, taste what you're serving and actually care about what you're doing. The lady with grey and red hair is one of the rudest people we've ever encountered at a restaurant. Yes, table 23 is "in the restaurant" (not in the garden as we mistakenly said, despite it being outside). You treated my wife with utter disrespect. The only saving grace about this place is the waitress with long brown hair. She is always professional, extremely helpful and friendly. We will go back as the location is fantastic, but only for a...

This was a great little find whilst picking up a table from Facebook marketplace in Suffolk.

I believe we were very close to the border of Suffolk, in an idillic village called Great Henny, hence the name.

The staff were super friendly, however it might be good to book in advance as we nearly didn’t get a table, they take only a few walk-ins, and we were lucky enough to get one.

The staff were also very attentive, quickly taking our order for drinks and then our food order when we were ready.

The food was simple, but well put together.

I had the Mac and Cheese bites, followed by the Lamb Duo, like I said it was simple, but it was presented nicely and well thought out, like puréed mint peas with the lamb and shavings of cheese on the watercress with the Mac and cheese.

If your interested as well, just opposite it looked like you could hire kayaks to mozy on down the canal. We went for a nice little dog walk just down the road as well, across a field that overlooks the pub from the otherside of the canal.

Finally the toilets were basic but clean, if you read my other posts you will see this is an important factor to any...