Mason's Restaurant — Restaurant in Brentwood

On Saturday 12th April we hosted a very special birthday dinner for my wonderful step mum.

The party size was 26 so we had the separate private dining room which was simply perfect, it had plenty of space around the table, music fed through from the main restaurant (we had a lovely pianist playing that evening), table was a great size for all glasses and food even with some added decoration.. the room was also FREE to hire!

Now onto the food, Masons did NOT require a pre order for any of the food (just a small £10 per head deposit which was deducted from the bill on the day) which had me worried they would not have everything people wanted, and the service would be slow whilst the kitchen worked hard on what people ordered on the day but how wrong I was.. the staff took the food order all in one go and it was a slick and seamless operation bringing the food out at pace, and the quality of the food was also exceptional, there was not one mistake or complaint about any of it!

The service was also phenomenal, if you wanted a drink, the team were there, if you wanted extra sauce for your dinner, the team were there, honestly there was nothing too much for them, I cannot recommend and rave about Masons enough. What the team delivered for me and my family on Saturday exceeded my expectations a million times over and I can’t...

Unfortunately not up to normal Masons standard. Attended for a birthday celebration and the set menu had some items missing. The starters were very small and bunching a load of prawns together the size of a ramekin dish with some salad leaves does not constitute a prawn cocktail... two tiny mozzarella sticks.... really? We've been here plenty if times before and it wasn't like this. Mains were undesirable and once again beef brisket was literally a tiny cube of beef plonked on some mash. The steak was half full of gristle but my son didn't want to return it as we'd already started eating . The dessert once again tiny, half a peach sliced in half with a tiny bit of ice cream? The portion sizes don't reflect the price! We were expecting the pianist as usual but the place was virtually empty only four tables... I get its mid week but it felt like they were looking to close and go home... no ambience whatsoever but top notch prices! We have always saved Masons for special occasions as normally its lovely... unfortunately times have very much changed and this really ruined a birthday. We won't...

We were part of a large Christmas party of approx 40 people last night. Whilst the starters and desserts were of reasonable quality, the pre-portioned turkey appeared to have come from a well-known off-site catering company, hence an average taste. The dishes of mixed vegetables contained 75% swede and frankly weren't well presented. To top it all, the drinks bill for the whole table, we were told, could only be split into 2 as the staff would be too busy to prepare individual bills. This meant that as guests, we had to remember our own personal drinks, find them on the given receipt, cross off once found, total, then pay. Beers, for example, were all put together on the receipt, so you had to total your consumption and do all the sums before passing the paperwork onto the next couple. Really? What a mess! So much confusion which should not have happened. We were the guests and not paid employees to do this. It was OUR night out. Our party organiser and his wife had worked so hard in getting us all together....a lovely evening, with a somewhat bitter taste. Work out if there will be a...