Côte Chelmsford — Restaurant in Chelmsford

Having been to Cotes many many times, we chose Cotes for my 70th birthday celebration, it did not take long to realise that it had been taken over by new owners. We sked our excellent waitress and she confirmed our suspicions. Firstly, the menu was much reduced and totally different to the one advertised online, my daughter and I had the scallops for our starter and were shocked at the presentation, the food was simply thrown on the plate, no care taken whatsoever ever. I had a sirloin steak with a peppercorn sauce for my main and again the presentation wasn't at even the level of a good home cook, simply a steak and some very aneamic chips scattered on the plate, no garnish, no flair, nothing. It was a sirloin at I think £ 29.00, it looked like a minute steak i could have bought for £ 6.50 from my supermarket. The food tasted nice and was well cooked, but we were all very very disappointed with our experience, it was not about the cost, it was more about the experience, we did speak to our lovely waitress about our feelings and told her we knew it was not down to her. Unfortunately now, after Cotes being one of our favourites, we would think very hard before returning, unless we hear it has at least returned to a similar level of experience as the previous owners. A very disappointing evening, but the wine flowed possibly a little too much, which made the evening more enjoyable. Come on Cotes you hopefully can do much much better than this very...

We had a wonderful dinner experience as a table of eight. The food and the service were both outstanding.

We were sharing some starters: chicken liver parfait, cheese soufflé and scallops. If you try just one thing on their menu, go for the parfait. It is unreal!

For mains I had their vegan mushroom bourguignon. I know vegan dishes are not for everyone, but I love everything with mushrooms, so for me it was a win. And the vegan bacon was definitely a different texture, than normal bacon, but the taste was lovely! My friends had the duck, pan-fried salmon and the fish pie, and they were all amazed by the quality of food.

For dessert I had the paris-brest, which is a pastry filled with pistachio praline, and it was just the best!

I would like to mention our servers here, Josh and Denis, because they did an excellent job caring for us. There was nothing too much trouble for them. They always made sure we had everything we needed, but also gave us space to enjoy ourselves in peace. They originally didn’t have the dessert that I was looking for, so I was a bit sad, but after a few minutes Denis came back to the table and told me that they’re able to make a slightly smaller portion of it. Which was extremely kind, and I appreciated it a lot!

If you like french cuisine, and looking for a place with excellent service, Côte Chelmsford is a great...

French Restaurant with great service and very tasty food right in the centre of Chelmsford.

We went here for my daughter’s birthday in August. There were two of us and we hadn’t booked but managed to get a table for two in the window.

It was a warm summer’s evening so plenty of full tables outside on the pavement and about ¾ full inside.

Tasty olives to start with our drinks and then I had the Squash Taboule. It was great – really tasty and much better than I had expected. I’m a vegetarian but not usually a fan of squash as often badly cooked or over-ripe. This was perfect texture and taste and I was delighted to have chosen this dish. My daughter had the Breton Fish Stew and was equally impressed.

Prices were reasonable for the quality of food £13-15 on average for the main courses with red meat/steaks/some fish being more although if you have these and add on fries and vegetables it will be quite a lot more costly.

Service was very professional and slick and waiting staff friendly and attentive.

A lovely evening. Clientele on the whole tended to be older although my daughter was 19 years old and wanted to go there for the food quality and was very happy...