Russells Restaurant — Restaurant in Chelmsford

We were recommended this place by friends for their great food. First impressions were good, it's a lovely looking restaurant, and is laid out well so tables feel spacious. Initial greeting bit bizzare, we walked into the restaurant and kept walking in not quite sure where to go, noone to greet us, bit unusual given the ambience/feel of the place. The same guy who served us later then briefly came over to give us drinks menus followed by perhaps the owner who took some time to have a quick chat with us which gave a personal touch. Staff seemed friendly and we were served in good time - the restaurant was super quiet. This was 7.30pm on a Friday night. My other half and I had had a very busy week, had hardly seen each other and were thinking initially this seemed great and quiet so we could really sit down and relax and chat. We loved that the service was personal, and the fact the owner (I believe) came out a couple of times to check the order/that we enjoyed the food was lovely. However...we were certainly rushed out. Bearing in mind there were only a few people in the restaurant we had a few instances with a specific server (I won't name them here) where we felt that he was certainly trying to get us out so he could go home. Bear in mind this was a Friday night between 7.30 and 9.30pm when we left. Instance 1) lots of unecessary interruptions by our server, on one occasion he came in from outside with a jacket on, smelling like cigarettes and then commenting to us how staff had been asking him when they were going to be able to go home and making a jokey comment that it wasn't going to be just yet (this must be circa 8.30pm on a Friday night). I thought that was a bit unprofessional but let it slide. But he reappears a short while later, again interrupting our conversations to take away the water jug and glasses... I still had half a glass of water and wine. Then if that wasn't enough he appears again, this time to take away the salt and pepper pots? I mean come on? We left at 9.30 with only two other people at the bar and a bit of a sour taste in our mouth. Most of it was brilliant, including the food, but this servers attitude needs to change. This is what really pulled down my opinion...

HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT. Was seated upstairs and left for about 20 minutes without menus then someone came up to take our order, had to say we need menus first! Starter came with a hair in it, main had a hair and tin foil in it. I tried my dessert which was actually very nice, but I couldn’t stomach it after knowing there was probably a hair in that one!! Also gave our food to the wrong table to begin with. When we complained, the manager came up and basically told us that we were lying as “no one in the kitchen has hair”. I told him it looked like a beard hair both times and he soon changed his attitude as clearly some of them have beards!! I also said there was tin foil and he was like there no way there can be tin foil, told him it was on the beef and he then realised I was right once again. Finally told me the hair in my leek soup was just a leek. Sorry, but I’ve never seen a black, curly leek with a white bit on the end where there’s a bit of skin. We all know what a leek looks like, and we all know what a beard hair looks like… be serious. And to top it off, he wasn’t even going to give us a discount or anything for the experience we had!! Will never ever go back here again. Look at all the 1 star reviews before booking. The problem with that place is always the manager in every review I’ve seen. Have told everyone I know to...

Popped in for a birthday off of a recommendation from a friend and it was a spot on recommendation.

The service to start was great, when you arrive your coats are taken and you're shown to a quiet sitting area to talk and go over the menus, here you're told the specials and get a chance to ask any questions and have your first drinks.

From there after a few minutes, and once your order has been taken you're shown your table and starters come out, from there it's a fairly normal meal in terms of courses.

The service we found to be excellent, whenever you need service there's normally someone around to give the nod to, which is fantastic.

The food was really impressive, everything was well presented and excellently done. The steaks were cooked exactly to order too.

We'll be returning, and if you're looking for a place to try, I'd encourage you to try it too. Highly...