The Anchor Danbury — Restaurant in Chelmsford

We are Bicknacre Villages Friendship Club over 55s and young at heart; we meet up once a month in our villages for lunch at different pubs and restaurants. Having had lunch at The Anchor, Runsell Green, before (pre-covid), and enjoyed it , we booked May 8th, 2024, for between twenty to thirty diners, in the Garden Restaurant, for lunch. Prior to the day, we informed you we had twenty-six so far. On the day we arrived, unlike other times and other restaurants, we were informed we did not have exclusive use of the restaurant, and had been allocated twenty-six places, exactly, and were only allowed to sit in these places, as the whole restaurant was fully booked. This was unsuitable. Then it got worse. As our diners arrived, they were bullied out of any seat not allocated to us, in a very unpleasant manner, and told ‘you can sit over there,’ as if they were naughty children. There was a big round table for six, one table for four, and two tables for two, that had not been allocated to us. Each time our diners arrived and tried to sit at any table, they were told the tables were booked by someone else, and to sit in a specific seat. Couples, who arrived, were split up, sending the husband down one direction, the wife in another, and told specifically where to sit! Charlotte was directing. It was chaos, and extremely stressful for me to deal with. We had twenty-seven arrived; I had to vacate my seat for the last person (all the while the other tables remained vacant) leaving me nowhere to sit. I tried to sit at one of the unused table of two, but told I could not because that table was booked! One of our party, sitting at a table of six, invited me to sit up at the end of theirs, even though it was severely cramped. After huffing and puffing from staff, Charlotte, took a chair, table mat, knife and fork, from the very table I was not permitted to sit at, then unbelievably, placed it at the end of the table of six! Obviously, she knew that the table of two was not needed for a booking. We were not allowed to put raffle prizes on a spare ‘booked’ table, so forced to balance them on a window ledge instead. We left after two and a half hours and none of the unallocated tables had been occupied throughout, because of the phantom reservations, (except one table of two women). In the eleven years I have run club lunches, I have never had such an awful experience. There were twenty-seven diners that brought in around £1000 worth of business for the Anchor pub. Feedback from the diners was that they had been made to feel, ‘unwanted.’ As for myself, I felt my head was going to explode with the stress of it. We were treated with a monstrous lack of respect, and made to feel we were a nuisance. Finally, my view is that there was no effort made to make our lunch an enjoyable experience. Seemingly, the pub staff were running the restaurant for their own convenience and certainly not for the enjoyment of the...

THEY GAVE US A HOT WATER BOTTLE EACH!!!

I never write reviews but my experience at this pub was so nice I thought I'd try writing my first review. This was my sisters and my first time at this pub / restaurant, a few minutes drive from Maldon and about 10 mins out of Chelmsford.

The food was much higher quality and better plated than the average restaurant pub meal especially for popular dishes. I noticed no-one (there were about 24 people outside ordering food) waited long for their food and so I felt their kitchen was very organised. Food appeared to arrive within 10 minutes including a large order from the table to customers next to us. Meals were around the £13 to £15 mark and so a few pounds more than average pubs but... the food is worth it. We did not have a main meal but all other customers had large well-presented portion sizes. I noticed a customer's fish would be classed as large to extra-large in a normal fish and chip shop.

We went when it was raining and importantly 80% of the seats have large umbrellas; they have a large quality wooden Gazebo in the garden (not the cheaper white tents some other pubs have) that seats an additional 20 people and the large ceiling patio heaters were able to warm the whole space and were automatically on as it was cold. It felt like we were indoors!

The staff are really on the ball and clearly take a lot of pride in their restaurant. They even post a member of staff outside in the beer garden checking all the tables regularly and people are ok and I have never seen this level of attention before when eating outside and I really liked this. The staff are super friendly and regularly check on you without being overbearing. One older couple did not have smart phones and so staff were checking these customers in themselves (COVID requirements) and took their order using their IPad and they got a bill. This accommodation is much welcomed for older people who cannot use or order by apps.

The WIFI is easy to connect to compared to other pubs and works really well so this will keep the children occupied while they are on their phones.

The beer garden is beautiful and there is a children's play area where it is far away from the pub enough that child noise would not be a problem. We did not hear any of the children playing while we ate in the Gazebo.

Finally.... the staff come around and, because it was cold, gave us all hot water bottles! SIMPLY AWESOME!.

Managers and staff need to be congratulated for such a wonderful experience during these tough times. I cannot recommend this pub / restaurant enough especially for families who need a few hours out...

Our first visit we had excellent food so went back again for lunch. I ordered an 8oz ribeye steak, medium , because ribeye has veined of fat in it and should be moist when cut. My piece had had all its moisture removed to beyond well done. I was so hungry , and rather than carry my plate inside to the bar ( because no one asked how was the meal) , and sat staring at my wife whilst she ate her meal, I just ate what I could smothered in ketchup, which also helped the baked potato . This was delivered with one small miniature tub of flora enough to do half ..who serves flora on a baked spud?? 😀The mixed veg was fine..Driest bake spud I have ever had …I did pass on my comments to the waitress when she cleared the table, but no one from management came out to see me so I left feeling disappointed and hungry..the garden is beautiful hence 3 stars. Ps my wife’s salmon was also a bit over cooked for me, but was fine smothered in hollandaise sauce and she didn’t complain because fish is a personal preference whereas steak should be cooked to how you ask for it, or don’t bother to ask in the first place..I felt it was £21 wasted..

Passing last Friday so stopped for a beer becuase the garden is nice ..The IPA was off because they had no gas to pump it from cellar according to the manager ?.? I’m sure Green king IPA is not gas pumped but hand pulled..my perception was this was not correct and just fobbing me off. Against all my last visit 2 star review we thought we are there so let’s go for a lunchtime special. I had the blandest plate of food . I chose the kebab of chicken ..it was so over cooked and dry I had to leave some. The plain boiled rice, with accompanying plain nan bread and a little side salad with no dressing was just bland. I had to add salad cream, tomato ketchup to the chicken, and mayonnaise to the plain rice..I passed on my feedback to the kitchen via the manager (no gas man) who just said I’m sure the kitchen “will take it on board..no apology , just a couldn’t care less.. That it no more tries on...