The Cricketers Arms — Restaurant in Chelmsford

Came across this very nice character country pub yesterday ( a Monday lunchtime) on our travels out. Decided to stop for a drink. Lovely welcome from the staff member inside. Decided to try the menu and sit outside as the weather was lovely. Same staff member who took the order was really friendly, helpful and efficient.We had our small dog with us and she asked if he would like a drink of water as it was so hot and brought this to us. Dogs are welcome in the bar area. As the pub is very old the inside has lots of character and has an open fire, little nooks and a lovely looking dining area which I investigated. I ordered the fish, chips and peas ( mushy on the menu but they happily swapped for garden)and my partner ordered the Caesar salad with halloumi. The menu was varied. The staff member told us straightaway there were no prawns available. My partner's salad was plentiful with lots of halloumi which he confirmed was very good. My fish was excellent. The only thing I was disappointed about was the fact that the chips were fries (? frozen) rather than "proper" chips and the homemade tartar sauce was forgotten. I asked regarding this and this was promptly fetched and apologies given (by the same staff member who I had initially met). The homemade tartar was however very good. I asked one of the young servers for the WiFi password but she admitted she didn't know it and said she would ask. Unfortunately this didn't happen (usually don't do this but the signal in this area was very weak) and I asked the same staff member who I initially encountered who gave this to me without hesitation. I would like to commend this staff member (sorry forgot to ask her name). Overall the pub is in a lovely country setting, just next to Danbury Common. It has a nice large garden with a few seats in the front and more at the rear for sunny days. The inside is characterful and tastefully decorated. When I visited the toilet, these were spotless and nicely decorated. I would imagine this pub gets busy on a weekend. I've read that there is a new landlord since January and he was on site when we visited and was very friendly and was attuned to the customers. I wish the landlord and the business well. We will definitely return to try an...

Its about 30 years since I visited The Cricketers (used to live in Danbury) - it has certainly gone up market since then ❤️ It has a gastro pub tyoe menu - congratulations. The food was excellent- perfectly cooked, flavoursome and piping hot. Sausages and mash - delicious and sea bass succulent and moist. Even had a sausage for the dog 🐾 coffee was also delicious. The home made crumble had lots of juicy fruits. The team were lovely - prompt, smiling, happy and courteous.

The downside was the noise from the other diners - in the small bar, with low ceilings and relatively cramped space, with people walking in and out through the outside door - it's why we have marked it down for atmosphere. In the restaurant area it was quieter, with "softer" furnishings and a bit more space. We left in the end with a headache having been unable to hold our own conversation. We were sat in that area because we had a dog - as did everyone else in there - which also didn't add to a relaxed atmosphere (my dog is nervous unfortunately) - so I took her back to the car. We should have asked to move tables into a quieter area once the dog was in the car - pity we didn't...

Food was amazing. The service and atmosphere was diabolical. Firstly, we walked in and didn't even get acknowledged just looked at like we had 4 heads. Finally after at least 10 minutes of standing at the empty bar with 4 staff members behind it, where one said sorry we'll be with you in a minute. We got taken to the restaurant area where the manager (lady with tattoos) shood us away waving her hands like we were a bit of dirt. Very rude and could of gone about it a different way. We had to ask to order our drinks, hot chocolate took a long while to come out. We contemplated leaving multiple times but it was the menu that kept us. After 15 minutes a waitress come to take our food order. The waitresses were ok but I could sense they were all walking on egg shells. Then we went to pay and a few guys came in after us we didn't get acknowledged again but they did. We were more than polite and didn't look rough so not entirely sure why we were treated this way. Either way I won't be going back which is a shame because the food was lovely. Perhaps they need training on manors...