Eat inn Diner — Restaurant in Colchester

Proceed with caution before ordering items other than their acclaimed breakfast. I ordered in the morning, 2 meals: one of fish and chips, the other was ‘homemade fresh lasagna’ My order came 50 minutes later The fish was almost a darkened colour, with soggy coating with no crispy batter, chewy rubberish fish inside and a cold small serving. It was extremely difficult to eat and inevitably made me feel nauseous due to the soggy, rubbery bites. I don’t think this was fresh. The chips were undercooked from inside and were not the puffy, soft chips we’re used to. Moving onto the lasagna, This was also cold, the cheese on top was more like a potato mash, there was no bechamel (white) sauce and just some tomato. There was minimal to zero cheese. Many times, i would encounter some crunchy meat, a ligament or tendon and i could tell this is low quality mincemeat due to this. Last but not least was the garlic bread, I remember clearly asking if it will be cheesy pizza like garlic bread however i was misleaded and received soggy, sponge like garlic bread which was overly charred but still had no bite. Absolutely horrible food experience and waste of almost £20, which is hard being a student. The only positive was the polite delivery lady who told me to contact if there’s any problem with the items. I did call however it was too busy to connect to the manager. I would like the manager to contact me in regards to customer services. In the pictures you can clearly see the quality of the items and they are not upto the standard. Review can be...

We are great fans of Cafe21 & Timbers so we’re excited to see a place outside of town from the same owners. Sadly where the other two establishments excel - Eat In Diner fails.

We’ve been there twice to make sure our first visit wasn’t just bad luck.

Both times the place had a very unpleasant smell to it. Makes you feel like you’re somewhere dirty.

With the unpleasant smells the staff follows. Cafe21 is our favorite place partly thanks to the lovely staff who could not be nicer. The staff at Eat In Diner does not show the same kindness, it does not say anything about them personally but about the workplace. If I was working in a smelly restaurant and was clearly overworked(which you can clearly see how busy everyone is) I would not have the energy left for pleasantries either.

You just end up feeling unwelcome there.

The food, prices are ok. The food is a hit or miss. We had a jacket potato that was partially raw and cold. Obviously not nice. I had a ham butty - it wasn’t great either but at least not raw. The second time we had a full English and that was actually very lovely.

I understand that this is in an industrial estate so it would not bring the same elegance of Timbers or Cafe21 but did not expect it to fall so far below our expectations.

With some polishing this could be the place to go but at its current state...

I believe strongly in credit where credits due .maybe I'm old fashioned but if I didn't leave a review it would be rude of me not too . WoW . I have just had the finest turkey dinner ever. The turkey melted in my mouth , the vegetables were so fresh and juicy the flavours just burst in the mouth. As for the roast potatoes and roasted parsnips they were divine and the stuffing and pig in blankets just blew my mind. It so hard to find food cooked to such a high standard . Thankyou so much for the best tasting experience of my life . And though I did not frequent the diner I had to give the atmosphere 5 stars too due to the wonderful staff that deliver to me always so happy and kind . That's means so much too me as I have mobility issues they always make my...