Essex Rose Tea Room Dedham — Restaurant in Colchester

Pro's: Cute and cosy tea room with plenty of food and drink options on the menu. Location is perfect and central to Dedham. No reservation needed, we just turned up on a Sunday and there was plenty of room for us to be seated. A lot of the seats are old church pews which added to the atmosphere and took you back in time a little! The whole place gives a feel of kind of being in a doll house crossed with going to your nan's, this was quite nice. The scones with the cream tea were delicious 😋 The waitress was very sweet and nice.

Cons: The food unfortunately was the worst bit for me. It used to be so good when I came over 10 years ago but this wasn't great. I ordered halloumi, avocado and egg on granary toast. One of the fried eggs was broken (can't be helped sometimes but you know when you just really want a dippy egg to soak in to the bread so was a bit of a let down) and the other was over cooked. The halloumi was over cooked making it crunchy and also bland and the toast was solid verging on burnt. My son had chocolate and berry pancakes which consisted of 2 pancakes with some melted chocolate with a few Raspberries and Blueberries on top. This took quite a while to come out, everything else was served before this which is frustrating when a young child is hungry and waiting for food but can't be helped sometimes. The chocolate sauce tasted a but off he was so hungry he picked at it before leaving it. For a cream tea, although the scones were nice and of a good size we were given the one small Tiptree jam jar and eventually, after getting the attention of a waitress to ask for our forgotten clotted cream, were given this in a pre packed small portion which was so disappointing as this is a proper tea room and we have had so much better elsewhere which was surprising. Overall, I personally wouldn't come back for food. Maybe if I want that kind of experience in a tea room I would come in for a drink and try a piece of cake but otherwise I will go elsewhere. Also a heads up there is no air conditioning and it was very hot sitting in the front even with the door...

Awful lunch experience. Ordered 2 jacket potatoes, a quiche & prawn sandwich. Told no quiche & it was only 1.30pm. Both jacket potatoes came out very burnt on the outside & were way too small with a tiny bowl of beans and cheese next to it. Mine actually tasted burnt inside aswell & I had to send it back (I am not a fussy eater). The next one that came was better, but still burnt on the outside. Seems like they are all pre cooked & heated up in the microwave! I also saw another customer's plate as I was walking through to pay & his jacket potato was also burnt!! The prawn sandwich, I was told, was pretty mundane! The staff were all young and, whilst they were polite, they had no idea about providing a good service. We had our knives & forks bought to us after the fòod had been delivered & they were just put down in a bundle on the table & we all had to help ourselves. One of our group ordered a tea & the milk jug that came was huge, full to the brim & probably enough for 10 people! We were going to order cake afterwards, but a slice was £4.25, which was way over the top. Generally food not good, service not good, portion sizes too small & just slap dash. Won't...

I visited here with my elderly Mother & a group of her friends last month. We literally piled in (not all on one table but there msu have been about 30 of us) & they were so accommodating & helpful. Due to the average age of our party being 80yrs we only ordered 2 sandwiches between 5 of us - but again they had no issues with this & brought us spare plates & cutlery with a smile & some lovely chit-chat! Then one of the ladies knocked over TWO glasses of drink which went every where - but the lovely waitress just came flying over to help & to clear up (both table & floor). When we left we forgot a hat & so the same waitress came flying up the road chasing us to give it back! As she caught up with us up the road she puffed for breath & said "You lot have been nothing but trouble!!" We all just burst out laughing - as did she! I was SO impressed at their kindness & helpfulness & the fact they really didn't seem at all money focused & didn't mind us causing havoc! Well done you guys! Plus an extra special shout out to the waitress who was not only efficient but also lovely & gave us all a great laugh! Well done The Essex...