Swan Inn — Restaurant in Colchester

Standard Hungry Horse fayre, big portions of good food, normally well prepared. The few times I've been here, its suffered from the same problems. 1) There seems to be a bit of a problem getting meals out to the table. The times I've been, theres been a good 5-10 minute wait between meals. I can understand if theres 20 or 30 in the party but if theres 10 or less, that kind of delay is pretty inexcusable. Whether its lack of staff or lack of training, it seems it could benefit from having a runner on the service line making sure ALL meals are ready before taking them to table. Also a little bit of common sense in bringing any kids meals out first might help too. We ordered deserts with the kids meals and made staff aware the children were ready for them, while we ordered desserts for ourselves. Not only did the adults desserts come first, we had to remind the waiter we were still waiting on the kids dessert and they still didnt arrive until after the adults had finished. 2) The gulf in customer service skills between management and waiting staff is immense. The Management here are exceptional and cannot be faulted in any dealings I've had with them. They are always friendly and warm without appearing to be false. They are always grafting too, which makes their disposition even more remarkable. They are however, being thrown under a bus by their waiting staff, most of whom seem uninterested and uncommunative. While I understand that the concept of paying for food first will, to an extent, take away an option for, or even dissuade giving a gratuity to the waiting staff, they must realise that theres still a population that tips good service. Management should take a bit of responsibility here as they should be ensuring the staff are happy with dealing with general public before they are employed and training them to a standard.

Excuse me if this seems like of a bit of an essay here, but with a few places close by dealing in the same type of menus, I think The Swan is doing an incredible disservice. Long ago, I was an assistant manager at few Hungry Horse pubs in North London and Essex so have a rough idea what's going on and I feel a few things need addressing as they are spoiling what is a really nice...

First time eating here. Nice atmosphere, and very friendly service. There are some things that could do with improvement. I ordered a rump steak, with chips. Thier was suppose to be a bed of onions and peppers, however when it was brought out I was disappointed to find thier were very little of the onions and peppers. Chips were cold but upon raising this issues chips were quickly replaced. Steak was a little over done but still nice. The wife's meal looked awesome, the Lamb kofta. Lots of it and fresh salad with crispy sweet potatoes fries. The youngest had a children's meal with sausages, chips and beans. Decent sized portion, which was a pleasant surprise. Eldest had the gravy burger, adults meal. Decent size, chips weren't very hot but he was happy to eat them. Desserts, were good, once again Decent portion. Me and the wife shared the doughnut with ice cream and strawberries which was lovely. Eldest had millionairs cheesecake. Tasted really good. Youngest had a smaller version. The atmosphere of the pub was a healthy balance of lively, but relaxing. We had a table by the doors that led out to the outdoor space. It was handy that the pub has a play area. Kids enjoyed this, and we found it a real win as the food did take some time to arrive. Kids were able to burn off some energy. Very good. The toilets, I have to say need an overhaul. If anything it does let the place down, and could do with some immediate attention. The pub itself tho, had lovely charm. A little dated, but totally acceptable. All staff were very friendly and professional. Overall I we had a pleasant evening. And we would return, lots of choice on the menu. This place could be amazing, with a little investment in some areas. The outside of the pub could also do with a spruce up, as first impressions let the place down a little. But as I say, the service and food along with ambience was good. The chef/team should review the amount pepeprs/onions with the steak dish. As they were pretty much non existent. Its an affordable place for families, going out for a meal as a family these days can be an expensive treat. Great to see lots of offers on the menu. So...

Not one to usually moan but got to the swan, orders are starters of nachos and they came straight away and all started well, we got our food about 45/50minutes later which is fine as it was busy. We order a chicken tikka and when it came we were glad we got it, but after a few mouthfuls the heat was unbearable it was literally inedible. So after trying to cool it down ourselves because we didn't want to kick up a fuss and that not working I went to speak to the manager. I explain that it was red hot and had a couple of spicy chillis that you usually don't get in a tikka. He was nice and explained that they have changed the recipe and that it came out of a packet so they couldn't really control what was being served but would ask his chef anyway. He also asked my table number so he could have a look. Brilliant right? Think again! After about 15/20 minutes he'd walked past us multiple times with food, we get that it's busy but it would've only taken a few moments to come and talk to us to see the problem, during this time my girlfriend had picked out nearly a whole chilli chopped up and put into the curry which is not as he said it "garnished". I called over another senior member of staff and explained the problem, he then proceeded to tell me he'd ask the other member if staff, this walking past went on for another 5 minutes, the final straw was the two ladies next too us got a tikka and it looked completely bloody different to ours, it looked normal and ours was red!!! I got up and complained again to the guy behind the till, not a bad bloke and said he'd get me a refund, i said that I don't want a refund for the drinks or the nachos they were good, after another 5 minutes of trying to get a key to the till I got a £5.85 refund for all the hassle of a £20 bill.went home though I'll be ok just a bad bit of service etc etc. I then woke up to something alive coming out of me and spending 45 minutes on the toilet and thought this ordeal needs...