The Dukes Seafood — Restaurant in Colchester

If I could give this restaurant zero stars, I would. Made us sick! I came to the island for a vacation with my husband, and of course we wanted to go out to a seafood restaurant. We chose Duke’s one afternoon as we passed it on our way to the pier. The place was a very cute little stand but the chavy girl behind the counter was a bit dismissive and rude and was very curt when we asked any questions. We assumed maybe the food would trump the service and ordered the crab platter, rollmops, and a baguette.. and 2 coffees which had been burnt. We wanted ice cream too but decided it was too expensive. We had to wait quite a while, and when we were handed our food we weren’t even acknowledged and it was practically dropped into our hands. We again shrugged it off and went to sit down at the benches outside.. very nice view. The "ocean sticks" on the platter turned my stomach and tasted like imitation crab that had been sitting out for an hour in the hot sun. Definitely not worth the price, and we didn’t even get a decent portion. The dressed crab was fairly good, nothing special but definitely not worth the price tag as it was quite small. Prawns and crayfish were also okay but again portions were very small, even for my husband and I who do not have big appetites. Not enough for even one person as the menu reads. The cockles and rollmops were disgusting and we had to struggle to finish them as they tasted rancid and off, and the baguette was very small.. not worth £5! My husband and I felt sick for the rest of the day and into the next morning. Overall food was subpar, service was rude, and it was much too expensive, especially as we went next door and the prices were much lower for the same foods. If you come this far for some decent seafood on your vacation you’d be better off...

Often go to Mersea Island for Oysters. Went for Lunch with a friend today and thought we would give Dukes a go as we had never tried it. Big mistake, probably the worst oysters we have ever had the mis pleasure of trying. 6 Oysters arrived on a silver salva warm with no crushed ice, a pot of over fermented shallot in vinegar and a pot of a few drops of some red glup really do not know what it was! The Oysters themselves were black and horribly soft, tiny one didn’t even have an Oyster in it at all just some black slime! Needless to say we did not even attempt to eat them for fear of becoming ill. My friend asked a young waitress politely who was putting up an umbrella to please take them away we didn’t want our money back but they didn’t look right and were putting us off the rest of the bits and pieces we ordered. All she gave us was attitude and said there’s nothing wrong with them, that’s what natural Oysters are like! No apology nothing, quite laughable really and we could only put her rudeness down to her young age and basically didn’t have a clue about what she was talking about! What she doesn’t know is we come from 3 generations of caterers own several restaurants and well traveled having had and sold some of the best Oysters available. Whilst we understand that this is a little seafood shack and not a seafood restaurant they should not be serving Oysters in that dreadful condition, shame on them. Naturally we will not be going back to Dukes! My only regret as I was so put off by the Oysters, service and presentation, I forgot to take a...

I re Rally wanted to give 5 stars. I have been looking at this place for a while and decided to give it a go today. Went on my own as it was a spontaneous trip. Menu looked good and as you would expect. Queue was long again expected. Was slow. Not expected. Card machine did not work for most people so that delayed things a lot. As I was on my own I grabbed a table. However whilst in the queue waiting my table got taken, then another and another. Finally I got to order and was asked for my table number. I explained I had one but it had gone so I will take a table somewhere. She said I needed a number before she could serve me. I pointed out I too needed a table to eat. Clearly not going anywhere I took the table closest to me I could see the number. I guess if you are with a group not an issue so my advice is don’t go alone 😂

A notice of cash best would be great might speed things up.

Food was good but I never quite understood the ‘crab sticks’ on the plate of fresh seafood. I mean what part of the fish or sea do these come from??

Also half a dressed crab on a clam shell isn’t really half a crab. I mean where were the claw and single leg 😂

It was nice I will go back but just my observations of the day....