The Lexden Crown — Restaurant in Colchester

This should be a lovely high end local public house/gastro pub. However is seriously spoiled by an owner who is trying to force it to be something it really isn't.

It has an amazing very big, very well set up garden with out side bar and pizza bar, plus great very welcoming marquee, and internally physically has the feel of a great high quality gastro style local pub. But This is where the charm ends.

Once there you feel that you aren't very welcome. People are polite but There are too many high end restaurant rules, They expect you to book a meal or eat whilst you're there. So you can't really just go for a few relaxed drinks or a snack because when you try that, you are just made to feel seriously weird about it and not at all welcome.

We don't smoke or anything but we saw other people who had to leave the pub on a lovely mid summer evening because they couldn't even vape in the garden.

This amazing walled garden setting should have been packed with local families, with a great atmosphere, instead there were only a few of sets of very confused people sat in the garden, all of which eventually moved on.

This pub holds a key location in the local Lexden community and should by rights be a wonderful hub for the local community to get together, get to know each other and relax in a high quality, high end public house setting. You'd expect well organised garden parties etc and lovely summer music with a BBQ/pizza bar. All things you expect from a good local high end public house.

But this opportunity has been stolen away from the community by an owner who seriously misunderstands how to run this kind on much needed establishment. Instead insisting on trying to make it into a high end gastro restaurant, but by doing so, all they've done is turned it into some kind of low rent Micheline star knock off. To be clear we also eat in Micheline star restaurants and can tell you, this isn't ever going to be that and quite frankly not should it be. it's just so sad and frustrating.

We live locally and would love to make this our regular go to place to eat and drink. We'd spend lots of money there on meals or just going for a drink. But as things stand we've been there twice and we are...

Nice ambiance, but our table was a bit grubby. Just wanted something fairly quick on our way to the cinema so thought we'd give this place a go. Unfortunately, we won't be going back. My husband ordered fish and chips which was perfectly acceptable, fresh, hot and well cooked. I ordered a cured meats and cheddar ploughman's which was at best disappointing and at worst sad and abysmal. No nice crusty bread, but 1 slice of bread very lightly toasted. No tasty chutney, just some caramelised onions. Three inch square, pieces of very mediocre cheese, indistinguishable as cheddar and as thick as a pound coin. The selection of cured meats was acceptable, if pedestrian, but there was nothing to eat it with, having been given only the one slice of bread. A pile of mixed leaf, heavily dressed with a very strong mustard dressing completed the dish. When paying the bill, the waitress asked if our meals were ok to which I replied, not really. She asked what I had and when I told her she said, and I quote, " I don't know what that is.....what is it? well, whatever it is, it isn't very popular" Oh well, that's ok then!...….. Disappointing. If you want a good ploughman's, go to the wooden fender. They've...

Had a meal here last night. We sat in the garden and the setting was very nice (fairy lights, unique tables and under a marquee). It was a Friday night and at first it was very quiet. We got seated and took our order very quickly. All staff very prompt and polite.

We got cheesy garlic pizza bread to start which was cooked in the pizza ovens outside. Was very nice. For main I got the Thai chicken curry. Was really flavourful and had good amount of authentic vegetables. My girlfriend got fish and chips...was OK but the batter was very oily. We both had sticky toffee puddings for desert which were OK, ice cream was better than the pudding itself.

As the evening went on it got very busy and service slowed down significantly. Not the staffs fault but probably could have done with 1 extra server on a Friday night. For drinks we both had Aspall ciders but drinks options was vast. The overall price was about 70 pounds which is quite reasonable for a lot of food and 4 drinks. You could easily pay £40 for two by just getting a main and one drink each. Overall a good experience and tasty food, look forward to...