Yew Tree — Restaurant in Colchester

I've been waiting to review the Yew Tree for sometime now and I finally got my chance.

This building is beautiful with its low oak beams, exposed brickwork, tile floors and thatched roof. It has a lovely outdoor seating area around the front (roadside) and a beautiful courtyard with a fountain out the back. It has a real homely feel to it that I love.

Drinks are reasonably priced but the service could be quicker especially when it's empty as it was on our stay. We arrived a good hour before our table was booked so we could relax with a drink and enjoy the architecture.

When you call to book your asked to book online via a website, always a bad idea as it's a very poor system at best. It even says to call if you can't do it or want a different time so I ended up calling back anyway. Remember some people aren't tech savvy and this just scares them off.

Sadly the food wasn't very good, I'd read about this place before coming as I do before all my reviews but I really hoped the food would be in keeping with the building but it just isn't.

I had the calamari starter and first of all the squid must have been huge as I thought they were onion rings and once you cut into them they had an elastic quality where if you pulled them apart you could watch it strain and then snap just like an elastic band. Most of it would break but there was one defiant piece on every ring.

Next up was the bistro steak which although it says it's a firmer steak and recommended medium was so tough it became a choir eating it but more so because I couldn't keep the plate still, it just kept sliding around the table so I had to ask for a napkin to put my plate on. It was as if it had grease on the bottom. I also had the side of onion rings which were over cooked and at least one of them was onion paper instead of onion flesh (see pics).

The desert was the best thing, rhubarb and custard ice-cream pleasure which was very nice and I would recommend.

Another annoying thing was that it was empty but they still put us next to the serving station so we got all the work gossip with our meal and a could clearly hear some staff member saying "you need to do it my way and we will be fine" "just listen to me blah blah blah" I know she was trying to assert her authority but seat us away from those types of conversations and or have them away from the customers. We don't want to see the puppet master, just the show.

The whole experience was a bit of a let down for me. Something just isn't right here and I think it's the staff and definitely the food. This venue should be very busy but something isn't right, like a Santa's grotto that is playing Radio 1 instead of...

Right here we go the chicken is absolutely burnt and dry and horrible go to KFC for chicken. We preordered are meals and they weren’t ready and we waited another 30 minutes for something which should have been ready when we got there the food was very hard to cut into and the waitress we had was very rude she said she came to check twice although she only came once and it was right when we started she watched a disabled person struggling to sit down. Once that finished we waited 45 minutes to get helped again nobody came one nice person came and was actually smiling and refunded us for the chicken. Another waitress came for our drinks and just carelessly put them down and out of trashed from a disabled persons reach. The dessert was dry and put into microwave to make hot which it wasn’t even. The menu is misleading with adding stuff like black pepper on chicken and peas with everything and the crumble randomly had ginger in it. I would tell Gordon Ramsay to come here for kitchen nightmares. There is so much hassle trying to find menus for everyone because they take them away and never give them back to order dessert. They don’t smile except two people which i think is terrible they act like we weren’t there and there is 12 of us which isn’t hard to miss. The only tip people should leave is a tip on cooking because they reallly need them to get a better restaurant. A couple off there staff a really mean having a go at us for nothing. The person having a go just stands round watching people do nothing. Its a shame you can’t give people 0 stars. The only good thing which came out of this is they removed the chicken off the bill. But the person who had a go literally did nothing.

-Lambchops

DO NOT COME HERE UF YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET DISSAPOINTED GO TO KFC ITS ALOT BETTER THEN WHAT THEY WILL GIVE YOU HERE. I expected better you have to get up walk to where all the waiters stand and say can we get dessert wait another 15 minutes and then also wait for ages for a terrible meal. If I come here again expect a part 2. And remember go to KFC 🙂. Also the...

Visited as my wife got a voucher for a free bottle of wine (birthday offer). The service was excellent, with no issues with the decor, cleanliness, etc.

We started with the olives, bread with dipping oil/balsamic, and creamy garlic mushrooms. Olives and breads were delicious, mushrooms less than (the rocket salad was the most flavoursome. The mushrooms were not creamy, not that garlic-y, and had not been cooked through, so they were still quite watery).

For the mains, I had the steak and ale pie with mash, and my wife had the Chimichuri gnocchi from the specials (she had asked for the mushroom and ale pie (one of the few vegerarian dishes on the menu), but it had sold out.

My pie was okay at best. Pastry was too thick for my liking had the texture of something microwaved or merrycheffed. The mash was either instant mash, or had been microwaved for far too long (i think it was instant mash by the texture). Either way, it was not good (chef for over 10 years, so I have some experience). The maple syrup basted roast carrots had no flavour of maple syrup or been roasted. The peas were overcooked. The jug of gravy could have been larger, as I do like gravy.

The chimichuri gnocchi was amazing (I tried one bit). Perfectly cooked, really flavoursome, with a good selection of ingredients. My wife really enjoyed it!!!

We didn't have desserts, as we were both too full.

The free bottle of wine (El Pico sauvignon blanc, Chile) was surprisingly good. Lots of fresh fruit, melon, kiwi, subtle zing of citrus. It could have done with being colder (sauvignon blanc needs to be almost ice cold), but for a freebie/house white it was rather good.

Overall, we will be back, as we have eaten there a few times, and this is the first time it was slightly disappointed. All other times have been fine for...