La Petite Petanque — Restaurant in England

Used to live in Southend and went here at least once a week for 5 years, even though it changed hands the staff was very polite and friendly. Last December I booked to take my family for afternoon tea ( when I booked by phone I was asked to pay £10 per person deposit and was told it would be taken of the bill on the day so £40 was paid.) On the day we was shown to our table and told that the table was booked for a couple of hours later, the tiered cake plates was on the table already with no food on them it took someone about 15 mins to come and take the plates away and then another 15 mins for the food to come then there was cakes missing so had to ask for them. When my partner went to pay the bill we asked if the deposit had been taken off the waitress checked and said it had. The following day we checking the bill, the deposit had not been taken off. I called them and was refunded the deposit and was told that next time we would get 10% off.

Today we met our friends there for lunch as we was visiting Southend, straight away we was told all the chicken dishes were off the menu (this is 12.30pm on a Saturday lunchtime.) After two of us had a starter 3 hot mains came out, I was having prawn and crayfish salad after 5 mins I asked where my meal was, it had not been on the order, when it arrived it was not like what I had there before, I ask about the lack of crayfish and was told it came already mixed, so all I can say is that it must be in a premix frozen pack. NOT fresh as I remember; that is such a shame since Southend is a seaside fishing town. Since the latest change ownership and new staff the standards have gone down hill. I was unable to use the disabled toilet due to door being blocked open by stock...

As others have pointed out the front exterior does not do this place justice. Admittedly I'd never heard of this establishment but 11 of us enjoyed a late afternoon sitting last Saturday.

Inside the staff are very attentive and could not have been more helpful.There were plenty of them given the size of the place and put simply the staff were faultless. The decor inside is fabulous and you can tell they have put a lot of thought into it. Lovely that you can walk outside to the bowling green too, a hidden treasure.

Unfortunately there were a few items not available from the menu but they certainly made up for that. The meat platter for two could have served four at least, all the meat was incredibly well cooked and I honestly am struggling to see how they could have made a profit on what was charged for the meal! All the other adults found their meals expertly cooked. Despite selling lots of gorgeous looking cakes onsite, they also agreed that I could take a cake specially made for my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary (the reason behind the visit) and this was very much appreciated. Whilst the adults had wine, tap water was provided to all in big jugs which was so much better than just everyone being given a small glass, and they were quick to refill when needed.

I'd love to come back for an afternoon tea after seeing how delicious they looked when served to fellow customers.

The only observation (and not a criticism) is that the homemade burgers, whilst delicious for an adult, were a bit too spicy / flavoursome for young children who ordinarily prefer something a bit more bland.

I'd definitely come back here, in my opinion the food was great, the staff were great, the decor was great. It...

Shabby (without the chic) with unhelpful staff. This is the second time that we have made a booking at this venue only to be told the booking was not made when we arrived!

My wife booked afternoon tea for us today, our birthdays are just over a week apart so she had made the booking to celebrate. She had called two weeks before to ensure there were no issues.

We arrived on time, to be greeted by a very unhelpful woman. My wife explained that we had booked an afternoon tea for 2, the greeter faffed around with the booking system, while we were left standing around for several minutes, during which she repeatedly and rudely asked if we were sure we’d made the booking! She then asked my wife who she spoke to when she made the booking (since when is it customary to take the name of the restaurant staff member one makes a booking with?!). My wife was unable to provide a name, so she then wandered off into a back area, we stood around for another 5 plus minutes before leaving in disgust (she’d still not returned). At no point was an apology offered, nor where we invited to take a seat while they sorted out what was going on.

We had high hopes for our outing, and had taken the day off to go there and celebrate out birthdays. But we were treated like idiots and all but accused of lying about the booking!

Very disappointing, there are a large number of really good eateries in the Southend area these days, we shan’t be bothering with this...