Sandmartin — Restaurant in England

So, recently my wife and I have been doing the 4 mile walk around the Chafford Gorge area and today we decided to stop here for lunch - just after midday. We didn't make a reservation, but there were plenty of tables with reservations for later times, so bare that in mind if you plan on stopping later in the day. Anyway, it wasn't too busy. Unfortunately, we weren't able to use the QR code to order because the starters weren't on there for some reason and it was 3 starters for... £13? I'm completely guessing, as I can't remember and forgot to take a photo, but we thought it was a good deal. We had the chicken tacos, pork tacos and chicken strips. All three dishes were extremely enjoyable. Only criticism is the tacos needed more filling and were slightly dry, so we added sauce and it made them much nicer. There's also a mains deal, 2 mains from £14.99? Again I'm guessing. I went for the Hunters chicken, which was cooking perfectly with a decent amount of chips and a little salad along with it. This was delicious with a little salt, pepper and ketchup on top. Wife went for the gammon and also agreed her food was delicious. So, can't really fault the food, except the lack of fillings in the tacos. The staff were friendly and polite. It's extremely spacious, massive car park and beer garden to sit outside and enjoy the weather with your drinks. I did find it a bit weird that there was a camera in the toilet... But anyway, we'll definitely be going back.

I'm giving it 5 stars because overall it was a nice afternoon pub lunch, but 4 stars because of the rather empty and dry tacos and 4 stars for the service because I think the hard working staff could've done with an extra set of hands and the pub was much busier as we were leaving. Big down side for me, kid friendly. I don't have anything against them but when they're running around, being loud and disturbing the atmosphere, I feel it can just ruin everything - so 4 stars...

As regular patron of The Sandmartin it saddens me that I have to post a negative review, it was only 2 days ago I posted a positive review for Megan's fantastic quiz night!

Let me explain... Myself and friends have booked a table for the final of Euro 2024, this was booked in good faith with the bar staff and we were assured we were booked on the same table we had previously booked for the other games, table 17, which is under or adjacent to the main TV.

Today whilst in the pub we asked the bar staff to confirm our booking, only to be told our booked table has been moved to the back of the pub, which has limited to no view of the screens on game night!

When bar staff were questioned regarding this change, no straight answer could be provided, and management was no where to be seen!

This is not the way you should treat regular customers that spend a fair amount of money in your...

Great setup, busy, prices are decent. Postives: -it's pet friendly... and, to some extent, human friendly too; rather "sympathetic" to humans would be a better way of puttingit. Negatives: I ordered an orange juice to find it tasted like past due date SunnyD... in a glass the size of a coffee cup and with more ice than the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. Basically a 1/2 pint of ice with a spoon of concentrate... It's a Greene King venue, i was expecting (a bit) better quality... and i didn't mind the "juice" to ice ratio, it was the taste of the mix that made me write these fine words. I swear there was a wasp flying around. It landed in all the beer glasses but avoided my orange concoction like Facebook does its tax bill.

P.S. don't ask how i'd know what "past-due SunnyD" tastes like... i've ingested things in my life i'd rather forget... now the Sandmartin is part...