Milas Leigh on Sea — Restaurant in Great Britain

Blown away by the consistent quality and innovation—if you love elegant, explosive flavours, this is the place!

Head chef Kieran and his team are bringing the fire, quite literally. With a killer mix of influences from the Americas, Asia, and beyond, they’ve turned out dishes that are perfectly balanced with a bit of wild flair (open fire cooking? Yes, please!) .It's all about seasonal, fresh produce here—a much-needed breath of fresh air for the area.

Some highlights from the menu (now in its second iteration!): The bream ceviche with leche de tigre and roasted grapes—a tricky balance to nail, but they’ve absolutely smashed it. And the glazed lamb ribs? Ridiculously moreish, sticky, smoky, and melt-in-your-mouth, with charred spring onion dressing adding a bright note. Seriously, what else could you ask for? We made it through the entire small plates section, and honestly, each dish had its own standout element—so, it'd be rude not to try them all!

As for the big plates: A personal highlight was the Picanha—an underused cut that, when cooked right, is sublime. Here, it boasts a cap of fat that melts into the meat, enhanced by the open fire. The koji and brown butter labneh elevate it even further. Another stroke of genius: the cod collar, which you don’t see on menus often enough. They’ve transformed it into the best Kentucky fried cod you’ll ever taste (no offense, KFC). The strawberry sambal? I ended up ordering a whole side bowl. Imagine the best hot sauce, multiplied by ten. Topped with crispy basil leaves, it adds a refreshing herbal counterpoint to the bold flavours.

I could go on, but you get the idea. If you’re looking to push your culinary boundaries in a truly tasty way, this is where you start. But fear not: for those who prefer something familiar, there’s plenty of that too—roasts, steaks, fish, all zhuzhed up just enough (yes, it’s spelled like that—who knew?). It’s a smart move, catering to a range of tastes without sacrificing innovation.

Finally, a big shoutout to Tom, the owner, and the front-of-house team. Having experienced top-tier dining around the world, you can tell Tom’s brought that same level of attention to detail here. Service is attentive without being overbearing, hitting just the right balance. The cocktails? Some of the best in the area, chef's kiss! I could write a whole separate review on them… maybe next time.

One last thing: There’s a specials board. So, if you’re worried this might be one of those places where the menu doesn’t change for a year, fear not. From fresh Cornish tuna to rare, sought-after cuts of meat, they keep things exciting.

Disclaimer: I’m really not being paid to say this! It’s just that good... but don't just trust me, try it for...

Really really don’t like leaving bad reviews at all but unfortunately the experience at Mila’s was extremely disappointing.

Visited my family in Leigh On Sea for a birthday dinner, and being from London I am very well accustomed to an extremely overpriced restaurant and this was not dissimilar in terms of pretentiously tiny portion sizes that can be seen in some “fine dining” restaurants, but sadly the quality of the food did not live up to…well, anything. Maybe it didn’t help that 3 out of 4 of us were pescatarians, but I don’t think that should be an excuse. Have eaten black cod many a time in my life and appreciate this is always an expensive dish but at Mila’s it’s about 2 mouthfuls of food and beyond that, it isn’t good at all. For the privilege of £27, and you can barely see it.

The food is really only average in general. Even the side potatoes were bad. In fact, the best thing we had ordered (and we ordered everything that wasn’t meat) was the tomato and burrata flatbread, ironically the cheapest thing on the menu.

The cocktails were nice, I can say that. The service was…fine?! - maybe we’d have forgiven more (because as already mentioned, actually hate a bad review) - but having already spent over £300 worth, when we asked for a round of cocktails they told us no because they apparently wanted the table back (although we continued to sit there for a while and literally……..no one turned up). By the time we left everyone could have had multiple drinks. They specifically asked if it was an event beforehand and we’d told them it was a birthday, but that made absolutely no difference.

A real shame actually as my family live in Leigh on Sea, and we always like to support a new business, however, if Mila’s is relying on repeat custom, between extremely high prices for below average food and service…I can’t see it surviving very...

I was really looking forward to going to this restaurant as the only decent places to eat in Leigh is Alchemy & Tutti.

I took my mother in law for lunch with my daughter. I was a little worried about the kids menu but she actually enjoyed it more than the adults.

I want to be positive so the wine was great really nice but I’m afraid that’s it. I think if you just believe Instagram about what’s good then you’ll have a great time.

Even as we ate some ponce was taking a million professional photos of the food enabling the lie that this is a good restaurant.

You can actually see what we ate (on the almighty Instagram) as they laid it out on a table before it was served to us.

I ordered the octopus which was £30 which came with nothing so ordered 2 side so the total was actually closer to £60.

This doesn’t bother me as I love to eat & would happily pay that 4 lunch but it needs to live up to the price tag which this fell well short.

The octopus was decent but 2 tentacles for £30 is a joke although the sauce was good.

Luckily the waitress up sold the sides which were terrible. The potatoes were just potato’s with some pomegranate seeds scattered on it & literally brought nothing to them.

The cabbage which was £14 was not much better but without either disappointment I would of literally been left with 2 mediocre scraps.

My mother in laws was a rather disappointing aubergine not really sure what but needed sides as well.

The total was £120 which for lunch in Leigh is unbelievable I would recommend paying another £20 & getting the train to Lobos & getting amazing octopus then spend the day mooching around London instead of Leigh.

Definitely not worth the money even for the nouveau riche, and in the words of Chuck D ‘DONT...