Paparazzi — Restaurant in Maldon

Went for a dinner last night, at first it struck me as incredibly quiet which was odd as the restaraunts opposite were quite full for a Tuesday evening, nonetheless we chose to go in as it seemed to have a wide variety of dishes available.

At first, going in we were overwhelmed with mirrors, and upon first impression came across as a bit gaudy and flash, but as the night progressed and you noticed little features added to the authenticity of the venue, and the little touches that made it that little bit more special and unique.

The menu upon presentation seemed more like it was from a takeaway, perhaps some more robust and more ornate menus wouldn't go amiss, and at first glance the menu seemed confused, it couldn't decide which cuisine it was, and as a result of this I will admit I thought the food was going to be lacking in quality as all the thought had gone into making the place look nice, oh boy was I wrong,

Having ordered the beef stroganoff, I will admit it came out as a chicken stroganoff (however working in hospitality and my partner having ordered a chicken dish that came out as beef I see where the error occured) but this I was fine with as it was absolutely beautiful. It tasted like a genuinely home cooked meal with a lot of thought and care put in, with just the right ratio of ingredients that made it just that bit more sumptuous, And to make up for the error I was given a cocktail by way of apology for the mix up.

Service, too, was excellent. Lee is very charming, and was the right mix of silent service and interacting with his customers, even going the little extra mile as to hold the door open for you as you leave. That is a personalized service you very rarely get.

Overall, I would thoroughly recommend as it seems quite new on the high street, and no matter how tacky you may think it appears from the outside, give it a try, you may very well...

Someone has clearly spent a lot of money refurbishing this into an amazing looking venue, the drinks menus is extensive and there was live music on our visit.

Regrettably though, the experience did not live up to expectations as we waited 30mins for drinks, whilst we were also waiting over an hour for our pre-booked table.

It was 8pm on a busy Saturday night yes, but not so busy as to justify an hours delay on a table or the poor service… For context, we gave a drinks order no less than 3 times at one point.

When we did finally get to our table at gone 9pm the food service was quick, but the food did not live up the promise of the menu.

Nearly £10 for a starter of halloumi and spicy sausage, with a sweet chilli sauce was neither amazing nor offensive but still very overpowering and overpriced.

My near £35 T-Bone steak was served cold. I politely informed the staff who took it back and it was replaced within a couple of minutes with another. I’d have happily had the original warmed through on the grill, however the new steak was only marginally warmer than the first. Whilst it was still cold it was a lovely cut of meat, sadly though unevenly cooked, served with what could only have been oven cooked chips and sauces which were also cold (as in refrigerated).

It was by now nearing 10pm so I gave in and made do, which is a shame as when a group is spending over £1300 on a birthday celebration that’s not what you expect you’ll have to do.

It was such a shame as had the food been better I think the overall experience would have been much better.

Team Paparazzi, please take heed of this honest feedback. As a group we want you to succeed and there is so much promise in the venue, but paying a premium for bad service, average food (and latterly slightly argumentative staff) is...

This was a really fun experience with great entertainment of a saxophonist, fire performer and light dancers. We loved the entertainment and that all the participants were more than happy to be stopped, videoed and snapped!

The cocktails were yummy and came out beautifully decorated with gold leaf and other accessories - it felt very grand.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that this establishment can be classed as ‘fine dining’. Both our meals were very bland and the starter and mains had the same sauces with boiled, plain cauliflower, carrots and iceberg lettuce.

This is the first time, I have not been able to eat a meal out and had to tell the waiter that it was bland and parts of it were burnt. He did offer to get me another meal but at that point I didn’t want another meal - that wasn’t his fault though. He did give me a free cocktail, although strangely, he gave me a completely different cocktail to the one I had been drinking (a zombie) and sadly I didn’t like it.

They also had a beautiful glass cabinet full of desserts but was then told that they only had two desserts - tiramisu and crème brûlée.

If I was to go back, I would most probably eat somewhere else and then go here for cocktails and the entertainment. I’m not sure if maybe because they are relatively new that these are teething problems or that they haven’t quite decided if they are more of a cocktail bar...