The Swallowtail — Restaurant in Maldon

This restaurant should have everything going for it, but I'm afraid it is poorly managed. We found we were overlooking slip ups time and time again. The first, a small thing, was not being told that our table was ready for us to be seated. We were informed that the restaurant was very busy earlier at lunch and several things were missing from the set menu - basically only two things were left on it. We were allowed certain substitutes from the other menu. Point for the owners here, a menu is supposed to give a choice of what is available to order, the customer should not have to have a confusing five minute description of what can be had instead. Take away the set menu in these circumstances and do not say to a customer "I told you what was available". That brings me on to service, the lady behind the bar was the only one who was polite and customer focused. The rest, including the manager were rude and we felt we were a hindrance. The starters were not worth waiting the 45 minutes for. Cajun chicken (not Cajun at all, just sweet chicken), squid rings, deep fried Brie do not take 45 minutes to take from the freezer and fry. 45 minutes and no apology or explanation. The restaurant was practically empty by now, so they weren't busy. We thought maybe the 45 minutes was because they wanted to narrow the gap between the starter and main. Not so, we waited a further 20 minutes for the main. My pork loin (prepared on Thursday apparently, today is Sunday) was not loin of pork but slices of roast pork which I was told wasn't available. I'm thinking their oil isn't changed as often as it should because both the frozen chips and roast potatoes tasted the same of old oil. One portion of vegetables between 5 adults? 2 menu's between 7 people? In all the food was frozen or pre-prepared long in advance, certainly not what the venue or the literature promise for this price. Do yourself a favour and go to any one of the better establishments in Burnham, this one only has the deck and view...

Could be a lovely venue but I think the new management are somewhat lacking in their customer service. I attended a birthday party which had been planned for months; new manager tried to cancel then, the day of the party, having agreed a time window when folk could come in to decorate, announces that the Swallowtail would no longer provide food or a DJ since they didn’t know whether or not my friend was coming….. this despite several confirmation conversations in the days before. Clearly, given the lateness of ‘cancellation’, (no professional venue starts food purchase and preparation hours before an event), staff at The Swallowtail never had any intention of providing food and used this as an excuse.

Probably a delightful place if you’re a member of the yacht club but not welcoming to the local community...

Terrible. The new staff seem to be under the impression that the customers are there for them. Rude, insolent and unprofessional. You can stand right by them while they talk to each other, they'll make sure they finish saying what ever it is, before serving you. I complained and the bar person then refused to serve me. We will never go back there while this crowd are running it. Terrible, over priced, they do not have a clue. You'd think, 'well, they can't destroy the setting' - they have. Besides an ugly thick black wooden rail running round the veranda at exactly the right height to obscure the beautiful horizon, the are now installing a canopy to block out the huge sky scapes....