Bowling Green Table Table — Restaurant in Tendring

What ever you do, do not eat here for Christmas Day dinner. The place is horrific. Food severed cold. Out of the 11 of us four starters returned. Then the main meal was now a carvery not what it had said on the menu supplied to us. Being that two of us was severely disabled. We would not have chosen Theo's option. So they bring your starter then you have to go get your own dinner. Then they bring desert to your table. Before we had finished out carvery dinner the staff had been picking at the food themselves. I had the beef wellington. Which I was told I had to go to the carvery counter to collect it. So of I go walking stick in one hand . To arrive to collect my beef wellington with the biggest bone through it which I have never seen in my life. I took one look at the the vegetables and potatoes on offer but was put off by he lack of cleanliness around the food and the floor getting to it. So my safest option was to not bother with any vegetable. The floor was a hazard and the carvery area was in such a mess it untrue the counter area had not been cleaned all day in my view. I have photos to prove. I will try and add them here if I can. They did not even offer our coffees that we had paid for. Our waiter said he did not know anything about coffees. We had to ask for them in a takeaway cup as they all wanted to close for the day. So we had big word with them and got refunded for our meals. Many thanks for that but nothing else. So the next morning we get up to go have breakfast. All goes well. As we was leaving I ask the assistant manager when we come in here tonight about 9pm on Boxing Day for a drink would there be bar snacks that we could order and he said there was nothing really to offer so I said thank you anyway and see you at about 9 pm for a few drinks. By the way this is the first few days break we have had away in over two and a half years with medical problem and me and the wife wanted a little our time without the kids and paid to stay a extra night there for this very reason. Only to arrive at the at 8.15pm to be told they are now shut for the night. The reason I approach a member of staff about coming in later that evening as the online open times say Boxing Day might affect these hours. So I checked before I left from the breakfast. So there was no need to pay for the extra night as we could of stayed at our mothers house very local. We feel we have been cheated Miss -lead and had nothing to enjoy at all. Now going to fight for my second nights stay to be reinstated. Christmas 2017 goes by as a disaster. ...

Pleasantly greeted, and shown to our pre-booked table. Waitress efficient, and food was pretty rapid coming to the table...that's when it goes a little downhill. I ordered breaded mushrooms for starters, and whilst I'd expect them to be a golden brown, these were almost oak coloured. They were overdone, and hard. I had problems stabbing them with the fork, as unless I held firmly on the plate, they're shooting off like bullets. My son had breadcrumbed brie wedges, exactly the same, overcooked and hard. Main courses came out, two of us ordered burgers, classic burger was overcooked, very dry, and with no burger sauce as advertised, meaning the whole thing was rather dry, price of over £10 was a rip-off for this meal! ..Same problem with my burger, both burgers within the bun were overcooked, again, no burger sauce! Very dry and uninspiring, nearly £12 for this! Very disappointed! Luckily the third person (who's birthday we were celebrating) had chicken tikka, and had no complaints. Overall, disappointed with what food we received for the price we paid. Will be looking to dine out elsewhere next time

UPDATE:- several months later, tried this place again...was given a menu of items I COULDNT order due to supplier problems. My drinks order was taken, took ages to arrive at the table, and a member of staff had to chase them for me. Ordered a chicken burger, and daughter ordered a classic burger...and bcause of the "supplier problems"..no coleslaw as advertised with the meal, but was given a paltry bland salad each instead....no dressings on it, nothing. My chicken burger was dry beyond belief, and my daughter experienced much the same disappointment with her burger, and no burger sauce as advertised. Saving grace was that the chips were ok, although a big burnt lump of probably several times cooked food from out of the fryer was in the middle of my chips.

I gave this place the benefit of the doubt and visited this second time, so that's it, I give up on this place entirely...

We came here for my birthday yesterday and left really disappointed. Our starters came out before our drinks even though we ordered a tap water and two soft drinks so reasonably fast drinks to make and the restaurant was not busy whatsoever. We ordered the loaded vegan nachos which did not come loaded and we were told the waitress didn't know we wanted the loaded ones even though plain nachos weren't on the menu and it was specifically pointed to and read out. The cauliflower bites tasted like nothing but oil and were really greasy. My main was the smothered no chicken and it came without bbq sauce (the point of it was it was smothered in bbq sauce), the bacon arrived separately on a massive plate and the vegan chicken itself was tough and dry, I had problems cutting through it and chewing it. My mums vegan burger was also tough and dry. The roll was stale, the top was inedible, she could not finish her meal. Really disappointed because we've never had an issue with the food here before so we thought it would be a pretty safe option for a birthday meal, especially when they state on the menu which vegan brands they use and they're the same ones we use at home which we thought were pretty hard to mess up. We also had a senior member of staff cut in front of one of us while we were trying to be seated without an apology for doing so, we understand staff have places to be but it showed a lack of care and respect from the start. We also heard a member of staff saying "make sure you tell people we have no haddock, it's sods law someone will want it" as if it is the customers fault for ordering something off the menu. The one positive was that the man they were training was very respectful and polite and deserves to be...