Wooden Fender — Restaurant in Tendring

First off the staff were fantastic, professional and polite, the pub is pleasant to the eye and we enjoyed our food but this is where I have difficulty in quality of the food. Looking at all the reviews and photos we decided to drive a long way to visit the pub because of the home cooked food and 5 star quality. When we arrived the first thing we see was the Brake Brothers lorry unloading who also supply our local village pub! So in the pub looking at the menu decided on the “local raised and butchered “ steak and other items, I know meat and can tell that my steak wasn’t hand butchered and certainly not hung, a bit like supermarket meat, it was cooked perfectly but it did not cut like butter & totally flavorless. the other thing that annoyed me was when the plate arrived it had “the steak” a pot for chips(frozen), a pot for mushrooms and a pot for the sauce, there is no elegance in pulling pots out the microwave throwing them on a plate. A ploughmans lunch came out and fresh assorted salad it was a bit of limp brown lettuce, 3 like plastic takeaway pots of coleslaw, butter & pickle a tiny bit of cheddar cheese, but the rest was OK. A plate of baby ribs came out like it had just come out a packet then loaded with a not very nice over powering BBQ sauce. The Hunters chicken was probably the best meal that came out but again like all processed Brake Brothers food. Now, the food is edible but when advertised as 5 star and charging £28 for a steak and £17+ for Ploughmans and another £24 for the ribs, well I was slightly disappointed I could have save £40 on fuel and had the same meal in our local pub. We would have had way more food and drink if the prices were realistic to match the food. Still a very nice place just don’t be fooled for...

Meet up here every 3 months or so with sister & partner, we live in Ipswich they live in Harwich. Just a nice place for a treat. Today 3 of us had Thai cod with prawns & mussels, new pots, & green veg, omg how yummy was this. The other had the salmon & said that was great too. Desserts are always fab, cherry bakewell with ice cream for 2 of us & 2 biscoff roulade, we rolled out to the car park 😋 😀 This place is always busy, you need to book, never take a chance on it as this place is always booked solid with people waiting

Food is always excellent & really tasty & different. Never had anything to dislike & the place has real atmosphere

The staff are wonderful,, totally delightful, greeted & welcomed cheerfully & on departure it was a goodbye & thank you. Little touches that make it worthwhile.

There's a huge car park but only 1disabled parking space. The car park is tarmac & flat so 3 or 4 spaces nearer the entrance would be great. It also allows for those who need to open their doors fully to get out. Can this happen??? Please🙏 I don't know if there is a disabled toilet but the one in the bar area is pretty ok.....never noticed a fully compliant disabled toilet. There's not alot of room to maneuver a wheelchair, so table in bar area would...

Very, very impressed with The Wooden Fender. My girlfriend and I turned up at their busiest period during lunchtime having not booked a table. We were seated within a minute, and another minute later someone came to take our drinks order. Even though the place was absolutely packed, the drinks came quickly, shortly followed by someone coming to take our food order. The table next to us had 12 people on who had not been served their food yet, so I thought we'd have a long wait, but surprisingly it turned up very quickly indeed, within about 15 minutes, before the larger table received their food, so I don't know what magical algorithm they have for not making the smaller tables wait. The large table's food appeared shortly after ours and they all seemed happy too. Numerous different members of staff asked if everything was ok, which it was. We both thought the food was amazing. I don't know if the staff will agree, but as a customer it appears as though this is a very rare business that actually employs enough people to do the work! Can't speak highly enough of the place. Oh, and the toilets smell like Opal Fruits (I refuse to call them Starbursts), which gets random...