Ellis's - Chelmsford

I had a lovely steak (cooked exactly the way i like) with the chips changed out for fries… amazing.

Firstly I’ll start by saying the food was really delicious, both dinner and breakfast! However the service…I don’t even know where to start! We were seated at 7:30 it took maybe 20 minutes for a waitress to even come to us to check if we wanted a drink and take our order (I had to wave her down may I add) Anyway the starter came 20 minutes later which is fine, following on from this…quite a long time later a waitress bought us the wrong meal. She told us she would go and check but never came back to us to let us know what had happened. So much time had passed and not one sign of a waitress with our food or asking if we wanted another drink. So I went to try and find someone not one waitress was present in the entire restaurant! So I went out to the bar and asked that lady to see what was happening. Shortly after our meals appeared. At this point it was nearly 9pm. Like I said, the food was delicious! We finished our meal and once again…not one waitress to be found! By this point it was maybe 9:40! So went to find the same lady at the bar again who sent someone out right away! But by the time we were eating that it was basically 10pm which is totally unacceptable considering we were sat at 7:30! We complained to the manager who was very apologetic and we didn’t have to pay for drinks or supplements for the meal! To add to this, there was dirty plates left for our entire meal service on the table next door, encouraging flies etc, it just wasn’t what you’d expect from an upmarket restaurant! I thought breakfast the next morning would be better service wise…it was not! Again left without waitresses for ages! They didn’t bring our toast, offer any sauces! The restaurant food itself is wonderful but the staff need some EXTRME training on customer service!!

We Went to Mothers Day Dinner and found the food and service to be of the highest quality. The atmosphere and value for money was excellent . Highly recommend this restaurant and will definitely return.

We used a ‘buy a gift’ voucher for a three course meal. We arrived at the restaurant and had to wait for someone to seat us as no one was around the restaurant and this was the theme throughout the night. Having to find someone or trying to catch someone’s attention. Seeing other people being brought drinks when they had placed their orders after ours. It was really poor service. For the main I ordered the lamb and my husband had the fillet. Both cuts were particularly fatty and seemed like the end of meat cut. It was very disappointing, but the rest of the dish was flavoursome. The best part was the dessert where I ordered the fondant which was cooked perfectly and the reason why it wasn’t a one star, but two. Overall, I’ve had better meals at other places in Essex and wouldn’t return again.

The food here is amazing and the staff are very friendly and efficient. It’s Lovely and Christmassy throughout the hotel and the place has a lovely atmosphere .