Braintree
The Hyacinth Tearoom

The Hyacinth Tearoom

8 Bridge Street, Braintree, United Kingdom

Cafe • Vegan • British • Vegetarian


"Absolutely appalling treatment of my family today. We visited the tearooms with our friends (4 adults) and our children. On arrival we asked to sit outside as we had a lot of children with us to which we were told as it was raining the outside undercover area was not in use. Fine, we set up in the corner out of everyone’s way as much as possible. We tried to order lunch for all the children and ourselves but were told it would be ten minutes until the lunch menu started and a further 15 minutes wait until the kitchen was ready to start preparing lunch food. Fine, we all ordered drinks and cakes to tide us over until lunchtime. We gave the children some of our own snacks that we had brought with us for them to eat whilst we were waiting. The issues started when the extremely rude staff told us that the babies were making too much mess with their snacks and that we shouldn’t be eating our own food in the premises. I explained that we had all ordered food and drinks and even extra cakes whilst we were waiting and that we would clean up any mess. This was not good enough. I explained we would clean up any mess and the waitress told me ‘well we will see’ she also stated that ‘this is a high class cafe’ indicating that this many children were not welcome. (Let’s not mention the 4 barking dogs that were clearly allowed here, but not us). All of our children were sat on their chairs behaving and not being loud at all. She told me that she ‘gets paid minimum wage and doesn’t need to deal with us’. We gave our food and drinks back without touching them and left. I have never in my life been treated so badly and rudely by clearly unorganised and struggling stuff at at a mediocre, overpriced cafe. Don’t offer a children’s menu and have high chairs for children if you are worried about babies and children dropping food on the floor!"

Mosaic Braintree Turkish

Mosaic Braintree Turkish

13-15 Bank Street, Braintree I-CM7 1UG, United Kingdom

Cafés • Kebab • Mexican • Fast Food


"I have been waiting for a Turkish restaurant to come to the high street, however I was quite disappointed with our visit. It was Sunday not very busy in the restaurant and at 5pm and on arrival I was greeted by a waitress who looked on her clipboard only to find my name wasn't on there? So not a good start! We were seated in the corner by the window and the service was prompt and the starters came out which were fine. It all went a bit downhill from there on in. One of our mains came out wrong and we were told there would be a 10 min wait for the correct meal to be cooked which meant my family were all finished when my wife finally received hers. Quality of the kebabs was very sub standard, we found bone and they smelt of offal, tough and very bland. Size of portion was very small and I feel the portions are not changed from the mon- wed half price offer.. Service was very un personal, not very tentative as I believe they knew something was wrong as my wife had not eaten anything apart from some rice! Finally when a waitress came over i explained that my wife was not happy with her meal and that i wouldn't be paying for that meal as it was sub standard. Finally, when the bill came it still had the meal on the bill. I asked for the manager who came over and wasn't really interested in my feedback, he scribbled out the meal and we payed and left. We would of spent £107 for 4 people which I don't mind paying if the service was good. Come on guys customer service and quality is key if you are to survive.."

La Mezze Turkish Cuisine

La Mezze Turkish Cuisine

5 Market Hill, Braintree, United Kingdom

Beer • Cheese • Coffee • Turkish


"I looked this up online and it said Book online and we will give you a discount , so I booked online, received a confirmation email, but no discount code. We arrived and were taken to a table. I said to the waiter I booked online and it said I would get a discount but I didn 't receive anything , He just walked off without saying anything, I assumed he didn 't speak english and had gone to fetch an english-speaking colleague but nobody appeared. Nobody came to take our order (we were the only ones in the place) so I went down the front to ask another person if we could place our order. I again said I booked online and it said I would get a discount but I didn 't receive anything and again I was ignored. Finally a waiter came to take our order. Again I said I booked online and it said I would get a discount but I didn 't receive anything , he told me there was new management, I replied that I had only booked that morning so there can 't be new management since then! he said he would sort something out but nothing was done and we didn 't get a discount so that was really disappointing. We decided to order a meze of hot starters for our lunch and thought the mixed plate for 2 sounded good value at £15.95 for 5 dishes as the starters were all £4.50-£5.50 so that selection would have been £23.95. We also ordered some extra starters but were disappointed they didn 't have octopus. When the dishes arrived, we were again disappointed as the mixed starters only had 2 of each item, so very poor value as there should have been 4 and having only half of each one would have cost £11.97 but we paid £15.95!!!! Also we paid £5.50 for 4 meatballs that were the size of marbles!!!! The turkish sausage was a slice of bacon grill out of a tin. The food was all tasty but VERY SMALL PORTIONS and the mixed plate was extremely poor value and I feel thats a bit of a con. Also early on in the meal music suddenly blasted from the speaker above us so loudly that it nearly burst our eardrums. My parents both wear hearing aids so this was excruciating for them until it was turned off again. We were all still a bit hungry due to the small portions. I can 't comment on the main dishes as we only had a selection of 9 starters, which should have been ample for 3 people. The stuffed aubergine starter states on the menu a whole stuffed aubergine but we only got HALF of a very tiny aubergine. So I feel very cheated. This small lunch cost £38 and we didn 't get the promised discount. We will not be returning. Oh and there was no toilet paper in 2 of the 3 ladies loos and when I told the waited he was totally unconcerned and unapologetic."

The Bull at Blackmore End

The Bull at Blackmore End

The Bull at Blackmore End Braintree, Essex CM7 4DD, United Kingdom

Beer • Pubs • English • American


"After waiting 20 minutes to be seated at our table in the restaurant my husband went to the bar to ask if we could be shown to our table. Ten minutes later the restaurant manager seated us and explained that they had some big parties in and one of their chefs had called in sick so service was 'dragging a bit '. We chose our food from the menu and waited for a waitress to come and take our order, which didn 't happen for another half an hour. Just as we were considering leaving, the waitress came and took our order finally, an hour after our booking time. Our first course arrived around 20 mins later (nearly half past nine) and the soup was very nice. When we asked if it came with bread, we were told no as it had croutons in it. I asked if we could have some bread anyway and the waitress reluctantly got us some. However, eating a first course at 9.30pm just seemed too late so by the time our main course came out at 9.50pm we just wanted to quickly eat it and get home as it was late and we had babysitters to get back for. We therefore asked for the bill as soon as the main course was finished and left. I understand some nights are busy and it cannot be helped if the chef is unwell but what I do object to is the attitude of staff, who really didn 't seem too bothered about serving us or making the experience a positive one. If somebody had told us on arrival that there would probably be an hour 's wait to order our food, we would have understood and we would have had the choice to wait or go elsewhere but being told that service was slightly 'dragging ' was nowhere near the truth. It was very delayed indeed. A simple gesture such as a complimentary drink and some snacks to keep customers happy while they were kept waiting would have been all that was needed. Nothing was taken off of our bill as a good will gesture for all the time wasted and there was no apology when we paid. All in all it left a bad taste in our mouths and we will not be returning."

The Bull At Blackmore End

The Bull At Blackmore End

The Bull At Blackmore End, Braintree, United Kingdom

Full • Soup • Fish • Dining


"After waiting 20 minutes to be seated at our table in the restaurant my husband went to the bar to ask if we could be shown to our table. Ten minutes later the restaurant manager seated us and explained that they had some big parties in and one of their chefs had called in sick so service was 'dragging a bit '. We chose our food from the menu and waited for a waitress to come and take our order, which didn 't happen for another half an hour. Just as we were considering leaving, the waitress came and took our order finally, an hour after our booking time. Our first course arrived around 20 mins later (nearly half past nine) and the soup was very nice. When we asked if it came with bread, we were told no as it had croutons in it. I asked if we could have some bread anyway and the waitress reluctantly got us some. However, eating a first course at 9.30pm just seemed too late so by the time our main course came out at 9.50pm we just wanted to quickly eat it and get home as it was late and we had babysitters to get back for. We therefore asked for the bill as soon as the main course was finished and left. I understand some nights are busy and it cannot be helped if the chef is unwell but what I do object to is the attitude of staff, who really didn 't seem too bothered about serving us or making the experience a positive one. If somebody had told us on arrival that there would probably be an hour 's wait to order our food, we would have understood and we would have had the choice to wait or go elsewhere but being told that service was slightly 'dragging ' was nowhere near the truth. It was very delayed indeed. A simple gesture such as a complimentary drink and some snacks to keep customers happy while they were kept waiting would have been all that was needed. Nothing was taken off of our bill as a good will gesture for all the time wasted and there was no apology when we paid. All in all it left a bad taste in our mouths and we will not be returning."