"My three friends and I found this pub in the centre of little Dunmow after attending the Little Easton car show on Sunday 10th September – we agreed we thought it looked pleasant from the outside as well as the inside. Once seated we did wonder why such a centralized and attractive looking establishment was not bustling and maxxed out seating wise. However, we were about to realise why it was not busy… Three of us ordered the chicken liver pate, with onion jam and crostini and our other friend ordered the prawn cocktail. The latter was fine, however, once we received the pate we were quite shocked to see the proportion of the pate vs the crostini but more shockingly our onion jam was not with the order. We approached the waitress about this and the response was ‘we’ll see what we can do’ – this gave the impression of either, they don’t know what was on the menu or it hadn’t been changed due to lack of onion jam. However a few minutes later the jam was with us and we got on with our starter. The pate was a bit creamy and lacked the taste of chicken but there was too much of it to be used on the crostini supplied, so a bit of a waste from a cost point of view. No complaints about the prawn cocktail. Next main: three fish chips and one burger ordered. When the fish chips came over, it looked fine from appearances. However, once we cut in, the batter was VERY thick and there was an uncooked yellow substance between the fish and the cooked batter. We think as the batter was so thick, the yellow substance was indeed uncooked batter, due to the thickness above and the heat from the oil could not penetrate this level. The fish was mushy like it had additional water, probably from the uncooked yellow substance and the fish had no taste. The pea puree that came with it was nicely done, but once again lacked flavour. The tomato ketchup slid off the chips, like it had been diluted down whereas vs known brands it has the same viscosity as mayonnaise. The worst part of the meal was my friend’s tartare sauce that had what we described as a ‘wizard pubic hair’ in it – it was disgusting! Clearly no one checked anything that left the kitchen. The whole experience was bad, the waiting staff took ages to come over for the cheque to be paid, even though the dining room was not busy. We didn’t complain because we didn’t want to make a scene, not that anyone was going to witness it. I’m sure the staff there do their best, but also to see 4-5 people standing around doing nothing it doesn’t look great. I can say hand on heart, that’s not only the worst fish and chips I’ve ever eaten; it’s the worst meal I’ve ever eaten. Also, it is not pub etiquette to allow guests to walk in and out with no top on. They clearly could see this happening, however, I’m guessing from the appearance and quality of the person(s) not wearing any upper clothing that they were indeed their only customers who continually come back to the business. I did feel unwell throughout the remainder of my day which I’m assuming is from this meal as I didn’t eat anything else. Bad food, bad service and a pubic hair in a sauce, not a good place to attend If I could give this zero I would have done."
