Maldon
Pavilion

Pavilion

The Street, CM9 4LT, Maldon, United Kingdom

Full • Pizza • Steak • Lunch


"We come to Maldon fairly regularly and occasionally stay over. The New Pavilion is was one of our favourite go to restaurants. We arrived at 7:30, as booked, and were very happy to see the front restaurant full except for our table for two. We ordered drinks at the bar and sat at our table. Maybe we should have been more aware of the situation when, after about 15 minutes, we had to tell the staff we were now ready to order. The young waitress was very apologetic and we said it was no problem, not her fault as she was doing two jobs waitressing and covering the bar as the barman had literally disappeared and was occasionally seen serving an old meal. Now we were waiting. 40 minutes? During this time we noticed a number of people shaking their heads at the staff. People walking out after questioning the service and the delay. The poor waitress, we could literally hear her in the back room crying. When our starters came we cancelled our main courses. My wife said my baked Camembert looked like a crème brûlée. I did eat it though and pay for it. I was not going to put the waitress through any more stress. I spoke to the barman as we were leaving and he seemed very surprised that I mentioned the overload of work the waitress was doing covering both jobs. He never said what he was doing during his absence. I did say that as he was obviously not the owner it was probably not his fault as well. All the tables in our corner agreed with what I told the bar manager and we’re about to leave without food. I will be very interested to see the owners reply and any excuse he comes up with. There’s no excuse. Get more staff. Hopefully the waitress has walked across the road to a top restaurant that treat their staff better. She was brilliant and deserved better treatment."

The Maldon Smokehouse

The Maldon Smokehouse

Cromwell Lane, Maldon, United Kingdom

Kebab • Asiatic • Seafood • British


"Cancer in brine are not a substitute for crushed crab claws. if they don't have them, then their chef must tell the poor waitress that instead of just serving what he has, not what is on the menu, and explain them. Lobsters... with roe in the march? They didn't look at theatrical and I suspected that the dry and bladder appeared frozen. to overdo everything we decided not to order anything else, but only to pay for our ancestors who were accused of being rude and annoying the waitress at their first day, which was not true at all. the only rude person there was the woman who was responsible, incredibly rude, and since 30 years worked in the hospitality industry I know how to treat customers if they want them to come back and they could do with some advices here clearly. we are very regular customers here, the support of the smokehouse, as it first opened and all by locking off to eat with takeaways home, and always had a great relationship with the staff. we treated ourselves as friends and were treated as friends in opposition. but today we were very disappointed and after we were accused of being rude and annoying what we certainly were not, we will probably not return. very sad, as with the help of matt, the former cook, we have hosted some amazing important family jubilees here. and please steve, no sarcastic answer. they have a really wonderful business, but they have to change their cook and in front of the house staff. they are not only on their usual high standards and are badly deducted."

Queen's Head

Queen's Head

15 North Street, Maldon, United Kingdom

Pub • Steak • Vegan • British


"Well it's a shame when you have to write something bad about an issue when you visit a place. We had arranged to have drinks with friends as one of our party was celebrating their 60th. We contacted the venue to enquire if this was Ok and that they could hold onto a cake which was purchased for them. The staff member we spoke with was polite and most helpful with our request regarding the cake. Upon arrival everyone was waiting for the main guest who we had brought along. We were not aware the Venus was holding a quiz evening otherwise we may have chosen another venue. Well when we got there not many people seemed to be there for the quiz, but we sat in our group at the back of the venue well away from others at the time. Another party turned up and sat in the same room, but were far enough away in our opinion. The quiz started and things were going swimmingly until the landlord and landlady interacted with us. It seemed obvious that we were not welcome as they starred at our party as they walked by. They made comments to a couple of our group about us being there on this quiz night. One of the party explained it was their birthday, but my wife explained that at no time was she made aware of a quiz taking place. The landlord and lady both made comments in relation to spoiling the quiz by our party, but my wife apologised to the party near us and they said at no time we were loud or spoilt anything in their view. My wife told me the landlord was.rude in the way he spoke to her while retrieving the cake from the fridge outside where it had been placed. My wife explained she was obtaining the cake and all he kept saying was that she should not be behind in this area. It was not secured off and there were no signs expressing the public/customers should not be in this area. The venue is a local to a couple of our party and we have been there previously as it is not too far from where we live. Now none of us will visit the venue as the experience was not pleasant and we were clearly not welcome, but they seemed happy to take our money on a quiet Wednesday evening. The landlady was also heard speaking to a member of staff rudely relating to the cake and I hope they received an apology from her for that. The only reason for the 2 star service was for the other staff as they both deserved one each. This is an additional edit following their response. At no time as mentioned in the post was my wife informed of any quiz. As also mentioned we would have considered changing the venue under those circumstances. You have made no reference to the comments received especially from the landlady who clearly said to one of the party you have spoilt the quiz. You yourself spoke to my wife rudely in that you kept saying the same thing, but as it has been mentioned at no time did anyone offer to get the cake for her and no restriction was in place. We left early instead of staying because of the situation and for an early weekday night our custom I would have thought would have been greatly received."

Il Camino

Il Camino

162-164 High St, Maldon CM9 5BX, United Kingdom

Cafés • Pizza • Mexican • Italian


"I took my mum here for dinner on a very rare evening out. We chose this restaurant because of the reviews left here. Unfortunately we were so underwhelmed and disappointed. The negative experience started as we walked in the restaurant to be met with a strong musky, stale smell that was very unpleasant. The decor was in dire need of a touch up and the area was grubby. The window we were looking at had a long, filthy curtain that was pulled to one side up the wall with a dirty extension lead running under it. We were given bread as we sat down that was stale and we were unable to eat it. We both chose the pork in red wine jus and asked for it to be cooked so there was no pink in it but was also tender. When our server told the chef we heard him complain about this request. It is entirely possible to cook pork well but retain the flavour and soft texture. Unfortunately the pork was chewy and the red wine jus had not been reduced enough and so smelled and tasted of red wine. The vegetables had not been seasoned, just partially boiled and so the carrots were nearly raw. All in all it was a very disappointing experience. We were both shocked at the quality of food and the cleanliness and upkeep of the restaurant itself as the reviews we read were positive and the food prices per dish were not cheap. The food was over priced. To top all this off a 10% service charge was automatically added to the final bill, I can understand this for a large group of people but is not appropriate for just two people. Really sorry to say that we would not return."