The Castle - Braintree

Tried to grab a bite to eat but there was no chef and therefore no food. We took our drinks outside to the garden which consisted of seating in a concrete quadrant or a few benches on a patch of grass next to the car...park. Not very inspiring.

As a local pub I want to say its brilliant but our Sunday lunch was a bit of a let down.The barman kept forgetting the the drinks order. drinks) . The food was average. The service was slow and no orders for drinks.Had to...use the bar each time. We reserved our seat the day before and asked for gluten free but they forgot. Our daughter had to eat chips and cold chicken. I really hope they raise their game as it would be a shame to see it go. Please take this as a constructive criticism and I wish the new management well. On a positive end we thought the San Miguel lager was spot on.

There was a friendly welcome on arrival and menus given. A bit of a disappointing selection offered however we were in a hurry, and so ordered hand battered haddock x and steak and ale pie. The chips were very good we all agreed....Sadly the fish was disappointing. They were fairly small portions, and obviously frozen rather than fresh, so mushy. The batter too was sad, and no different from the sort of frozen battered fish available to buy in local supermarkets. The pie was tasty, though the beef appeared to be slices cut from a joint rather than chunks, though this was a minor thing. We were hungry and the food was palatable and reasonably priced, but none of us would rush back despite the warm welcome. Could do better!

This was our second birthday celebration at The Castle in three weeks , and on both occasions we were very impressed . The food was great and the service excellent . The new landlady was extremely welcoming and did everything possible to ensure we had...a great night . We had two children in our group who were really well looked after and loved their meals . Great time was had by all , would definitely recommend The Castle to everyone . Thanks to Gina and her team for making my birthday a special one .

The castle has not long been taken over so we thought we would try it on the recommendation of friends. We booked a table for plus high chair for our son. On arrival we got seen in by a polite and courteous young girl...who was also the one to serve us. She was very friendly and engaged nicely not only with my wife and I but our son too and very kindly gave a balloon to him. The new owners have really done a great job of turning this pub around and have done so with a good staff and decent menu whilst keeping the friendly old pub feel too. Onto the food, it was exactly as the banner out the front said Proper pub grub We had the food on offer today which was roast dinner and it was really tasty and plenty of it too. Please keep the good work up and see you again soon.