Restaurants near Wivenhoe Congregational Church

Came last night for a meal - hadn’t been to the siege house in years. Starter was really good, I then had steak for main but it wasn’t the best unfortunately - plus presentation of the steak could have been better. The place does have a nice atmosphere and our waitress was really helpful and friendly.

We went for the Valentines Day lunch which was wonderful, as always. I ordered the Valentines chocolate box on line when booking. I was hoping the chocolates would arrive at our table as a surprise for my wife. When I mentioned chocolates at the end of our meal our waitress had no idea what I was talking about and brought a senior colleague who also had no clue. Eventually he found the item and shew it to me on his phone and said I needed to order it as an extra, which I had done. So no surprise, eventually they said there will be no charge for the chocolates - which was kind, but the moment had passed. Staff training on 'specials' would be the way forward.

Really lovely meal with my wife at Stark. A small but but very friendly restaurant. Sophie is very welcoming and explained the meal well, proving attentive service throughout. The food from chef Ben is another level, refined and complex flavours. Each dish was beautifully cooked, well presented and balanced. Really tough to find a favourite - but at a push would go for Hake, mushroom and truffle. We were also really pleasantly surprised by the duck liver parfait, which in other restaurants would usually try and avoid … but this one was so light and tasty would actively choose going forward! Great meal, definitely would like to come back

We were a table of 18 dining to celebrate a birthday. Without asking we were offered the private dining room upstairs and having ordered in advance all the adult meals everything just ran so smoothly. From the moment we were greeted at the door we were made to feel welcome, valued and comfortable. The service was brilliant and relaxed in a great way with 6 children to cater for too. Nothing was too much trouble and the birthday sundae wowed us all! Thank you Nicole and all the team. You did a wonderful job.

Lovely food and service, only one small issue being that we had never eaten Thai before and asked the waiter for advice on the different dishes. Either he didn't understand or hear us properly or couldn't speak very good English so didn't really respond. We ended up taking an educated decision to go for curry. Which was gorgeous. His service was impeccable and was friendly throughout. Would definitely return and recommend.