Restaurant Bar and Cafe Reviews

Restaurant Bar and Cafe Reviews
Restaurant Bar and Cafe Reviews

Friday 4 April 2014

Armstrong's at the Pavilion, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex (2013)...

This restaurant is down several flights of stairs. I'm not sure if there's a lift for disabled access or not.

You walk through pool tables, slot machines and a bar to access the lounge area, which is nicely furnished with big leather sofas, although the small wooden tables could have done with a wipe. The dining area was at the back of the room. It's an odd set-up that was quirky but it won't suit everyone to be eating a few yards away from people playing on fruit machines.

Several of our group enjoyed the garlic bread / cheesey garlic bread starters. Other starters looked nice also.

Not a huge range of vegetarian options (4 choices I believe including a curry and a pasta dish), but nice to see them listed separately on the menu rather than mixed in with the meat / fish dishes (easy to find). I chose the vegetable stir fried noodles. This arrived in a massive bowl and was far too much for me to eat personally (although obviously good value for anyone with a larger appetite). I wasn't a fan of the dried parsley all around the edge of the bowl, nor the mange tout, which were on the dry side (baby-sweetcorn would've been better in my opinion), but overall it tasted quite nice. The noodles were cooked well.

My partner chose steak and although he asked for medium-rare it arrived rare. He chose not to send it back to the kitchen and seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. He was given two small flat discs of something with his peppercorn sauce, but he wasn't told what this was (he probably should've asked). When he bit into one he spat it out, as did the two other people who also tried it. We discovered later that this was spicy butter which should've gone onto his hot steak, although if he had done this it would've ruined his meal as he didn't like the taste or texture.

There was a large group of us so it was sort of understandable that by the time the last main was brought out the person who was served first had finished eating.

Food was plentiful and generally good (positive comments from everyone).

The desserts looked nice and I saw no evidence of any leftovers, which was a good sign.

The staff were really lovely and polite, however we did feel that service was a bit on the slow side.

One of our party ordered a coffee. 30 minutes later staff were reminded and although they apologised profusely it still took another 15 minutes (after payment had been taken) before it finally arrived. A similar story for a £3 glass of lemonade which was totally flat on arrival but we simply didn't have the time to wait for another one.

All in all a mostly positive experience with some minor niggles.
Toilets (only went in the ladies) were functional.
Not sure I'd choose to return simply as a matter of personal preference but I can understand why it may be popular.

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