The Red Lion - Tendring

We had not visited this pub before, but we are very happy that we decided to return. The atmosphere is extremely cozy and there was a lovely fire burning, along with Christmas decorations that added to the charm. The menu was excellent and everything seemed to be homemade. Two of us ordered the delicious venison pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables, which were cooked perfectly. Our friend had the roast turkey and also enjoyed it. For dessert, we treated ourselves to the homemade bread and butter pudding with custard, which was excellent. The portions were generous, the staff were lovely, and the homemade food was fantastic. We especially appreciated the fact that the restaurant is dog-friendly. We will definitely be coming back.

We arrived at 3pm to find that the restaurant's sign indicated that they were serving food until 4pm. Despite there being an available table, we were informed that the chef had already left for the day and no more food would be available. It was evident that they did not want our business.

Called in randomly for a Sunday afternoon bite and walked out very happy! Amazing food had by all and the Sunday roast was great!! The two ladies behind the bar and serving us were fantastic and very accommodating. Lovely old style pub with modern twist on pub classics.

They advertise Sunday lunch 12-4 we arrived at 2.20 to be told there were no tables available. There were people at 3 tables ! They obviously don't need the custom.

Four of us ate at the Red Lion. We were greeted by a very friendly hostess. The menu and the blackboard specials bore little resemblance to the on line menu but that met with our approval. A great choice of dishes. 3 scallop starters and one meatballs. The scallops were good and served with a hugh piece of homemade bread. My husband had the meatballs but found them dry and hard.Service was super fast at this point, almost too fast as the main courses came along almost immediately the starter dishes were cleared. I has fish pie which was really lovely and packed with salmon, cod, prawns and scallops and piping hot. The salmon and tuna were apparently very good but the vegetables were very fatty and soggy and not much of them. The fourth main course was a smoked haddock risotto and unfortunately was disappointing. The fish was undercooked and not very large.In fact the whole dish was somewhat meagre. The waitress gave us the dessert menu but didn’t return to get orders. In the mean time a large group took up the table adjacent to us. Loud, rowdy and just plain awful. We decided to skip dessert and coffee as we couldn’t even hear us talking. So, as the title suggests, a mixed bag.