Rettendon, Essex The Lodge Country Inn

My wife and I have visited the Lodge on a few occasions but mostly had bar meals, We treated Family and friends to a meal in the restaurant yesterday, 15/09/13. The waitress, was very helpful and cheerful, the food was excellent, not overpriced as I have noted in other reviews,I also want to make it clear I am in no way connected with this venue, as has been suggested by other reviews.

The bar Meals we have had on previous occasions have also been of good quality, and I do understand that sometimes that when it gets busy especially during the past few summer months the service could be a bit slow, but that is to be expected.

Overall experience 10/10

i have read some of the reviews posted so i have to put my review. we heard about the lodge from a friend a few weeks ago and decided to give it a go.the food we had varried from carvery and burgers to salards. all were very good and hot and plenty of it.the salards were to a high standard. the staff were very helpfull and polite. the area for the kids to play were at the top of my grandsons list to come back for. the only fault i could find was the lenght of time we had to wait but on that note it was a sunday the weather was hot and every one was out and you would get the same at any place. so job done to all at the lodge. And to the person what wrote it must be family i dont know anyone that works there.

I had a cavery here one sunday with my girlfriend and the 2 kids,this was about 4pm well it was horrible the potatoes were on the cold side and the meat was also cold,and the person serving didnt have any manners,never again.

We booked the Conservatory for our Caravan Club Lunch. There were 42 of us and we all had the Carvery. Unfortunately the turkey ran out after 38 of us had been served, as well as all the other people in the restaurant, so the chef cooked us chicken breast which was tender and succulent. There was no shortage of food. Some had starters and desserts too which were all very nice. [name removed] was the waitress and she gave us very good service.

We all agreed we would go back again, in fact this was our Club's 2nd visit.

Thank you to all the Staff for looking after us so well.

My husband and I ordered steak and ale pie with mash and peas. We waited about 30 mins , which is reasonable for a cooked meal I think. However the meat ,though plentiful was burnt in places and the gravy was congealed. I'm sure the mash was packet mash with some herbs added and the peas were microwaved but not enough to cook them properly. Oh and the 'pie' consisted of a rectangle of tasteless puff pastry. We were very disappointed. The other diners had food which was more like 'fast food' and that appeared to be better than our choice. I wouldn't recommend this pub for a decent meal and if they can't offer a good well cooked solid meal then it shouldn't be on their menu . The tables were sticky also......not a pleasant experience.

We thought we would go to The Lodge this Bank Holiday only firstly to be met by, how can i say, a woman who looked like an old palm reader you used to find on a seafront, greeting us.Later finding out her name being Paula (Who ever done her make up and hair should be shot!)Trying to get to the bar in the first place was an effort as well as there seemed to be a gathering of bar proppers on the left hand side of the bar. One women had what i thought a hat on, later finding out it was her hair! . We ordered our food (Not a smile, nothing, only a wrinkly old face) and was told we would have to wait 30 mins. Not a problem we thought as we was in no rush. Upon looking around while i waited i noticed alot of young girls working, one was 14 as i asked! It seems they pay their staff cash in hand so a bit of dodgy dealings going on here, which is never a good point in a pub! Anyway, food did arrive only it was cold. Salad looked like my cat brought it in, no knives or forks, dressings where in those little things you cant open (unless you had scissors) and it was brought up on cold plates. I was just about to complain when it seemed someone else wasnt happy and having a not so quite word with Paula over something. Later found out that his Daughter used to work there and was not happy with the way she was being treated. I asked to speak to the manager concerning our food (Paula) and was ushered back to my seat..Paula did not come over, a blond girl did and the attitude was amazing! How she ever became working in a pub in the 1st place is beyond me! Customer relations are not their strong point! We decided to leave and ended up in another pub down the road, Shaw Farm, a MUCH BETTER experaince!

I had to write review as ive had completely different experience! Paula and diane have been nothing but accomadating. They have gone out of there way to make our wedding day as stress free as possible and to help as much as they can.Ive even spoken to chef as i asked for dessert that is not on menu and even he has agreed to make it for our special day. I am so excited and have every confidence in Paula and the rest of the staff that our day be stress free and relaxing.

At present we have our wedding reception booked in The Lodge Country Inn in 7 weeks time. So far i have tried 8 times to book an appointment to go in to discuss the menu.

5 times i was told there is no one available. How difficult is it to make a booking.

We finally got one appointment, only to turn up and they had a power cut, could not let us know as they had no phones. Strange that they knew what was happening with the electricity though.

Booked another appointment only to come home from work early and they had left a message on the machine cancelling the appointment and that someone will call the next morning.

The lady did call the next morning only she had NO idea why she was calling us.

At the moment I am on the verge of telling them to shove it, but at this late stage its proving rather difficult to get somewhere else.

Will have to wait and see what next week brings