What a lovely place to enjoy a meal. Great atmosphere and good service. You pay for what you get,…read morehence the food being very nice. Book early as it gets very busy. If you have a party booking, you can reserve a seperate part of the restaurant which is ideal! Enjoy

Found this lovely little cafe where I had a fantastic meal. The steak and kidney pie was to die for…read moreand the apple pie and custard was great! All of the food was homemade and great value for money. Family friendly with excellent service. I would strongly recommend this place to everyone going to or is in Southend.

Always wanted to try this cafe/restaurant for years, and today was the day. Had Steak & Kidney Pie,…read moreNew Potato's Cabbage & Carrots & plenty of gravy. my desert was treacle sponge & custard really nice. All Home made excellent value They were queing outside the door when we arrived, the cafe is very basic with its decoration, and its like walking back into time when you step in side. Please do not let that put you off, the food was excellent. I thanked the owner and told her we had really enjoyed our meal. Yes we would go back again, but probably a bit later when the rush for lunch has died down.

Smiley's is a family tradition, as I learned this weekend when we drove all the way out to…read moreWestcliff-on-Sea from the West End. Egg and chips. Why didn't I know this before? The egg and the other fixings were just average, but the chips were fantastic. Super hot and right out of the fryer, they were rather randomly cut skinned potatoes. Like snowflakes, no two were alike. A little salt, a little vinegar (the English way of course), the bowl was empty before I knew what happened. Great coffee too. Very smooth and delicious. We managed to get a parking space right out front (two hours free!) and then the table right on the pavement ("sidewalk" in American) opened up as we arrived. Front row! A great place to sit and watch the world go past, maybe watch a ship or two go up the Thames Estuary to London. A fantastic spot!

This is the best cafe down the sea front. For non locals…read morethe Palmeira Parade cafes are known as the Arches and this family owned and run business serves traditional, good quality food at affordable prices. No pomp or pretense the furnishings are basic, comfortable and clean and you can bring your own wine unlike many of the other cafes that have opted for a licence to sell alcohol, mostly cheap inferior quality at inflated prices. On a sunny weekend be sure to book a table in advance, the locals swam here and many tables are reserved.

This place was always where I came for food when I lived here, so thought I would take a stroll one…read moremorning to see if anything had changed. The place itself has been refurbished with a higher seating area, which I found uncomfy, so sat myself on the "normal" seat, My friend and I had chosen Scampi & Chips for tea, which we found to be as good as they once were. There is something relaxing about looking onto the sea when having your tea I think. I would recommend this place for a quick bite, if your ever in the area on the sea front of Southend. the staff are friendly, the place is clean, during the summer months though I think it would be packed out with children, so I would give it a miss then, but it's lovely when it's quiet.

Great place for early breakfast. Big plate of food for a fiver. Not mad on the sausages, they are a…read morebit too fancy for a early morning breakky but sure some would love! Will be back

From the owner: Friendly local café offering a wide range of food from breakfast to lunches in Southend-on-Searead more

This is a tiny little restaurant near The Cliffs Pavillion so ideal for a pre- or post-theatre…read moredinner. The menu isn't terribly original but the food is tasty and well presented. The staff are very friendly and there is a good atmosphere, although a few times I have had the impression that the staff are waiting for their big break into showbusiness - one night our waiter spent a lot of time at our table cracking not particularly funny jokes. They have live music at the weekend, but to be honest I think the restaurant is too small for such entertainment and it makes conversation really difficult. There is a small bar area so if you're just looking for a place to have a drink and hear some live music then the acts are pretty good.

This bar restaurant is now known as Bojangles, still positioned ideally for the Cliffs Pavilion and…read moreproviding a number of well priced fayre.

A shocking experience. Food was extremely greasy, stupidly over-priced condidering what you are…read moregetting and the coffee is terrible. I had a cappuccino froth on my mug of a double espresso.

We had a great lunch even tho we had to wait for over an hour for our starters would have been a…read morenice gesture if we had been given some bread or olives to keep us going !! Main course arrived shortly after which was lovely and waitress very nice we will be back thanks guys

Whilst the prices here are very competitive, the bar is still pretty much a dive, in several ways…read more Firstly the atmosphere is like half the staff aren't putting their full interest in serving you, but mostly it's because there's more atmosphere on the dark side of the moon. I've gigged here with music and stand-up comedy, and the audio equipment is often set far too loud, and is very ancient. As mentioned though, the prices are very reasonable, and it's a nice stop-off bar on your way to a club, or for a quick pint.

Newsflash: This town centre pub is under new management. It is tucked behind the High Street on…read moreQueens Road. In the dim and distant past it was known for its unsavoury clientele. It went through the cursory modernisation which indeed did change its make up ensuring it attracted a lunch time customer base wanting food, along with the pre-clubbers. Now under new management the times are a changing again and hopefully taking this unique pub to even better ground.

Been here many times at the WEEKEND....The food here is British way of cooking......special…read morebreakfast with toast-- quantity,quality and price....you wont beat it. Jacket potatoe,prawns and salad.....loved it. FISH and CHIPS.....I havent had better anywhere. Dont take notice of bad reviews. If anywhere was any where near as bad as... bad reviewers say, they wouldnt survive. This place been going for many years

Went to the captins table today with my family which included my 18 month old and my handycapt…read moresister-in law. All i can say is i would not recomend this to any one. The staff are extreamly rude and un helpful, we waited 1:30mins for our meals which were of an average standar but really how can you go wrong with sausage egg and chips. Excuses were "we are very busy today" well with a less then full seating area and 4 staff on duty i think this is a poor effort, not to mention the meal was £40 and i felt cheated out of my money if im honest, i wanted to walk out and not pay it was that bad. The general running of the resterant was pretty shabby considering some of the other resterants under the arched are very good quolity. All in all was a terrible experiance and we were not the only ones who thought this. the table behine us left after 35 minuets and the elderly lady who had been waiting for along time also left before her meal arrived... the staff member who was dealing with the elderly woman said" do you want your food or not" i mean how can you speak to a customer like this its just unreal. Dont waist your time going here just go to one of the other resterants allong the promanard..

The food was lukewarm, the tea was tepid for my Full English breakfast...same for my partner's…read morebreakfast I recommend choosing another restaurant

A mixed bag of lovely quiant tearoom and, er truckers cafe!…read more In my quest to find the perfect tearoom for myself and the offsprog , of course I had to try this new place. From the outside, it is beautifully inviting. Traditional oak tables and painted dressers stacked with tea caddies mix with wing backed sofa chairs and shaker style panel cupboards. There wasn't loads of room for 2 prams but they did have a very good high chair. The tea menu is very impressive. I opted for a black tea with cherry and rum. It was gorgeous, and, very importantly, in a teapot. This would have been perfect if it had accompanied with some hot water. My partner in tearoom crime had a hot chocolate. It was in a good sized glass mug reminiscent of a chain coffee shop. For lunch my Eggs Florentine were also nearly perfect. The hollandaise was far too thick and the eggs a little messy on presentation. But these are small points. The poached eggs were runny, the muffin perfectly toasted to golden, not soggy spinach, (yay!) and well, you can't really go wrong with smoked salmon. I wish the same could be said for my friends baguette melt. It came without the brie and onion marmalade so mouthwateringly stated on the menu and so was a baguette with some sliced sausage. It also came with a dismal looking side salad. I say salad, and if you are eating from a greasy spoon style van parked on the A61, it might be. Actually it was some looney looking chunks of iceberg lettuce, a slice of old tomatoe with a bit of a fibrous core and some thin slices of cucumber. It was sent back, but it took a good while and returned with the brie and onion marmalade. Sadly it was cold, so the brie didn't really melt. We decided not to complain again. After finishing we waited for 15 minutes, and there was no service for our plates, any pudding or the bill. That's business they are losing, both on a visit and the loss of return visits. This is a lovely little place, with some great tea on offer, but cruddy service and a halfway house attitude to their food really let them down.