Smith's of Ongar

Featured reviews

• V

  Victoria

  ·2 months ago

  “A fantastic restaurant with very polite and friendly staff, it has a great menu with specials too. We really enjoyed our meals here and they were fantastic with dietary requirements and helpful with the menu on what could and couldn't be ordered or adapted for allergies. Parking is easy but you should book in advance. We will definitely go back for another special occasion, a must for those who enjoy fish and seafood!”

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• M

  Monet Austin

  ·4 months ago

  “Had a wonderful meal at Smiths Friday night for my boyfriend’s birthday. Food was spectacular as per usual and the staff were amazingly patient with us as some of our table were around 30 minutes late. Thank you x”

• D

  Dean Wincott

  ·4 months ago

  “A fantastic fish restaurant offering a high quality, beautifully cooked range of fish and seafood. Great size portions and a choice of fish cookery allows you to choose how you like your fish. Staff are lovely and the restaurant is light and airy. Perfect for friends, family and a business lunch.”

• J

  Janine Joseph

  ·5 months ago

  “Wow…where to start? From the moment we walked in, this was a high end experience..staff were warm and helpful, the restaurant is beautiful, cosy and stylish, and we were immediately shown to lovely table in a completely packed restaurant,; a good indication of how popular this place is. The menu is expansive and whilst predominately fish, offered a good Sunday Roast and meat options.. I had the lobster and prawn cocktail special; and honestly it had more beautiful juicy lobster than I could possibly have expected. My husband and son ordered mussels..cooked to perfection and served in a wonderful cream and white wine sauce, which was perfectly balanced and not too rich. Our main courses were excellent, cod in black butter, skate with capers and grilled sea bass. The sides were faultless; dauphinoise potatoes, cauliflower cheese and chunky chips. Somehow..god knows how, we managed dessert and despite knowing we didn’t need it..they were worth it 100%. So, 3 courses, wine and cocktails £95 per person. It was truly magnificent and worthy of the celebration of my husband’s birthday and my son buying a house in Ongar!”

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• S

  S H

  ·6 months ago

  “We had a lovely birthday lunch here, we have been thinking about cooking for a long time. Everything about this restaurant is great, lovely staff, great food, with good potion sizes, nice atmosphere.”

• M

  Mark Goddard

  ·6 months ago

  “I always try to compete my views on expectation vs delivery and value for money. Lovely restaurant and I have to compliment the staff, they were first class and made us feel very welcome and were very attentive. Delighted always to be served bread. Accompanying the bread was a very nice entree of prawn and white crab with a salmon pate and a feta, olive and parma ham ensemble. Both were a lovely mouthful of flavours For starter, I opted for sticky teriyaki chicken was was very nice and was well balanced. It was a good dish. My wife opted for scallops and king prawns which was nice and the scallops were nice but lacked a sear slightly. For main I had monkfish and king prawn with a parma ham crisp and tomato and red pepper sauce. Dish looked beautiful but being honest, it lacked flavour and seasoning. It was underwhelming My wife had pork with scallops as a main and this was cooked well and was a good Dish. Good flavours but again, lacked a highlight reel. To finish it has sticky toffee pudding which was huge very nice, with good depth and consistency of the sauce. My wife had the valentines trio which we took home as we're too full! Was very nice though. Overall a nice meal. Unfortunately for me, even for valentines it was significantly overpriced vs the quality of food. We drove an hour to visit this restaurant as I had been before several times, maybe it was a slightly off night One other slight criticism, it's renowned as a seafood restaurant yet starters and main was 50/50 split fish to other. I would have liked more seafood options personally. In conclusion I would recommend this restaurant but for value and quality, personally I will visit closer to home or london.”

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• S

  Sessna

  ·7 months ago

  “Elegant venue, high quality food (and drinks) and consistently great service. We had an enjoyable time this time - as always! Highly recommend either for a romantic evening out or a family celebratory outing.”

• V

  Valeria Slatvinschi

  ·7 months ago

  “The food is genuinely excellent, but the service is completely unacceptable. This was our second visit, and both times we were made to feel rushed and unwelcome. After ordering six desserts for four people, the staff began interrupting us constantly, asking if we were finished — even though there were clearly uneaten desserts still on the table. It became impossible to have a conversation because someone was approaching us almost every minute. In the end, we said we were done just to stop the pressure. The bill was immediately brought, followed by an offer to bring our coats — clearly pushing us to leave as quickly as possible. Our total bill was £523.00, and there were plenty of empty tables, so there was absolutely no reason to rush us. Great food does not excuse service that makes guests feel pushed out. After two identical experiences, we will not be returning.”

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• M

  Monica Huggins

  ·8 months ago

  “Absolutely loved my birthday lunch here, can't believe I have not been before. That will certainly now change. Everything about this restaurant is spot on, lovely staff, great food, with good potion sizes, nice atmosphere. Its a 10/10. I think the lunchtime set menu cost / choices were great (£41 3 courses). We had prawn cocktail / crispy chicken starters and we both had battered cod and chips.”

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• L

  Lloyd Stevens

  ·9 months ago

  “It’s been a long while since we’ve been to Smith’s in Ongar but I can assure that our next visit will not be far away. The food was delicious and the service from every member of staff was friendly and professional. We started with the King Prawns and a heavenly Classic Prawn Cocktail. This was followed by the Skate and the Monkfish Meunière. Our friends also enjoyed the Sunday Roast.we finished with thr Crème Brûlée and a fantastic Toffee Apple Crumble Cheesecake. Many Thanks to all at Smith’s and look forward to seeing you all again very soon.”

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