The Cricketers Clavering

What a disappointment. This score is a combination of 2/5 for food and 4/5 for accommodation. We stayed on burger night. It was reasonable, then, to expect some good quality burgers. The kitchen failed utterly. My wife’s chicken burger featured a piece of chicken coated in a thick layer of breadcrumbs, the surface of which was mahogany-coloured and the rest uncooked. That should never have left the kitchen. My own braised pork and apple burger was basically a pickled red cabbage sandwich with a wad of flavourless pulled pork paste. Our room was pleasant but be advised, this place is on the Stansted airport flight path… comfy bed and spotlessly clean bathroom. Nice products in the bathroom. All public facing staff were lovely. The kitchen needs to have a think about the quality of its food, this was an embarrassment given the culinary history of the place. All recent reviews are saying the same. Unlikely to ever return, we wasted good money here.

Average food with a very boring lunch menu. Service was VERY slow although the two waitresses were very friendly . My crab sandwich was in very stale bread.

Oh dear what a shame and disappointment this place was after hearing all the hype! On entering the pub no direction as to where to check-in, staff looked bewildered and just pointed in the general direction. Finally asked at the bar and this was 'said reception'! Room was not as described on the website, Large neon Exit sign in the bedroom therefore no sleep whatsoever. No water in the room Went for dinner around 7.30pm and hardly anything left on the menu. Disappointing breakfast. Won't be returning thank you

We stayed on a Sunday evening, we had the dinner, bed and breakfast package. Room was lovely, very comfortable bed and very clean bathroom. When we went for dinner there were probably 5 members of staff just standing behind the bar doing nothing, no one acknowledged us for a while and the waitress who served us seemed like she really couldn’t be bothered, she wasn’t particularly friendly. We were given menus that were covered in food! We thought the choices on the menu were not great. We didn’t bother having desserts because the service wasn’t good and the staff were not exactly welcoming. Food was good though. Breakfast on the other hand was wonderful and the guy who served us was absolutely lovely! We would stay again but would only book the bed and breakfast package next time.

We visited as a table of 14 or so on Sunday 1st June for a family birthday, and the overall experience was very disappointing. The pros: Situated in a nice area, the pub itself is clean and tidy, and the food (once it arrived) was ‘ok’ - although, given we paid over £400 across the table, expectations should exceed ok, in my opinion; speaking pragmatically here, if I’m heading to a fast food chain, I’d expect (and be happy with) an ok, but not in an establishment such as this. Cons: We had to place our orders a week to ten days in advance, which was fair, given the party size; upon arrival we were informed that there was no lamb available, as this had sold out throughout the day, yet surely ordering prior should prevent issues like this occurring? We also were informed by a staff member (senior staff, perhaps the manager?) that no chips were available, and we’d be served French fries with our meal - not the biggest inconvenience, but no apology with this, it was more a statement, and I refer case in point to the prior ordering - what was the purpose of us doing this if a lot of the menu wasn’t going to be available by the time we arrived? Bizarre. Timings were very poor too, an hour and a half into us being seated, we hadn’t even had our mains - the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, and even it it was, that surely exceeds what’s an acceptable time to wait at any restaurant. On top of this, a lot of our food wasn’t warm enough, and staff weren’t attentive and the basics were missing (having to order our own drinks, for one) and one of the waitresses left a steak knife on the table in reach of a two year old child - just a catalogue of errors really, and by the time desserts arrived, we were all ready to leave. We were all adamant across the table that the service charge be removed, and when that speaks for the majority, you know you’ve severely underwhelmed. As a footnote, quiz was also taking place in the pub at the time, which we had no issue with, but the quizmaster (presumably the head landlady or manager) was quite clearly intoxicated, shouting, blocking the walkway through the pub (I asked her politely to pass twice during out visit, and she barely acknowledged me) and this just topped off a real unforgettable experience in an establishment which is clearly dining off reputation rather than recent performance - I’ve read numerous other reviews since and it’s a shame to see an independent chain providing such poor service. This; ultimately, will come back to bite any business in the end, so clearly some work needs to be done internally to clear up these errors. We won’t be returning, which is a shame, but a £400 bill comes with many an expectation as said, and unfortunately, they all fell well short during our visit.

Lovely clean and spacious room with private parking. Large bathroom with separate shower and bath. Lovely pub with excellent food, couldn’t fault anything.