"Usually my wife is the one who fills up the comment cards, feedback forms and writes few words on tripadvisor of the place. Usually we are a very happy, cheerful and satisfied customer most of the times. But after this dinner at the Lakes Restaurant I had a feeling I have to write a review by myself. As I am an Italian person I love food (to eat and also to cook) enjoying wine, sweets and coffee too... So I have to say if someone is really passionate about to have a good dinner this place is not the right choice. Bar is lovely, bit outdated but does the job. We discovered on arrival the bar person was already half drunk speaking and laughing even more loud than the guests! And there was a young guy in blue vest, white shirt was kind of annoying too who could not stop saying to every single person around him he is very busy has to look after a big function but till we left the bar after our aperitif he was still hanging around and chatting to his co-workers. Not a problem at all, I thought someone else will looking after his guests... Lakes restaurant looks nice, good atmosphere but the problems are just started here... Sat down, got menus in hand bread arrives in few minutes, before we even opened the menu and had a look... Nice quick service, bread sliced, slightly warm, looks fresh and tasty! Lets choose some wines, then order some food. Wine arrives by a very professional waiter, Hugo. he looks smart, friendly, helpful and knows how to serve wine in a professional way. Well done! After this we had a look on the menu and realised the choices on the menu are very poor not seasonal and overpriced but as we are already here lets eat something! Starter takes ages to come, really disappointing, tasteless food, wilted salad and supermarket part baked baguettes croutons, and just doesn`t look appetising. Finger prints on the plates everywhere. Main course coming after a long wait too looks like a pub-grub, lukewarm, lots of gravy (I guess made from gravy cubes) very far from 2 rosette standard, very amateur presentation. But at least plate warmer was working as my wife`s plate was extremely hot, but not the dish, eh! Very disappointing food £14 apparently home made burger, must be kidding, please tell me which part of the dish was home made. I had the same somewhere else in a simple pub just few days ago when I went for a quick meeting with my colleagues and had a meal with just for £7 included a pint. We got offered to see the dessert menu but I was really sceptical to see the choices as I thought they must be the same quality as the previous courses or even just simply bought in from a local bakery so we said no to the waiter. Luckily he was trying to convince us to try some so as we were still pretty hungry so we accepted the challenge. I have to say that was the best choice of the night as they were so delicious and they looked amazing Vanilla brulee and Boxford farm cheesecake. The dinner was really disappointing, never thought food can be this bad at Stoke by Nayland, don`t think we would like to come back ever again or might be just for some wine and some sweet treats or might be just for the spa treatments. Food experience 0/5 but giving 5/5 for desserts so that makes 2/5 in overall Service 1/5 for the funny welcome at the bar plus the food runner had no idea what is going on but 5/5 for Hugo the Spanish waiter so that is 3/5 in total. Price 2/5 as the quality is not matching with the price. We still left some tip and did not complain on the night to anyone as they were major problems not just a little mistake which can be solved right away with a free coffee or a 10 off the bill. We don`t want to receive any free meal or our money back after this review and if management are still happy with everything just please ignore my opinion."
