Review Pavilion - Colchester

wendy jarrard

One of the best restaurants I've ever been to. The decor is so beautiful, the food was amazing and the staff absolutely lovely especially our waitress, very knowledgeable about the food and so friendly. I will definitely be going back hopefully soon 😊

Diandra O

I am obsessed with this restaurant. It is my favourite one from colchester at the moment. The vibe is classy and chic, the decor is beautiful and always on line with the seasons and the food is the best - Always well cooked, to a high standard and offering you a full experience when choosing it for a day / night out! ✨✨

Rhea Gopaul

Always love coming to Pavillion, the food and vibes are always 10/10. I had my birthday meal on Saturday and it did not disappoint. A special thank you to our friendly server George who was helpful, efficient and very charismatic, going out of his way to make sure my whole party had a lovely experience.

Gary Ho

Beautiful place, was here last month with my girlfriend celebrating my birthday and food was delicious. Excellent service from George, he was very cheerful, welcoming and made our first experience at Pavilion amazing. Would highly recommend! ⭐️

Ononuju Sandra

Food was wonderful and Customer Service was top notch. I give it to George(Staff) who sang me a happy birthday and made sure I enjoyed my Meal. I will definitely visit again and I recommend 100%. Thank You George for your kind hospitality and great customer service.

Joanna Bansropun

We went for a dinner for our anniversary and the food and ambience was fantastic. Gareth, who served us, was knowledgeable and gave us good advice on our order. We had previously had a bad experience with slow service so we’re slightly reluctant to go again but this time we were not disappointed.

Ram Waltho-Brar

I absolutely loved this place, from the time I walked in and to the time I left, I could not fault anything. Staff were amazing, they made me feel comfortable and went out of their way to make my time there so fulfilling. We didn’t book a table beforehand and it was a Saturday too, I mentioned this to a lovely young lady called Leah on the desk, she smiled and showed us to our table, nothing was too much for her, she checked on us time to time to see if everything was okay. The waitress was great too, she recommended some lovely dishes to order and I must say the food was delicious 😋 we were celebrating my birthday and it was prefect, the place was full of cherry blossom trees and my late daughter loved cherry blossom trees, so it made me feel the warmth of this beautiful stunning place. I would highly recommend this place specially if you appreciate authentic cuisine and yummy cocktails 🍹. I’d like to thank the staff there, for making me feel so special, on my birthday. 😊 I highly recommend one to try this place. I would rate this place at 5 star.

Maan Qutub

Beautiful decoration Good food Nice music and atmosphere But the restaurant is empty. We were the only table

Alex Morgan

Honestly found this place was pretty special. Went here on a stag/hen do where we had a room booked. It was a Friday night and was fairly busy but the place had great energy. Live dj was on, which added to the atmosphere. Love the Eastern decor. Had the 6 course tasting menu and have to say that I found it difficult to choose a favourite course and rate each of them highly. The table service was really good as well. All in all, a lovely place to go and it's about as fancy as anyone would ever need.

Stephen clay

So my wife and I selected the pavilion to celebrate our wedding with a lovely meal with two very close friends. Gareth made the dining experience really pleasurable and easy, he explained the menu in detail enabling us to make the best choices to suite us, he is a true asset to the restaurant. The food can only be described as exquisite, the variety of flavours was amazing. The setting, was perfect and made for some amazing top up photos from our special day. I cannot rate the restaurant highly enough and look forward to returning. One last thank you to Gareth. Steve and Dee

Lou Coy

My hubby and I managed to get here last night and it really is a beautiful looking place, however, sadly, that is where our good impression stopped! We were informed about the 'fluid' menu and that the dishes arrive as they are ready and enjoyed chicken gyoza which were tasty (but could've been slightly crisper.) Around 40 minutes later the second dish arrived, rib-eye steak served on a salt block (beautiful looking dish, lovely steak) and satay spinach (slightly unusual concept, but not unpleasant.) We were waiting for 'karaage' which we'd expected to come up with the gyoza, but respecting the 'fluid' menu, we waited. We mentioned the further dish to our server to be told 'it comes when it is ready' - continued to wait. Mentioned missing dish to someone else, were told they would 'find out where it was' - continued to wait. It took over 5 minutes to get someone's attention to ask where the ladies were (fabulous facilities) on my return to the table, I was convinced our (very) delayed dish would have arrived, but alas - No! My hubby, who was fed up by this point, asked for the bill and when it (swiftly) came, our missing/delayed dish wasn't even on there! It had never been 'put through' in the first place, but nobody had bothered to check and we were just sat there like lemons (or should I say yuzu?) On mentioning this, we were told they were sorry, but this was accompanied by a look which said anything but. I can only presume we weren't drinking enough champagne to deserve the level of attention enjoyed by other diners!!

Emma Rose

I'd heard really mixed reviews from TA, Facebook and friends/family about Pavilion, but the menu sounded so good I really wanted to try it. Most of the negatives I'd heard were about the service, so we visited with low expectations, however it was really fantastic. Our main server was Marion who was such a lovely guy, really helpful, polite and gave us enough time between courses, but not too much. He was chatty, but knew when to stop. Having said that, this was a Wednesday night and we visited at 6.30pm, leaving at 8pm so the restaurant was around 1/3 full, so I do wonder what it would be like on a full Friday/Saturday night. The food was so good - I can't wait to go back! We had 8 sharing plates between 3 of us, which was enough, then a main course and dessert. We had the duck spring rolls (the best I've had!), lobster rolls (ok, but not loads of lobster), wagyu beef sliders (delicious), pork gyoza (amazing), oysters (yum, but couldn't taste the gin n tonic one), soft shell crab (great), salt & pepper squid (brilliantly cooked) and tiger prawns (nice). For mains we had the Nasi Goreng, Singapore Noodles (both really good, a bit spicy but not too much), and the 1/2 lobster (shame it doesn't come with a side included, like chips, for the price but still good). Just one dessert to try: we had the chocolate lava cake with coconut ice cream which was fantastic. I really want to go again to try more of the starters, the sushi and some more items from the grill. I would still be a little apprehensive about the service, but hopefully after a few visits it will be consistent. I have to say the restaurant itself is absolutely stunning, so if they can keep the service good and continue with the fab food, it will be a fantastic place for Colchester. It's nice to have something a bit different than all the chains popping up.

Vicki Hall

I was hugely impressed when we walked in last night, the restaurant is stunning. The food was also fantastic. Unfortunately, this was all massively let down by a completely shambolic service. Our waiter (Scottish guy) was lovely, but it seemed to be him taking all the orders from all the tables, and then food was brought out by various different people. It took an hour for our first dish, literally one plate of food, to be brought to the table, and some other dishes arrived 30 minutes later! We were missing two of our dishes and didn't get those until about 30 minutes after we had finished eating everything else! Waitresses repeatedly came to the table with food that was not ours. Even our desserts took half an hour to arrive, and when they did, the waiter apologised for the wait saying there had been a table mix up. I think The Pavilion has huge potential to be one of the best restaurants in Colchester but it really needs to change its ordering/service system so it actually works otherwise people are not going to keep coming back.

Sarah Dolphin

We had a reservation on Saturday at 8pm. We arrived at 7.30pm to have a cocktail in the bar first. My first impressions were not great, the bar was very busy already. The bar staff looked hurried and harassed. The party next to us were making a complaint about their bill, not a great start. Decided against ordering a cocktail as watched the bar man attempt to make one for someone else and it was a painful experience. Found a seat in the bar area. Unfortunately table was sticky and dirty. We were welcomed and were shown through to our table at 8pm, table 24. First impressions again were not great. We were squashed in between two other couples. Now I am not a big person and I struggled to squeeze myself into my seat. We were handed menus and a wine list and told our waiter would be with us shortly. 5mins later said waiter appeared, looking again harassed and hurried. He told us we were waiting to order! Our response was yes please, but first can we see the taster menus. My husband ordered a pint of beer, this came back as a half. We sent that back and asked for a pint. This was bought to us with an apology. Still awaiting the taster menus! Waiter appeared again to apologise for the delay and said he would be with us soon he had a few bills to organise. We asked again for the taster menus. I also ordered a large glass of wine. 10 min later taster menus finally appeared. But no glass of wine and no offer of taking our food order or an explanation of the menu as to how much we should be ordering. By this time we had had enough and got up and walked out. I didn't receive my glass of wine. This was 8.35pm. Very very disappointed.

Tony Dance

Was a lovely place, i came yesterday with my wife as it was my birthday..... We ordered gyozas which in my opinion was amazing... We also ordered sushi, now I've been a chef for 18 years with michilen star level..... And the sushi was above room temp!!! Not good for someone who should how to serve it!!

Claire Hide

The restaurant itself is fab, lovely inside - very different. The food, what we had was also tasty, but they just couldn’t get it right. We asked for traditional service, as recommended on the menu, so starter and main, but everything kept coming out at once with no break. We kept sending things back and asked for a break and when we finally got our mains my husband only got chips and no meal and the curry’s were so full of chilli we couldn’t eat them! Definitely wouldn’t go back unless they changed the concept of it all and definitely wouldn’t recommend it other than the lovely decor inside.

Deborah Polley

Enjoyed eggs benedict and couldn’t fault the food or service, was a large portion so excellent value. Lovely restaurant with bar area, restaurant area and a conservatory area where breakfast served. Looking forward to returning and sitting outside and trying more of the menu.

Joanne Marshall

Beautiful place ... lovely outside area tranquil and pretty ... apart from the few people outside shouting and swearing which made us go inside � Shame about service and when buying a Gin and tonic I expected a small bottle of fever tree tonic to be given to me ... but instead used left over from bottles behind the bar . Staff clothing should all be the same or at least classic. Food was nice we were recommended 5 dishes each ... after two shared we felt 5 between us was enough especially at £6.95-£7.95 . The one meal we did want they no longer had anymore left but wasn’t told that until he waiter came and took our order . It Sunday night so not very busy but took over 20 mins to get the bill . Wasn’t asked if we wanted the dessert menu or other drinks . Very disappointing that the class and prices of the place, you expect good service. I’m sure it’s just finding it’s feet as a new place so hopefully it will improve .

Charlotte Enfield

Went tonight was disgusted with the service and the food our chicken was raw then to have the manager argue that it wasn’t even after sending pictures to family members who all said don’t touch it it is clearly raw .

Wanda Jeanette Williams

Loving the new Pavillio, the staff were so friendly and showed us round, had bite to eat for lunch just a roll and a sweet in a jar delious , will be returning to try out the evening meal soon

Lady Lynnie Taylor

Wow, from the minute you enter the building it’s design is our elegance. Food perfect and matched what it said on the menu. Bearing in mind it was a Monday lunch time the ambience was good, there was 5 other covers, I will be back to try the evening menu.

Jennifer Handley

Had a wonderful meal last night for my birthday. Beautiful restaurant and great food also lovely cocktails in the bar! Looking forwards to my next visit. So nice to enjoy a meal locally but feel as if we were on holiday somewhere exotic! Fabulous place x

Abby Ray

Real disappointment with our evening here. Mum’s birthday meal. Decor was fabulous but food was late (over 45 minute wait for some of party to get their first bite of food) dishes forgotten from our order, dishes cold when they arrived, wrong wine brought to table... and really nothing was that great when it arrived. Seafood just generally chewy, veg spring rolls had no veg in, just big slabs of batter so were sent back. We went on a Saturday evening so I suspect part of the problem, other that the food not being great, is that the kitchen can’t cope with the number of covers it has at full capacity. An idea to help them would be to reduce the number of the dishes on the menu, do them well, and have some sharing platters as part of starters so that everyone can get at least something to eat to begin with. We were comped 50 percent off our food bill.

Michael Kennedy

Very nice decor with friendly service and food. Only issue I've found is that service is slightly hit and miss however with any new restaurant that is to be expected. Would totally recommend!