The Shepherd Inn - Brentwood

This pub is lovely. The food is great value and presented well, unlike many cheap chain restaurants that just slap some lettuce on the plate. I highly recommend it.

Wonderful food and atmosphere. Amazing “old English” surroundings. Scott Sarah were wonderful hosts and made us feel very welcome.

After a walk in the area went in here for a drink and lunch. To be charged nearly £6 for a pint of coke when the beer was less than £5 a pint was insulting. The cheeseburger I had was only just cooked and the piece of processed, plastic cheese it was topped with was a let down. The chips were, however, really good.

The lunch menu is very varied but we were in a hurry so ordered 2 jacket potatoes, a coke and a coffee. The food took 50 minutes to arrive I went up to enquire about it after waiting 45 minutes) and the potatoes were only half cooked microwaved but not finished off in the oven so hard inside). They did have a party of cyclists in but the man who served us didn’t say the order would be delayed. They overcharged me by just under £5. £4.80 I think) I didn’t query it at the time as we had to rush off but I emailed them the next day. They admitted overcharging me and said I could pop in that day to collect my money. I asked them to put it in their charity tin. They also said ‘apologies for the delay too’. They didn’t comment on the fact that I’d told them the food was undercooked they would have seen that we’d left three quarters of both the potatoes) and tbh they didn’t sound very sorry. It’s a shame as my daughter recently moved to the area and we thought it might be a great local. We now feel more inclined to go to the other local for lunch in future.

I stopped by this restaurant while on a cycling route to have a few drinks. When we arrived, the bartender seemed like it was a bother to serve us. Another customer even made a comment about our drinks not being as "nice and simple" as his. We ordered a lager and a rum and coke. We decided to move away from the bar where some locals were expressing racist views to play cards. The bartender told us that they typically don't allow cards, but when we asked why, he mumbled something incomprehensible about how "some people don't like it." The atmosphere was incredibly hostile, and as someone who has worked in pubs during my teenage years, I always appreciated seeing new faces on a Monday night. This was a deeply strange experience with a rude and uninterested bartender. There are plenty of other pubs in the area that don't treat you with such disdain, I suggest going to them instead.