Ivory Rooms, Billericay

Well presented on the outside, and the food in the restaurant is probably on a par with any other pub you can visit in the local area although you do get the impression that they think they're a few notches higher up the ladder than they actually are, service on the Saturday night I was there was ..... disorganised to say the least, although value wise I'd say that �25 for three courses was just about fair.

This is a venue that doesn't really know what it is, on the one hand they want a fine dining experience in the restaurant, yet on the other they want to host "Gentleman's" evenings with exotic dancers and blue comics (or on the evening I was there ad's for a night with an ex east end hard man)

Then we come on to the Bar area, which post dinner time in the evening is a total nightmare...too many people, too small a bar area with too few staff, and the type of clients that are best locked up in the evening (well 70% of the men anyway)

All in all, it's really another more modern take on the Circus Tavern for those of us who are old enough to remember !

10 Feb 2008 12:55