West Mersea Oyster - Colchester

Amazing food and service. We always recommended this place to friends and family, best on the island.

Booked the Oyster Bar a couple of weeks ago for my anniversary,as I have been there many times and loved the food l was looking forward to a lovely lunch.i was aware that they did not do hot food now as was told when I booked,but when we arrived at restaurant it was closed ,after telephoning the number I had for them was told by answer machine that restaurant had closed down ,I never received any call to tell me i was so disappointed and surprised as always had great service .

We were really looking forward to trying the seafood platter. The presentation wasn 't exciting, felt like everything had just been plopped onto the platter with no thought. There was water and brine puddling on the platter, I overheard someone on the table next to us saying the same thing about theirs. Perhaps they were short-staffed and it was an off day because whoever prepared our platter had little experience and no love for seafood which is simple to prepare especially in a seafood restaurant. Most of the seafood had obviously just been defrosted, hence the water. I do feel that the seafood shouldn 't be advertised as being 'fresh ' when this isn 't the case, fresh should be advertised as fresh and where frozen you as a restaurant are obliged to let customers know they are paying for and eating frozen seafood. Some but not all customers know the difference straight away. Whether a customer can tell the difference is irrelevant, it isn 't good practice to not be truthful especially where food is concerned. The only reason I was reluctant to complain was because this was a treat and I didn 't want to ruin the afternoon. We will return to the island which is really lovely but unfortunately not back to this place which strangely doesn 't even offer basic traditional fish and chips, I fact no hot food at all! After wandering around, there are much nicer places to eat for next time.

We decided to visit Mersea Island on a whim as the weather was great (21deg C on 29th Oct! . We had no lunch reservation but turned up at the West Mersea Oyster Bar and were able to get a table outside overlooking the water. The main restaurant was fully booked. We ordered from what is a fairly extensive menu, supplemented by some really interesting and tempting specials . Our drinks were served as we placed the food order, which was native oysters and a sharing seafood platter for two. Service was prompt without being rushed and the food was truly excellent. My wife and I lived in the deep south USA where they pride themselves on world class seafood. This lunch was every bit as good, if not better and excellent value for money. This restaurant is hard to beat we will be back.

I had an amazing lunch at this restaurant. The lobster chips and salad were delicious, well done to the staff. They were friendly and helpful. The lobster was particularly tasty. Can't wait to visit again soon! xxx