The Bean, Leigh on Sea - www.thebean-leigh.co.uk

Great service, lovely food and cheap cheap prices make this the best overall dining venue in Leigh-on-Sea. The food is better than most and at a fraction of the cost, the service is miles better and you feel like you've actually eaten a meal. £13.95 for two courses and no scrimping on the portions or quality, astonishing!

Frankly, I am quite shocked to find such negative reviews on this site.

We were seated and served drinks within 5 minutes and eating within 20 minutes. We sat outside on the balcony which had a chilled, happy atmosphere.

The food was fresh, just the right size and good value for money. I think The Bean is a good alternative to The Estuary, which is where I would normally go for a good quality salad. The wine was served at exactly the right temperature and the coffee of good quality.

I would definitely visit here again and look forward to it.

I arrived at The Bean for a cup of coffee with my daughter as we had 40 minutes to spare, the waitress asked if we wanted 'coffee and cakes' and directed us to a table near the window, this is where we sat for 25 minutes, no-one came! there were no staff to ask or to complain to! The service is quite clearly shocking and non-existant!! There were 4 other people in another area seated with 'cups' and a man waited for 15 minutes (at least) to pay as we left before he had done so!

Been to the place several times. Never again. Previous occassions, my wife and I were turned around because the restaurant was full at the time, but not offered the option to even wait for 10 minutes, or come back later. Just a "No" for reply. But this was not a big issue as many places are unfortunately that shortsighted when coming to attend a customer properly.

Last drop was when we went for a coffee with a friend, 2 children and 2 babies. We asked for a beer, which we found out later was bottled. When explained we rather preferred to pour the beer ourselves from the bottle (same principle as asking for water and receiving the bottle already opened), the waiter talked through his teeth before finally removing the glass of beer. Very rude.

We were going to order food but decided not to after such outburst from the waiter.

Things got worse when children were told off for playing with a chair by who we believe was the young daughter of one of the owners. We found all staff agressive (without being physically agressive of course), staring at us and commenting amongst them. It seems they did not get over the initial incident with their waiter and closed ranks around him.

Definetely a no no if you have children, or if you expect a minimum of quality service. For the look of previous reviews, not the one off ocurrence.

This is the third time we've eaten at The Bean (2 evenings and 1 lunch) and don't understand the poor reviews. The atmosphere is friendly. The food is excellent, the presentation is excellent and the service is attentive without being overpowering. The prices of the food are reasonable. We were a party of 7 for lunch and were allowed to take as long as we liked, we were not made to feel it was time to go. On the minus side, our Chicken Carbonara was served on cold dishes, the drinks are on the pricey side particularly when a Wine Spritzer cost £4.50 for the Wine plus £2.50 for the lemonade. It was not obvious that a 10% discretionary service charge was going to be added as we were a party of 6 or more.

Have been to The Bean on a few occasions as the food has been good but after last time, no more. The service in this restaurant has always been 'adequate' at best but has now degenerated to the staff ignoring the customers most of the time. Theres no top up on drinks, no checking everythings ok. They turned the lights off to try and get rid of us as we were the last in the restaurant and shouted across the room at us when we protested.... it was 10pm, hardly late. They obviously have other places they'd rather be, lucky really because I doubt if this restaurant will stay open for much longer. Plenty of better restaurants in Leigh, we wont be going there again and its rapidly gaining the reputation to be avoided. Dont bother wasting your money, go somewhere thats appreciates your custom

Twice I have attempted to eat at The Bean in the last month. It has agreat position in Leigh-on-Sea and I like to support local trade. I havelived in and around Leigh all my life. The first occasion was a Saturday(12.50pm) in early February. I was with my eldest daughter (aged 11) andwe just needed a quick bite as we had to be back to our car in a hour.First, I had to wait for ages before someone even acknowledged I waswaiting for a table, then I was told (by a girl clearing a table, withouteven looking up) that all free tables were reserved. There was one emptytable without a reserve sign and when pressed she eventually found out thatthe table I had identified was free. Just before being seated I wanted tocheck that we would get food within the hour, only to be told that therewas no guarantee we would be served in that time. I think, no matter howbusy an eatery is, an hour should be enough time to serve one course. Sowe left. Attempt 2 - two weeks later, another Saturday (at 4pm) I decided to tryagain. This time for tea and a cake, accompanied by my younger daughter(aged 8). There were plenty of tables but again it took time to beacknowledged. There was a general sense from staff that they would havebeen happier if I had just gone away. Anyway, determined to try, I heldon. Eventually I was shown to a table which was in the middle of the roombetween two gangways. I asked if we could sit by the wall pointing toseveral empty tables but I was told 'sorry, that wouldn't be possible'because his boss was 'very particular about children and crumbs and so wecould not sit there'. I was absolutely stunned at such blatantdiscrimination (not to mention that I'm more liable to spill crumbs than mydaughter!). Needless to say I felt compelled to leave so, without anyfuss, we did. We then went to 'Stop the world' further up the road, it wasabsolutely chocker, service and food was fabulous. It's a shame because whilst the saying is '3rd time lucky' I will not betrying The Bean again. For me, it has Bean and gone.

Having been away from Leigh for a while we were returning to visit friends, and decided to check out this new venue. The food was OK, but the service was absolutely appalling. We were served by four staff at different times in the proceedings, none of whom knew what was going on, but all of whom managed to ignore us for protracted periods and take ages to take our orders, and our meals arrived with major ingredients missing. The manager didn't even apologise and came across as if he really couldn't be bothered. Apparently Daddy bought him the place - it shows, he couldn't run a restaurant to save his life.

The front of house Staff were great trying to clear up the mess from a chef who is clearly in over his head. Three meals returned cold, waited to long for our food,childrens food served last! Bearing in mind we pre ordered this was unacceptable.

Appalling!!! This 'Deli & Brassiere' opened in Leigh about 12 months ago - from the outside it looks appealing, with modern decor and comfortable seating. However, that is as good as it gets, much to my better judgement I have now eaten here 4 times since it opened, and every time have had to return the food I or one of my companions ordered.

On my first visit, there was a group of seven of us; we waited over an hour for our breakfast, before complaining that 3 other tables that arrived after us had been served their food before us. Apparently it was the waiters fault for not putting our cheque into the kitchen - however when the food did eventually arrive the black pudding was raw, and 4 of the 7 meals were stone cold. We sent them back, and were only offered free drinks and half price on the meals we eventually recieved about 1.40 hours after originally ordering.

My second visit was for dinner; both my partner and I ordered the duck. The meat was overcooked, and the skin had not been rendered so was fatty and chewy.

My 3rd visit was again for breakfast, however the sausage came out half-raw and the bacon severely overcooked. Again, the service was very VERY slow, with a wait of approximately 40 minutes.

Today I went in with my mother for a coffee, it was mid morning and she was hungry so we decided to get poached egg and mushrooms on toast and tomatoes and mushrooms on toast. For a change, the original service was prompt, however when the food came out the mushrooms on both plates were raw and the tomato had not even seen a flame - it was merely sliced in half. We complained and asked for the food to be re-cooked. It was done as requested, and the second time it was cooked though, however my poached eggs were inedible as they were so overpowered with the taste of vinegar, which had obviously been added to the poaching water. the waitress who cleared our plates, made no attempt to enquire about why my eggs remained un-eaten, only when I explained sis she make any attempt to acknowledge them. When I paid the woman (who judging by her age I can only assume was the manageress) was to be frank insolent and unapologetic when she removed the cost of the meal off our bill.

This restaurant has had a constant sign in the window since it opened for a chef; whomever they do have in the kitchen is appalling. The service is mediocre and slow, and NEVER do they come to the table to enquire if the food provided is OK.

Unfortunately for them, they are gaining a very poor reputation locally for the quality of food as I have heard numerous people complain about their experiences at The Bean. I kept giving them another go in the vain hope that they might improve, unfortunately each time I have tried it has been a costly and frustrating effort and I shall attempt no more. There are some amazing restaurants in Leigh, this is not one and I would strongly advise anyone reading this to avoid it with gusto.