Name: Milsoms
Address: Stratford Road, Dedham, CO7 6HW, United Kingdom, Colchester, Colchester, Colchester, CO7 6HW, United Kingdom
Rating: 8

24-hour reception

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

General

Non-smoking rooms

Room service

Cable TV

Minibar

Hairdryer

Flat-screen TV

Shower/Bathtub

Wardrobe/Closet

Linens

Toiletries

Rooms

Iron and board

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Luggage storage

Wake-up service

Telephone

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Breakfast in the room

Restaurant

Kettle

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Free Parking on Premises

Parking

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Fax and copy machine

Meeting and presentation facilities

Business

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Bridge Cottage

London Southend Airport

Stansted Airport

Milsoms

Colchester

I've visited Milsoms on numerous occassions for lunch and business meetings and am always impressed by the warmth of welcome and excellent service. The food is always impressive, well presented, with a varied and interesting menu.

It's been a few years since I stayed overnight and I was still impressed by the accommodation. I'd suggest a room on an upper floor and away from the bar area if you want a quiet night. Well appointed with an excellent shower and comfortable bed.

Overall, very good hotel, relaxed and informal.

Comfortable Bed

I’ve been to Milsoms many times and the food is always excellent. 
You do have to take your own order - write it down on the paper supplied and take it to the bar but I don’t have a big issue with this. As a waitress myself I can understand the reasoning especially for larger tables. It allows you to order at your own pace and you never feel rushed. It does, however, take away from the dining experience somewhat as you’re unable to build any rapport with your waiting staff. 
The food is excellent, although, over the years the prices have increased while the portion sizes have decreased. Again, as someone in the industry, I can appreciate the increase in suppliers costs however as the prices increase I would’ve appreciated a step up in service (having someone take your order would be nice) 
I will still leave 5* as the service we did receive from bar staff and attentiveness of the wait staff when clearing is brilliant. 
My only complaint is that you can’t book a table and I find myself arriving earlier than I’m really wanting to, just to secure a table for the evening. 
Overall very happy evening and I will continue to dine at all the Milsom restaurants 

Excellent overall

We went as part of a 50th birthday treat. Firstly, the restaurant (although lovely and staff were great) they served my soup with a hair in it.  When replaced it was cold. Then the hotel was badly cleaned and dated and kept the fire door open between our rooms - which is a safety and security risk. The rooms are not soundproofed as the noise from the rooms upstairs throughout the night kept us awake. There was no room service and when we finally had breakfast the next morning, it was only the warm plates that heated a poor breakfast. We complained and was promised a partial refund. However, after more than 6 weeks and several chasers, we're still waiting and therefore feel obligated to let everyone know how bad the whole experience was.

A 50th birthday ruined by overall experience

Friendly and helpful reception staff. Spacious car park. Room was clean, adequately appointed and sufficient for our needs during our one night stay. Enjoyed the full English breakfast the next morning. 

Overnight stay and Breakfast

We have been coming to Milsoms for many years, and always enjoy it. We had fathers day lunch here today, and it was a lovely relaxed lunch, but felt a few things need tweaking, especially at this price point.
The waiting staff are (in the main) pretty sullen, and the service standards have dropped. 
There was a really long wait for starters (all cold) and between courses, which was fine but for anyone with you g children could be tricky.
The starters and side dishes seem to have shrunk... 3/4 spears of tenderstem broccoli for 4.95...!?
The food itself is lovely, and it's a great relaxed setting. We always enjoy coming, but feel it just needs a bit of attention to make it great!

A few tweaks required...

Like all the Milsoms places it is a really nice venue.  Well kept and smart.

My complaint is the service, or lack thereof. You have to write your own order, take it to the counter, wait at the counter, once you get someone's attention you can also order a drink.  

The food is good, but as there is no real waiting staff the dirty plates just sit there in front of you. 

I understand that it's cheaper to not have waiting staff but it's damaging your excellent brand. 

Also, don't suggest a tip on payment when you have had to do everything yourself (unless I get the tip).

Nice place but DIY

If this is a four star hotel you would have thought good customer service in the restaurant. Food good but expensive for what you get. Be prepared to do all the work, take your order on a piece of paper to the counter after getting up to find the menus . No contact with waiting staff during meal whatsoever. Ask for plates to be cleared away then get up again to get your dessert and coffee selection and take your handwritten order to the counter again. Oh and when you have finished you have to go to the counter to pay with an option to leave service. What for? Would not return in a rush!

Where's your customer service 

We’ve been visiting Paul and his team for over 30 years. Never disappoints.

As a stop over when we return to the area ( we now live in Cheshire) this is one of our “go to” places. 

Milsoms gives you friendly casual accommodation and food. Loverly atmosphere.

Good parking as were were travelling with a substantial trailer en route to Goodwood. Parking was not an issue to these guys.

Enjoyed the “pit stop”

Quick pit stop

Very disappointed lovely place starters duck tacos were lovely fish and chips were nice but beetroot arancins tasty but for a main more like a starter and over priced the Shepard’s pie was tasteless and the meat grisly yuk the mint sauce was awful looked like jelly such a shame as we were all looking forward to going on a lovely sunny day at £96 pounds for three we won’t bother again thank goodness we had a voucher

Disappointed

Really poor food. Dishes that should be easy to bring to life were greasy, poorly cooked dry with no flair or style. We had a range of starters and treated them like small plates. Sardines (OK) spinach parcels over cooked and dry, humus, taramasalata with pitta(well who could mess that up ( dismally dollop of both) Calamari (swimming in grease), chunky chips, dry and overcooked, covered in fat and a bottle of Rosé, Total £74 (not including the 12.5% they want to slap on your bill, when the waitress doesn’t even take your order and you have to write your meal choice on a pad and hand it in. So 12.5% for delivering your plates to the table!!! Needless to say didn’t pay the tip and will never return. Very, very average, its trying to be something it’s definitely not and grossly overpriced!

Milsoms

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