Giggling Squid in Basildon

Extremely expensive and adding service in the bill was extra to much, as the service was terrible. If I knew I wouldn't of come, when you see the word Generous In the menu listen to my voice in your ear, generous portion in this place means Huge plates microscopic portion.Food tasted nice but honestly not as nice as the £££ price.

Had such a wonderful date night meal here. The cocktails are absolutely delicious!!!We had starters, mains and dessert, everything came quickly and well presented. I ordered the Royal fish curry, unfortunately it came too spicy for me, but the staff quickly assisted and sent it back to chef who remade it less spicy, so I could enjoy. It tasted wonderful! I will definitely return as such fantastic service and atmosphere! Thank you!

The food ,the atmosphere ,customer service was 10/10 .From the minute we step into the restaurant until we left ,just perfect and we gonna come back very soon !

Very overpriced for what it is. Very disappointing too. Our second visit. I recall 1st time it wasn't great. Wife booked it again (Doh!). So, you never know if it's improved. Starters were fine. Recommend the Salt and Pepper Squid. Main course, not great. Expensive when you add on extras to make a meal of it. Avoid the 'Crying Steak'. Not a great cut. Two chews and swallow, otherwise it will just go round and round in your mouth as you try to tenderise it. It was bland too. I asked for hot. I was told it comes with a side sauce. On arrival I asked if this was the side sauce (pointing). The chap said 'yes, it's very hot. Be careful'. I threw it on. No. It wasn't hot. Boring. Had some noodles with beansprouts to accompany. Bland. Literally noodles and beansprouts stir-fried. No seasoning or life added to it. Just oily. Dull and lacking. I think we've exhausted this place. Service is slow and frankly, not great value for money. It's popular though, so makes me wonder how other people have lived. Maybe I'm too used to London life? Funniest thing was we had a kid in our group. They gave the kid a complimentary colouring in/word search sheet to amuse them. On asking for a complimentary pencil for the kid we were told it wasn't possible. COVID rules. Like, why bother???Edit: Following my last review the Giggling Squid team offered us a £40 e-voucher to entice us to return. So, why not? See if things are better. It was a quieter time this time around visiting us, but again can't say one was overwhelmed by what we were served. One of the dishes we went for was the signature 'sticky chicken' (?). This was a real puzzle. It seemed like it was just battered fried chicken. It wasn't sweet nor sticky. Something was wrong there. The rest frankly is all a bit overpriced for what it was. Final bill +£70 for two: 2 starters. 3 main dishes (not great portions). 1 rice. 1 beer and bottle of water. No deserts.For the same price we visited The Raj (Indian Restaurant, not far away), and got a much more substantial and tastier meal that included starters, mains, loads of sides and deserts and drinks! We'll go again here.Anyway, shouldn't grumble seeing they subbed this meal with the £40 e-voucher. I can't really increase my original star rating so one star it remains. Won't go there again.

Giggling Squid hosted Mums 60th and they made the event run so smoothly. The waiting staff are so helpful and accommodating. The chefs are doing a great job serving fresh, fast and tasty food. I would definitely recommend. The new interior is very pretty.

Absolutely adore the Giggling Squid. The dishes are SO flavourful and there are plenty of options to pick from! Love the mix of a tapas style meal or a personal main. The atmosphere is nice here and the staff are lovely!

Not often you visit a restaurant and can't find a fault!We arrived to a really warm welcome from a very enthusiastic receptionist who took us to our table. The drink selection is good with a great choice of beer and wine.The drinks arrived quickly and a serving staff member was always close by to attend to us. When we were ready to order the server was knowledgeable about the dishes on the menu and spoke about them with confidence.We had pork dumplings and pork skewers (moo ping) to start which was fantastic.The mains were equally tasty (crying beef) and prawn dishes and noodles.It's impossible to put down in writing how tasty a meal is but this is one of the best I've had.The portions size was good and at the correct temperature.This is a covid aware restaurant with ample sanitisation station's.Just outside there is disabled parking and a gentle ramp for wheelchair users.Makes a really tasty change to boxing day roast and best of all no cooking or washing up.We will definitely be returning for another fantastic meal.

We had such a great experience here this evening, and although we've been to this location before, this was easily our best visit ever. The service, food at atmosphere was fantastic. We were in an out within an hour and a half and every part of the meal was fantastic. The starters we tried, prawn crackers, pork dumplings and salt and pepper squid, were all cooked to perfection and the flavours were excellent. We then had the duck confit with sticky rice and the butterfly prawn pad thai. Even the dessert, which was jasmine and rice ice cream and black sesame ice cream, was lovely and such a nice finish to the meal. The old fashioned had a great twist too with a lemony finish. Wonderful evening and can't wait to return!

Fantastic food, fantastic presentation, fantastic customer service.Even their take away containers was 💯 Lol. Also very well priced and affordable.Already looking forward to going back again😋

Absolutely the best food, I have ever had!!! I never knew existed. Amazing!!!! The lady there named Sal, she is truly so lovely, helpful, friendly and made our experience so nice, I will be a frequent customer now!!!!