Harbour View Bistro & Bar in Maldon

Lovely food, good selection of beers, fine views. Recommended.

The food was amazing, we were a party of 8 and had a mixture of dishes; some seafood some not. All were delicious and beautifully presented. Staff were friendly and efficient happy to wait while we dithered over the menu. Definitely recommend.

We had lunch at this restaurant on Monday 16 August. It looks over Tollesbury marina and has friendly young staff. Whilst my father in law (92) was happy with his haddock and chip special, my husband and I did not enjoy our shared seafood platter. The prawns, cockles, mussels and crayfish were all extremely watery and tasteless, as if they had been frozen. We asked the waitress to check this with the chef and she confirmed everything had been freshly prepared that day or the day before and kept in the fridge overnight. We did not finish the platter, paid up and left but felt increasingly unwell as the day wore on. I contacted the chef about the matter and after my second attempt he replied that 'the seafood items either come in fresh or frozen' - which confirms our suspicions.I appreciate that Monday is not the best day to eat fresh fish, but this is a waterside restaurant, and the seafood platter a regular feature of the menu. If it is not possible to have fresh produce on a Monday then it should not be on the menu.

It was delicious, been a long time since I went out to eat and the service was great. Food was given promptly, the waiters were very attentive and it never seemed like there was a disruption during our meal and conversations.

Nice and friendly quick service tasty food beautiful views. Definitely worth a visit and will be going again.

The Harbour View cafe bistro has an elevated view across the harbour and if there is a very high tide it is reached via a single track lane through the ship yard at the rear of the bistro. The food is Essex pub style but the haddock and chips is great, the seafood platter is mundane.

Disappointing, however the view from Bistro was excellent, but the food was at best just about OK. The fish and chips with mushy peas not good at all because the fish, Haddock albeit frozen (no big deal over that) it was not very nice, the texture was not good either, it was soft mushy and not flakey at all. More like something from the freezer section at a store. Not good for a bistro which advertises its a good fish place by the sea. My steak and kidney pudding was nice, full and filling but overall as a family lunch time, meals for 4, half of us were really disappointed, the other half just about OK. Pretty average food overall sorry. I usually tip as well at least 10% but I didn't bother this time as service charge was already added which no one told us about until the bill came and for a small Bistro like this I thought it was a bit unnecessary. We thought we would support somewhere to help out (although eat out to help out has stopped). Sorry but we won't be back shame as the harbour is very pretty. On the plus side the service was quick, the staff polite but as my son pointed out we were practically the only ones in there. A poor 3 as I nearly scored it a 2. Sorry Harbour View, almost a thumbs down from us, almost.

Beautiful place and location. Food was great and people were friendly. Tucked away and peaceful. The only reason I gave 4 stars was because the food is a little on the expensive side and I probably waited 20 minutes stood at the bar just to order food when there were only two other people at the bar. Generally very pleased. Worth a visit even if it's a one off.

Very pleasant here, we had been recommended by Friends, who had told us about the lovely Roast Dinner.Unfortunately they don't do Roast in the Summer, but there was a lovely Fish Menu and a lot of Specials!We had a good meal, bottle of Wine and some Beers and spent a very pleasant lunchtime!

Delicious seafood platter, followed by warm waffle and a latte. Happy, friendly service with a great view over the marina across to Mersea.