This place is really nothing special, and trades off its association with Jamie Oliver. I am sure it does well because lots of people try it out, just for this reason. Its success is totally undeserved however. The waitresses are rubbish (managing at the same time to be unprofessional, and unable to get the balance right between ignoring you and being over attentive in an interfering way. Quite a skill). The food was not by any stretch of the imagination great: my starter, the Goats cheese crotin and cranberry tart, seemed like a 5 year old had put it together - simply loads of cranberry sauce inside a thin flan crust and a dollop of cheese on top. THAT'S ALL. My main course was luke warm, and tasteless. I had the roast lamb - no gravy. Well that isn't a cardinal sin, but it really had no flavour, so it could have done with some gravy. OK there was something that passed for home made mint sauce, but there was so little of it, and it barely tasted of mint. All of our party complained about the roast potatoes - they just were not very good. We had a number of great roast potato cooks in our party! All in all, a load of rubbish. On the way there, we stopped off at the Cricketers Arms in Rickling Green, which the Cricketers website points out you mustn't confuse it with (directions-wise). I truly wish we'd eaten there, as it had a much nicer ambience and was in a better setting, overlooking the circket green in the middle of the village. I for one will not be returning to the Cricketers in Clavering. Ever.

We visited the Cricketers on Thursday the 21st May to celebrate my parent’s 25th wedding anniversary. This being a special occasion we chose the Cricketers because of the reputation it upholds as the pub where TV Chef Jamie Oliver lived and we were sure we would have a nice meal with good service. Unfortunately we were thoroughly disappointed.
Upon arrival we were greeted and shown to our table which was not only squashed into a corner with other diners sitting very close behind us but was overcrowded with cutlery and wobbled every time one of us moved slightly. We were presented with menus, one of which did not include a main course page, and asked if we would like to order some drinks. The menu seemed too pretentious for an English pub with old classics teamed together with fussy garnishes that did not seem to complement the main aspect of the meal. It was hard to decide which meal to choose from this extensive menu and I have to ask what is wrong with simple honest home cooked ‘pub grub’?
We were given our drinks and half a basket of bread which seemed as if it had been moved from another customers table who had not eaten it all and we ordered our meals. The starters were okay but for £8.95 not up to the standard I expected. As if it could not get any worse the main course arrived. I had ordered a plain steak with salad and new potatoes and had asked for it to be cooked rare my father had also asked for a steak, my mother ordered Shepherd’s pie and my brother ordered pork. To my disappointment my steak was not rare but medium well and my salad was drenched in sickly sweet vinaigrette the potatoes were over cooked and tasted as if they had been reheated. My father’s steak was very rare despite having asked for it to be cooked medium, the Shepherd’s pie was dry through a lack of gravy in the meat and the mashed potato on top was dry. Throughout the meal our empty glasses were not cleared from our table this teamed with the amount of vegetables, potatoes and chips we had been presented with made the table overcrowded and hard for us to eat our meals, not once were we asked if we wanted any more drinks and we were not even asked if everything was okay with our food thus not giving us chance to send anything back. We did not eat all of our food as we were disappointed with the taste and the way things had been cooked and when the waitress came to clear our table she criticised us for not eating the entire meal stating that the potatoes were lovely and we should have eaten them warning us that she would put them in a doggy bag if we were not careful! If that wasn’t enough as she cleared the remaining plates she proceeded to spill oil from the plates onto the table and over my jeans without even a backwards glance or an apology, she did not even seem to notice she had done it.
She came back with dessert menus as she finally cleared a few of the empty glasses that were still on the table. She gave us two minutes to look at the menu before she returned asking if it was hot in the restaurant of if it was just her, a little over familiar conversation to be having with customers she had only just met. Not giving us chance to look at the menus she stayed at the table talking about how hot her feet were taking one of them out of her shoe to show us her sock!
At this point I was getting more and more angry, I had been willing to overlook the poor meal and the spillage of the oil not wanting to spoil the occasion by complaining however this evening had been a disaster.
The bill came to £104 and had we not complained we would have had to have paid this amount for a bad meal and terrible service. I would not recommend this pub as a good place to eat and will definitely not be going back. Perhaps Jamie should return to his roots and show the inexperienced staff how it is done.

I went to this pub on a busy Friday lunchtime in April. Despite being made to feel we were lucky to get a table (we hadn't booked), they showed us into a large room which was completely empty. The old part of the building is quite characterful, but overall, the pub seemed large and rambling, as if it had been endlessly extended off the back of its publicity from Jamie Oliver. The clientele was mainly of retirement age, although that might be a reflection of the fact we went on a weekday lunchtime.

The food was average, if not disappointing. The menu was quite extensive but old favourties seemed to have a mediterranean twist to them that seemed to jar. This 'italian twist' seems a little bit dated now and there is much to celebrate British food, as shown by a wealth of more recent entries into the pub food/restaurant market. After deliberating over a roasted cod on spagetti with brown crab and chilli, I decided to have a more substantial 21 day hung sirloin steak with mushrooms and chilli/truffle scrambled egg on a bed of watercress salad, the most expensive thing on the menu at £19.50. On ordering, I was also given a barage of options of chips of new potatoes, salad or veg, mixed leaves or rocket and parmesan. This sort of needless choice is never a good sign and I heard the waiter reel it off to several tables in automated fashion to the amusement of several diners! Anyway, perhaps naively, and having read some of the positive press on this place, I thought that the steak was a creative take on the usual offering and expected something special. Alas, I got a meagre sized piece of steak (albeit cooked to my liking with quite a nice flavour) on a piece of rubbery overcooked egg mixed with unrecognisable, watery mushrooms and a few wilted pieces of watercress. I had at least expected a loosely cooked scrambled egg, rather than something coming close to a broken up omlette. The side salad was over complicated and drenched in a sweet vinegrette dressing. However, the chips were very good. My boyfriends cheese and ham sandwich was decidely average and at nearly £5, we could have probably done better in a cafe down the road.

Service was also lacking with the owner (lady), rushing round as if she was struggling to cope (perhaps that is why the food was so poor). I heard the next door table have a slight altercation with her over the way she put down the food on their table and giving the wrong dish to the wrong person, although to be fair she did apologise later, clearly realising she had overreacted. She barely gave a smile to us, and when I asked for some sauces, it seemed like we were asking for the earth.

In summary, I was hugely disappointed with this place. The service was poor, the food was average and the ambience was like a rustic old peoples home. Having been to many other country pubs in the surrounding area, I think Essex has much better to offer and this place should up its game. Moving away from the Jamie Oliver brand might be a good start.

We had a fantastic meal at The Cricketers today. It was very busy and we were lucky to get the last table, so you would need to book.

We sampled Spaghetti Bolognese and Steak and Kidney pie and the kids had pasta meals.

All were reasonably priced, and the quality fantastic, plenty on the plate, and lovely cosy atmosphere.

Only setback was no baby changing facilities.

Would definately go back.

A very pretentious, snobby place and not at all child friendly. If you are not middle-class or above the waiting staff look down their noses at you and god help you if you have anything other than a cut glass accent, Essex boy accents (a la Jamie Oliver) prompt raised eyebrows from the staff.

Food was ok but over-rated and over-priced.

Will not be returning.