Myself and my partner (who is French) are frequent diners at the Cote Brasserie in Chelmsford and have been impressed and delighted with our visits.
We have thought long and hard therefore about presenting this negative review.
Here goes.
On Saturday 10th August we selected the Côte de Boeuf from the a la carte menu at 18,95 per person (for two to share). Having often eaten this meal at restaurants in France we anticipated a pleasant culinary experience.
However, we were truly disappointed to find that the meat was sliced far too thickly and was almost impossible to chew (remnants from chewing littered the plate afterwards). We preferred not to make a fuss and complain at the time, because the restaurant was very full and busy. So we paid up and left.
We discussed our thoughts afterwards and after a few days decided to write this review.
The Côte de Boeuf is described as a chargrilled 22oz aged rib-eye steak,
served sliced off the bone, with frites and béarnaise sauce.
Côte de Boeuf not only implies BEEF, as does STEAK, but it is entirely expected to be just that and that only. This "rib-eye steak, served sliced off the bone" at 22 oz included a huge bone which probably represented a quarter of the stated weight. Furthermore, we are suspicious that what we were actually served was a far inferior product, namely ZEBU.
The high standards enjoyed in our previous visits to the Cote Brasserie were substantially eroded by this poor quality, and very expensive meal.