Essex Meet - 17th March 2011 - New Venue
Discussion
Hi Guys.
Anyone who understands that cars and bikes are NOT just for getting from A to B, will be welcome at the 8 Ball. Our kitchen and our menu have been undergoing changes to make everyone's visit to the Diner a good experience. Our background is cars, not catering, but we are learning fast. We could do food cheaper. Also, we could do cheaper food... not free range eggs, not local farm bacon and sausages etc, not quality fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. But we want to be the best, not the cheapest.
However Egg and beans on toast, on our past pricing policy, would have been £2.25. Sausage, Bacon, Hash Browns, Egg, beans and toast £4.50. Of course, if you want 12 items on your plate, it's going to get more expensive. We are car people. we have put all our time and money into a diner for other car people.
We are working on everything to make the place better and better. We have been advised (local authority eho)that the kitchen, with minor 'paperwork/procedural'tweaks, should earn us a four star rating by their next visit. And the new menu will be out in about a week. Set breakfasts with fixed prices are included
I hope we get the time and support we need to achieve the standards which we ourselves are certainly aiming for.
Anyone who understands that cars and bikes are NOT just for getting from A to B, will be welcome at the 8 Ball. Our kitchen and our menu have been undergoing changes to make everyone's visit to the Diner a good experience. Our background is cars, not catering, but we are learning fast. We could do food cheaper. Also, we could do cheaper food... not free range eggs, not local farm bacon and sausages etc, not quality fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. But we want to be the best, not the cheapest.
However Egg and beans on toast, on our past pricing policy, would have been £2.25. Sausage, Bacon, Hash Browns, Egg, beans and toast £4.50. Of course, if you want 12 items on your plate, it's going to get more expensive. We are car people. we have put all our time and money into a diner for other car people.
We are working on everything to make the place better and better. We have been advised (local authority eho)that the kitchen, with minor 'paperwork/procedural'tweaks, should earn us a four star rating by their next visit. And the new menu will be out in about a week. Set breakfasts with fixed prices are included
I hope we get the time and support we need to achieve the standards which we ourselves are certainly aiming for.
After hearing about the 8 Ball Diner on this site I thought I'd pop in the other day as we were on our way to a weekend do and needed feeding, since you're inviting feedback here are my thoughts.
Since we were heading South we had to get off the A12 at witham and double back but we nearly didn't as the missus said the place looked shut, she obviously missed the huge OPEN signs but it was still hard to tell from the road, I think you might get more passing trade if there was a bit more signage beforehand and more signs of life from within.
The sliproad is very short, not a problem on a Friday lunchtime but I'd imagine if you have a meet on there's a very good chance that you're going to get queueing traffic on the A12, that would be a bad thing and would soon attract hassle from the authorities, I presume you have marshalling on meet nights but what will you do when the carpark fills up? Similarly the on-slip is non existant and it might be worth mentioning this on your website and what people should do if the carpark is full.
For the full on American diner experience you really need to be greeted when you walk in by a busty peroxide blonde in pink rayon (it's asking a lot I know!) However it would've been nice for someone to have said hello, told us about the specials, got a drinks order straight away, that sort of thing.
I know the menu is under constant review but we were about to leave when we read that the American menu wasn't available at lunchtime, I could've hugged the serving lad when he told us burgers were available!
The breakfast menu was just too much choice and I'd have preferred an all day breakfast for a set price but with extras available.
The food when it came was very good, the chilli was especially nice and the burgers were spot on, I would've preferred french fries rather than chunky chips but on the whole it was pretty good and lunch for four came in at under £40.
I liked the decor, loos were clean, I'm looking forward to going back for one of the car meets, I reckon that this is something that the area has been lacking for a while and with a bit of support and encouragement it should be a big success!
Cheers
Dave
Since we were heading South we had to get off the A12 at witham and double back but we nearly didn't as the missus said the place looked shut, she obviously missed the huge OPEN signs but it was still hard to tell from the road, I think you might get more passing trade if there was a bit more signage beforehand and more signs of life from within.
The sliproad is very short, not a problem on a Friday lunchtime but I'd imagine if you have a meet on there's a very good chance that you're going to get queueing traffic on the A12, that would be a bad thing and would soon attract hassle from the authorities, I presume you have marshalling on meet nights but what will you do when the carpark fills up? Similarly the on-slip is non existant and it might be worth mentioning this on your website and what people should do if the carpark is full.
For the full on American diner experience you really need to be greeted when you walk in by a busty peroxide blonde in pink rayon (it's asking a lot I know!) However it would've been nice for someone to have said hello, told us about the specials, got a drinks order straight away, that sort of thing.
I know the menu is under constant review but we were about to leave when we read that the American menu wasn't available at lunchtime, I could've hugged the serving lad when he told us burgers were available!
The breakfast menu was just too much choice and I'd have preferred an all day breakfast for a set price but with extras available.
The food when it came was very good, the chilli was especially nice and the burgers were spot on, I would've preferred french fries rather than chunky chips but on the whole it was pretty good and lunch for four came in at under £40.
I liked the decor, loos were clean, I'm looking forward to going back for one of the car meets, I reckon that this is something that the area has been lacking for a while and with a bit of support and encouragement it should be a big success!
Cheers
Dave
Alex L said:
It is £0.75 per item, so 1 rasher of bacon = £0.75 by the time you've specced a reasonable breakfast it's quite expensive
I'd like to add that the breakfast was very good and have been back so the prices haven't put me off.In response to the post above, advance signage on the A12 will be almost impossible unless can find a friendly land owner further south willing to house a sign on their land by way of a Licence. I don't think it can be classified as a services and if it could the best you would get is a knife and fork symbol
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