Simply Blues, Leigh-on-Sea

The restaurant, (SIMPLY BLUES) is really playing on the theme of American diner to the limit. It is really quite a scruffy, tired looking restaurant with a few pictures and posters on the wall to try to give atmosphere. It is small, with few tables, so any group over about 4 people become squashed together, with everyone needing to get up to allow someone to use the toilet etc. The food on the whole was ok, but overpriced for what you get. Our total bill for 14 people, including 3 childrens meals, came to about £320. Considering that only 3 of our number actually had any alcohol at all, and the rest drank water or juice, the drinks were quite expensive. Staff refused to seperate bills for individual families, and only supplied an itemised bill for the whole group, which we then had to sort out ourselves. Drinks could not be payed for at the bar. The final bill did not have our original deposit taken off, so we had to ask for a new bill. It also included a service charge of £28, which we ended up arguing over, because it was not mentioned beforehand, or mentioned on the menu. Perhaps the worst part,was that before we had even eaten dessert, they were closing the place up, and turning the lights off, at about 10pm. Not somewhere I will be returning to in the future. You can get better service and food at most pub restaurants for under half the price.

Someone recomended Simply Blues to me. They said if you liked meat and BBQ ribs this was the place to go. Whenever I drive past in the evening after work there always seemed to be plenty of people hanging around outside smoking, so I thought i'd give it a try. My 14 year old likes her ribs, so I booked a table early one Sunday evening. Once inside the restaurant I felt that the place looked tierd and dated, it did give me a hint of what was to come...I should have left then!

The staff were very friendly, and fairly attentive, but we were the only ones there. My husband and I ordered the potato skins for starters, my daughter had the nachos. The presentation was very poor and lacked any creativity, infact my first thought was it looks like they've gone to Iceland next door bought a ready meal and a packet of crisps, and thrown them together on a plate! Starving we knocked back the first course. I was hoping the best was yet to come!

I ordered the half ribs and half chicken with curly fries. I did quite enjoy the ribs, you didnt have to eat them with your fingers, and they were quite meaty, the chicken was ok but it could have been a bigger portion, the curly fries again looked as if they were from Iceland and I didn't eat them. My husband had the fillet steak with a jacket potato,and a salad on the side. I think this was the cheaper steak option at around £12-£13. When his meal came out I asked him where is steak was, we found it hiding under a fairly large mushroom! The jacket potato, he couldn't eat because it was stale, probably cooked a few days earlier, and the side salad was very uninspiring. My daughter had the half rack of ribs with chips. She enjoyed the ribs but the chips were dissapointing. My daughter finished off with the Oreo cheesecake, which she didnt actually finish, because she said it tasted stale. Altogether my husband had 4 pints of beer, and my daughter and I had 3 diet cokes. When we finaly got the bill we went into shock. The whole effort came to a little over £75.00!! I could have produced that whole meal for probably not more than £15.00 from Iceland. Suffice to say I WILL NOT be a returning customer!!

Having visited simply blues, I never left the resturant hungry, there is always plenty of food served on a dish so you will never go hungry! The service was great, the staff members were so enthusiastic and friendly, There is limted amount of space, so it is advisable to reserve a booking.

This place is an institution!, Its been open 30 years and has survived by most restaurants in the area. We NEVER leave hungry, the food seems to get better over the years. Service is always there and the staff are so enthusiastic (so many birthdays!)massive portions and child friendly, no downstairs toilet though, only gripe really is, took a couple of weeks to get the time we wanted to reserve on a Saturday nite and its busy,fast and can be loud.no good if your looking for a quiet romantic dinner for two over 3 hours

Having been to the simply blues in hornchurch dozens of times we booked the leigh restraunt for a large family meal. The table was booked for 10. When we arrived it was set for 9. Not a big deal but the disinterested attitude of the staff for sorting it out should have been the first warning. The service was awful. We had to search for the waitress and on more than one occasion we were left for 10 minutes or more with no drinks. Then once we were halfway through our meal we were told the table had been booked for after us and basically hurried up to finish our meal ( something we weren't told when we booked). Then when we settled the bill my wife who had weeks before paid a £50 deposit to book the table had to have a stand up row with the manager to get it taken off the bill as the resteraunt had 'lost' the booking reciept and pretty much accused my wife of lying. To be honest the food was ok and I have no complaints about it. But the service was really, truly awful and I shan't be going back to the leigh 'simply blues' or recommending it to anyone.

Me and my family used to go to Simply Blues for every birthday occasion, and we loved it more and more we visited, the staff were brilliant and food was delicious!!

We haven't been for about a year and went 30th April 2010, it seems it has new management (who criticised the old management) .... The food was extremeley poor, to which it seemed like microwaved food, the staff were even worse and laughed at the fact we questioned the food... When we asked who the manager was one of the staff laughed and suggested it was her, we asked her to come over and she laughed again and said 'he's the manager really' ... We weas disgusted by the treatment we were receiving, we was clearly irratated already and she just made things worse. I cannot see this place lasting long as its appauling since being taken over by new management!!

0 out of 5 stars for this!!

I used to dine here regularly in my twenties, you generally had to book in advance for a weekend booking although they would always go out of their way to accomodate you if at all possible.

The cocktails were to die for and you could always pop in for a quick drink.

The atmosphere was fun and catered for all ages. Typical American dining but some lovely alternatives for those not wanting burgers, ribs or steak .Also mouth watering desserts. Fast forward twenty years and surprise, surprise the place is still going strong.

I took my niece aged 10 and my Friday night booking was made in advance. The food was good and the atmosphere was lively. I think it say's a lot for a place if it;s still pulling in the crowd's after so many years.

No it's not five star cuisine, but there again it is what it say's it is...Good old fashioned American Dining.

Good luck to them

I used to dine here in my twenty's and fast forward another twenty years and surprise, surprise it is as good as ever. Of course it isn't 5 star dining. It's good old fashioned American dining with some lovely alternatives for those not in to burgers, ribs and steak. They do some mouth watering deserts, the food is good quality, well presented and oh, they make the most amazing cocktails.

It's a fine, lively atmosphere and caters for all ages.

Make sure you phone in advance for a weekend booking or large group booking.

Visited Simply Blues on 30th October. Service was slow and food substandard and overpriced in my opinion. Baby ribs were served with what looked like a dog bowl for the bones! Burger was overcooked on one side and not cooked the other. Even my 10 year old son complained so much so he did not want to stay and preferred to have his dessert at home.

I thought the food at Simply Blues was nothing special, my ribs were quite tough and no finger bowl or extra napkin was supplied given that the ribs were smothered in sticky sauce.We had to chase up a starter that got forgotten. They could have sold us a lot more drinks but we got fed up trying to order more.Pretty disappointing as this used to be a good place to eat.