When I was younger, my idea of an ideal restaurant was one that served tasty grub, lots of it, no fuss and quick service and was inexpensive. That has changed over time, for while I still look for good food, I am less bothered about quantity and am happy to pay more if I am looked after within a pleasantly ambient setting, appreciating exceptional service and presentation. While it is not quite in the posh and pretentious category (as opposed to cheap and cheerful) Tomassi’s fits the bill nicely and is a firm family favourite, long appreciating its traditional English and fish/seafood bias.

We have visited Tomassi’s restaurant, situated near the sea front, in Southend High Street (see here for their website), many times over the years, and yesterday the occasion rose for a family revisit, given we had visitors and we thought it nice to eat out (all seven of us). As always, there was a debate that precedes – where to go? After all, in the spirit of adventure, there are many other decent eating venues in the City, some pretty recent to open and yet untried. But Tomassi’s got the nod as an old favourite and, importantly, disabled friendly. In addition to being a nice place to visit, we were reminded it would be on Valentine’s day and what better setting to express love!

So yesterday, midday, we all descended onto Tomassi’s (parking in the Royals opposite), which already was fairly full with a large proportion of those I would put in the old dear, regular bracket. As veteran visitors, we knew what to expect, and were not disappointed, looked after by our busy, helpful, welcoming, attentive, efficient waitress, who served our order perfectly, amazing us with her ability to remember exactly what we ordered. We could have skipped the starter but decided to go for it, ordering from a range of tempting, sea dominated, choices. Our drink order ranged from a cup of tea to house white wine, ginger beer and cola, along with plain water.

I confess, that over the years, I have one particular main favourite – skate in brown butter and new potatoes. Having decided to go along with their mis-understanding of petit pois, I also ordered peas with carrots as my side dish. Two of my companions ordered the same. Three ordered steak, ranging from rare to well done. One ordered chicken roast. All arrived in perfect time and we were pleased with what was served us – with nothing left over when we had eaten.

A visit to Tomassi’s would be incomplete without sampling one of their famous ice creams. I went for their Eton Mess and my companions chose from other ice cream offerings and sticky toffee pudding. We spent in all a pleasant couple of hours at Tomassi’s, pleased with our re-visit and look forward to our next one.

Update 08/05/25

I had an experience following my visit that caused me to change my mind on whether Tomassi’s has that favoured status as a place to bring friends and family. After posting this, a friend who I respect told her story of visiting with her friends, one of which had an allergy. She felt they were unsympathetic to their needs and said she wouldn’t return. It seemed to me that one of their strengths – doing things in a set and precise way was also a weakness. It happened when I went, I took a friend who had Parkinsons. On the way from the Royals car park, he had a fall and we were helped by the kind security staff to get to our destination that was just opposite the Royals complex. I was all for calling off our outing as I also have a problem with mobility and felt unable to cope helping my friend back to the car park after. But he insisted and we went and enjoyed the pleasant enough occasion. I asked Tomassi’s staff if someone could help see us to the car park and was turned down by Anthony (the owner), I get why BUT it was a request made out of desperation and one that I would not have made if there was another way to get from restaurant to car park without the risk of falling over. I am pretty sure that some from a less salubrious establishment would have gone that extra mile given the circumstances, besides being a loyal customer. The matter did get resolved but it has made me think twice whether to invite folk to Tomassi’s in the future.