Whether you are feeling the pinch and need a cheap meal for your family or you want to enjoy the treat of a meal out with your children there is a great range of restaurants with offers on over the Easter school holidays. ASDA continues to have the best deal with children's meals costing £1 each and no adult purchase. Most other restaurants require an adult meal to be purchased for every free or reduced price children's meal. 

I have searched through all the restaurants offering Easter holiday deals to find the ones that have branches in Essex and are running the offer over Essex Easter holiday dates. Below you can find the conditions of the offers and I have listed the locations you can find them in Essex. 

It's worth noting many of the shops and restaurants are closed on Easter Sunday 31st March.

Eat out for less in Essex this half term

If you know of any small businesses with special offers on please let me know (you can email or add a comment to this post).

Many of the offers below end on at the end of the Easter holidays some of them are ongoing so you can save money eating out all year. 

What To Check Before Eating Out On Kids Eat Cheap Offers

• Check the days and hours of the offer as these all vary.
• Some restaurants require you to order via an app, sign up to their loyalty scheme, prebook or have a voucher. Make sure you give yourself enough time to do this before visiting. 
• The maximum age of children ranges from 10 to 16. If your child is 10 or over it might be worth bringing their passport in case you are asked to prove their age,
• Check how many children can eat on the offer if you have multiple children as most are only one meal for every one adult eating.
• Check what the qualifying adult meal or spend needs to be.

Where possible I have included this information below, but it can vary between locations and is subject to change. It is always worth calling the restaurant and checking before you order to make sure you don't get an unexpected surprise when it's time to pay. 

Where Can Kids Eat For Free In Essex This Easter?

Bella Italia

Kids eat free every Thursday and for £1 between 4-6pm Sunday to Wednesday.
Dates: This is an ongoing offer.
Food: Italian, mainly pasta and pizza. Adult mains cost roughly £12 to £17.
Conditions: One free child offer per adult main meal ordered. Children get 3 courses and a drink, with different portion sizes available depending on appetite. Suitable for children age 2 to 11.
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon, Lakeside.
More info here.

Bill’s Restaurants 

Up to 2 kids eat free from children’s menu if an adult orders a main dish (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Dates: Weekdays 25th March to 12th April.
Food: Cafe food like pasta, burger and fish fingers. Adult meals cost roughly £15 to £20.
Conditions: Up to 2 children can order if an adult orders a main dish. Child must be 10 or under. Drinks not included. Not running on weekends.
Where to find them in Essex: Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester
More info here.

Franco Manca 

Under 12s get a free kids pizza for every full price adult meal.
Dates: No dates mentioned, looks like it's ongoing.
Food: Franco Manca is a pizza restaurant. The free kids meal is a small pizza from a choice of 4. Doesn't include drink or dessert. Adults main meals (which are pizza or salad) are £9 to £12.
Conditions: One free pizza per full price adults main meal. Children must be 12 or under.
Where to find in Essex: Bishops Stortford (arguably Hertfordshire I appreciate).
More info here.

Las Iguanas

Free kid's meal if you join My Iguanas loyalty programme.
Dates: Ongoing (no end date stated).
Food: Latin American food like fajita, burrito as well as burgers and brazillian curries. Kids meals include tacos, chilli, fish fingers and nuggets with rice, fries, salad or vegertables and ice cream, churros or brownie for dessert. Adult main meals range from £14 to £27.
Conditions: When you join My Iguanas (via the app or website) you can get "perks" including free kids meals. You can get one kid's meal with each adult ordering a main course from the a la carte menu. Kids meals includes main, 2 sides and dessert. Under 12s only
Where to find in Essex: Chelmsford and Lakeside.
More info here. 

Morrisons Café

Kids under 16 eat free when an adult spends £4.50 or more in cafés in Morrisons Supermarkets.
Dates: No end date given, offer available all day. No mention of days so looks like this is valid weekends and week days
Food: Cafe food.  Kids meal must be from kids menu or chilled snack pack. Items include chicken nuggest and chips, bangers and mash or beans on toast. Includes piece of fruit and Tropicana Kids Orange or Apple drink or bottle of water.
Conditions: One child under 16 eats free from the kids menu with one adults meal £4.50 and over.
Where to find them in Essex: Benfleet, Canvey Island, Grays, Hadleigh, Harwich, Witham.
More info here.

Preto 

Kids eat free evenings and weekends
Dates: Every weekday from 4pm and all weekend (appears to be ongoing).
Food: This is a Brazilian Steakhouse where you can help yourself to unlimited salad and hot buffet dishes from the food bar and waiters come round and serve barbecued meat. Adults meal costs £21.95 for just buffet or £26.95 for grilled meats too.
Conditions: Children up to 10 years. Maximum of one child per full paying adult. You need to download and show a voucher. Children under 3 free at all times. 
Where to find in Essex: Colchester
More info here.  

Prezzo

Kids eat free at Prezzo with the purchase of an adult meal
Dates: 25th March to 14th April, running everyday including weekends. 
Food: Italian style food eg pizza and pasta. Adult main meals range from about £13 to £20.
Conditions: One adult meal purchased equals one free kids meal (up to 12 customers per table). 3 course meal for children, but drinks are not included. To claim you need to sign up here and get a code. The kids menu is for children "up to 11 years old" so it can be expected the offer will be for the same age range.
Where to find them in Essex: Witham, Clacton, Bishop Stortford, Rayleigh, Lakeside and Hornchurch.
More info here.

The Real Greek 

Dates: Sunday 19th March to 14th April. This is running every day in Easter holidays, but they also appear to have an ongoing promotion where Kids eat free on Sundays.
Food: Greek style food, offer includes meal from kids menu, drink and ice cream/ sorbet. The kids menu choices are a wrap or a selection of meze like houmous, halloumi, chips, chicken or flatbread.
Conditions: A free kids meal for every £10 spent by an adult. Each adult to spend £10 or more to qualify. Not valid with the lunch menu or various other menus so make sure they give you the right menu.  Available to children under 12.
Where to find them in Essex: Braintree
More info here.

Subway

Free kid's meal with every Footlong sub
Dates: Monday 25th March to Sunday 14th April
Food: Sandwiches in sub rolls.
Conditions: One free Kids Meal, which includes a 4” Sub, a snack, and a drink when you buy any full price Footlong Sub, at participating Subway restaurants.
Where to find them in Essex: they have a full list of participating restaurants online, but it is full and includes 6 in Colchester alone so I'm not going to attempt to list them all here. However Subway stores have lots of franchises so it's worth checking on the list here to see if your local Subway is participating before you visit. 

Tesco Café 

Where the Tesco Supermarkets have cafés they are running Kids Eat free with any cafe purchase.
Dates: Weekdays only, but they say this runs every school holiday.  
Food: Basic cafe food like fish fingers and chips or sandwiches, although in some locations only the sandwiches may be available.
Conditions: One free Kids Hot Meal Deal, Kids Breakfast or Kids Pick ‘n’ Mix deal per item purchased by an adult in The Café for dine-in only, a child must be present. Clubcard/app required. Multiple children can eat if multiple items are bought by an adult/ adults. Not running on weekends.
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon Pitsea Extra, Mayflower Retail Park, Lakeside Extra, Romford Gallows Corner Extra, Rainham Extra, Maldon Extra, Goodmayes Extra.
More info here.

TGI Fridays 

Kids can eat for free at TGI Fridays when an adult meal is purchased.
Dates: "All day, every day including half term" (but not Bank holidays)
Food: American diner style food like burgers, pasta and hot dog. Adult main meals are mostly between £18 and £30.
Conditions: To be eligible for this offer you need to download the TGI Friday app and sign up as a Stripes Reward Members.  A free Little League or Major League meal with purchase of any full price adult main meal. Available for children age 12 and younger. Doesn't include dessert. "Limited to one redemption per full price adult course purchased" which I assume means one child meal per adult meal bought, so multiple adult meals means multiple free ones if you are visiting with more than one child. Clarify with your restaurant before purchase though. 
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon, Braintree, Chelmsford, Lakeside, Romford
More info here.

Where Can Kids Eat for £1 (or less) in Essex This Easter?

ASDA cafe

Kids eat for £1 with no adult purchase required where the ASDA supermarkets have a café.
Dates: ongoing until further notice.
Food: Café style food. ASDA's Kids Eat for £1 without any purchase required. You can also get a free Ella's baby food pouch for under 18 months with any purchase.
Conditions: Children must be under 16.
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon, Colchester, Tilbury, 

Burger King

Kids eat for £1 with an adult meal when ordered through the BK App.
Dates: 29th March until 12th April
Food: Burgers and chips
Conditions: An adults meal must be purchased for each kids meal and they must be ordered via the BK App.
Where to find them in Essex: There are lots of locations: including Brentwood, Romford, Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Southend (not valid at Service Stations, Airports, Holiday Parks etc).
More info here. 

Dim T

Kids eat for £1 with voucher.
Dates: 29th March to 14th April
Food: Asian inspired food like noodles and rice.
Conditions: one kids's meal at £1 per adults full price main meal purchased. The kids "Ninja Menu" includes 3 courses and an activity pack, children's drinks cost £1.25. No mention on the website currently, but I was sent a voucher as on their mailing list. Keep an eye on their offer page.
Where to find them in Essex: Loughton - closed on 9th April. Other branches are in London

Harvester

Dates: 25th March to 12th April excluding Bank Holidays.
Food: Wide ranging menu including grills, skewers and burgers.
Conditions: T&C's not currently live, but it says to download their app to get a voucher when the offer goes live.
Where to find them in Essex:  Harvester have loads of restaurants in Essex including Grays, Stanway, Basildon, Chelmsford, Rayleigh, Shoeburyness, South Benfleet, Brentwood, North Weald.
More info here.

IKEA

With an IKEA family card children's meals are always low cost and every Friday all food in the restaurant is half price.
Dates: ongoing.
Food: Children's meals include meatballs or pasta, on a Friday the kids pasta costs only 45p and you can get adult meatballs and mash for £2.45.
Conditions: You need to sign up for a free IKEA family card. The half price offer is on Fridays only, but even full price the kids meals are under £1.
Where to find them in Essex: Lakeside
More info here.

Sizzling Inns

Monday to Friday kids eat for £1 with every adult main meal purchased.
Dates: ongoing, after midday Monday to Friday only.
Food: pub food like burgers, nuggets, curry with a choice of sides. Adults meals from £7 to £15.
Conditions: 1 kids main meal for £1 with the purchase of every 1 adult main meal brought in the same transaction. Available as a walk in offer (no voucher required) Monday to Friday from 3pm.
Where to find them in Essex: Hadleigh, Grays. Romford, Ilford
More info here.

Also worth checking out.

Sainsburys cafés normally offer Kids eat for £1 with an adult hot meal purchase (after 11.30am) and although lots of websites are sharing this offer for holidays I haven't seen it confirmed on Sainsburys website (and I haven't been to a Sainsburys with a cafe) so I can't confirm this is on.

Yo Sushi is confirmed as running an offer where Kids eat free on weekdays 25th March to 12th April, however it looks as though they no longer have any Yo Sushi restaurants in Essex (I'm sure they used to have one in Lakeside).  If you are near a Yo Sushi though the offer is: Kids eat free all day when dining with a full paying adult (minimum £10 spend). Offer is for a free meal deal bento box. One child per £10 adult spend. Up to 3 kids per booking. Monday to Friday. Children age 12 or under.