We came recently for a family breakfast.
Firstly we had to wait ages outside to be served with many available tables.
We arrived early as apparently this is a great place for gluten free options but there were no gluten free cakes available.
The food was nice, if a little pricey for the children's breakfast muffins. Decor was loveky and a view of the boats.
Unfortunately when we went to pay, we had to go downstairs to the till as nobody was around. Waiting at the counter to hear the owner shouting at his staff like they were worthless. We felt very sorry for them, swearing at them and shouting out "oh my God I'm gonna kill myself" in front of our young children.
When we were served the owner huffs and puffs at us as we have a voucher to pay with. This isn't a free meal, someone has already paid you money for the voucher, which we added some of our own money too aswell.
I am not normally one to comment but this was pretty shocking. A shame as the place was lovely and the waitresses seemed nice.
As my 1st time as a customer, I wouldn't recommend it because of the pub service. It took 24 minutes from the time we were seated by the manager, and he left us the menus to a waiter acknowledging us. The waitress told me that no one told her about our table, so she apologised for the delay. The service was great. She also helped me to navigate the menu as I am gluten and dairy intolerant. Unfortunately, it only offers limited options, In my case, I couldn't have the cod fish with chips because it's cooked in butter. Instead, I shared a mix grill plater
I gave the service 3 stars because of the waiting time. And no, it wasn't busy at all. Only 4 tables.
The atmosphere was ok.
An amazing restaurant with truly delicious food!! My partner is gluten-intolerant and around 80% of the menu is gluten free or can be made without using gluten. The burgers are delicious and I would highly recommend the wings as they were our favourite part of the meal!
I had gluten-free toast with vegan butter (at no extra cost!!) which was delicious. My girlfriend had the small breakfast which she said was great. Various non-dairy milk options as well! I also had the gluten-free vegan flapjack which was honestly one of the best flapjacks I’ve ever had.
The prices were good and the owners were both very friendly!!
If/when we ever come back to Ipswich, we’d definitely go back here!!
Had an amazing finish-off-last-prep-meal for 20 from these guys for a big family get together. All I had to do was heat and assemble really, but every last detail was supplied with simple clear instructions, like cut herbs and salad dressings, homemade foccacia and soft-boiled eggs to top the kedgeree. Had to accommodate gluten-free and veggie preferences but that didn’t stop it from being a real banquet. Everyone was blown away by the flavours and I nearly took the credit!
Never as a paying customer have I ever been spoken to in such a manner as Shane the restaurant manager did towards me this evening, on the evening of a birthday dinner for my partner!
We called him over to try to be helpful to advise him that our waitress should be advising people if something on the menu changes due to my gluten intolerance. We were told by her that the majority of the menu was already gluten free.
Therefore, to receive skinny fries when I specifically ordered the haddock because I wanted chunky chips without any warning prior seemed to me something the manager should be aware of, so that he could raise it with your waiting staff.
I can not believe how defensive Shane immediately became and not even an apology! He was not only defensive, but attacked me by stating that he thought I was “rather angry over some chips”! It was his attitude with no apology that got my back up, but then his defensiveness and him then telling me in a condescending manner “to not let it spoil my evening, it’s just chips” was just insulting. He kept going on and on, repeating the same defensive stuff, even though I just kept saying okay, okay several times in the hope he would just go away & eventually had to ask him to go. It was clear he was looking to antagonise me! With any customer complaint, an apology should immediately follow, especially when a mistake has be made by the staff! Rude does not describe how this manager conducted himself!
The food: it was ok, not 4 or 5 stars as the haddock was a small portion but tasted very fresh. The chunky chips looked better than they tasted. The desserts were okay but overall the food was not outstanding and we wouldn’t rush back even if you did take Shane out of the equation! I did appreciate the chef providing the white chocolate writing on the plate wishing my partner a HB but it didn’t change the upset caused. We had no drinks so total spent £72.
This experience with Shane’s approach and attitude completely spoiled not only our dinner but the entire evening for us! Had we had more time, as we were going to the theatre, I would’ve left there and then.
An email to higher management after stating that she was shocked to receive a complaint about Shane, who had been a valued member of their team the past 15 years, and concluded with the following: ‘We always strive to give the best customer service and hope in the future you will return to experience our usual high standards. I would be more than happy to assist with this reservation and include a gesture of goodwill.’
If the gesture of goodwill is on par with what she referred to in her reply as my partner receiving a “birthday dessert”, (which was a plate with white chocolate writing on it and 2 tiny miniature meringues with a single strawberry) then even if they offered dark chocolate on a plate saying ‘Sorry’, I don’t think I will be making a special trip from London to find out.
Accommodating Gluten-Free
