Oyster Reach Beefeater — Restaurant in Babergh

I met my 2 sisters for.lunch today, something we have done for over a year! Because we live in different areas of Ipswich/Suffolk, we alternate between going to the Oyster Reach at Wherstead and the Swallow on the Ransoms Industrial Park. Both venues are part of the Whitehead Group which closed at the start of the Covid 19 outbreak, presumably putting the majority of staff on the government's furlough scheme, only reopening their restaurants/pubs at the end of July just before the government's 'Eat Out to Help Out' initiative which came into effect from August!

Both the Oyster Reach and the Swallow appeared to join this scheme,, taking full advantage of UK taxpayers to claim 50% of the cost of meals and non-alchoholc drinks upto £10.00 per customer, and the decrease in VAT from 20% to 5%. However looking at the menu's both the Swallow and the Oyster Reach have increased their prices by at least 50%!

Today both my sisters ordered the Buttermilk Chicken Gaujon Salad with Caeser Dressing at £11.49 a head. I only ordered the Soup of the Day with toasted ciabatta bread at £4.49. When our food arrived, it was plonked, unceremoniously on our table! Half of my Soup had overspilled from the bowl into the serviette beneath it and the butter dish. The toasted ciabatta turned out to be toasted french bread! My sisters meals proved to be no less disappointing. For £11.49 they received a bowl full of lettuce with Caeser Dressing, half a dozen croutons and 4 very small pieces of chicken. Both of my sisters mentioned their very disappointment with the size and value for money of their meals! A particular disappointment was the croutons, which had been cooked, goodness how many times, and had a rubbery texture.

1 of my sisters complained to the Manager, who said he would. Iook Into matter, and if warranted sort out some form of recompense. After waiting for 15 minutes for the manager to come back to us, we left the premises, vowing...

My partner and I were out for a ride on my motorcycle on Sunday to Alton waters we passed the Beefeater on way there and decided to stop on the way back and I'm very glad we did it rounded off a brilliant day out. We were seated quickly. I want to mention our waiter (Josh ) he was brilliant, took an interest in our day out, made the right amount of conversation, he was very polite, made sure everything was good with our order and quickly got our drinks and refills. As someone that has worked in the industry he would be someone I would have wanted working at my restaurant. Menu choice is excellent. It was nice to see food on the menu that were similar to what every other restaurant does but with a little difference. My wife had the slow cooked roast beef which looked great and she said tasted excellent the roast pots and Yorkshire where brilliant. I had the Tabasco chicken burger with fries. I think it was really really good. Loved the flavour it was well presented neither the burger or the fries were greasy which again is good to see. I was offered more fries because the are free refill!! I wanted to leave room for desert. My wife had the crumble with custard which was well presented and tasted really good. I had the trio of sponges with ice cream which tasted incredible. Shame no refills on the desert. But I was full. The cost was similar to other restaurants I've been to when you look at the menu in comparison. But the main thing is the food is great. Quality of food to cost ratio is definitely balanced well. Everything was very clean, table,cutlery, menus and salt and pepper grinders. Really impressed for such a busy place.

The bad part which was the carpet upstairs could do with a new one. That's it!

Thank you again the beefeater and Josh for a...

So, we booked the area behind the bar weeks in advance for a gender reveal for 30 people. I used the online chat function to book which was brilliant and they were very responsive. We were promised that he would ensure they were fully staffed and also i asked a few days before if we could arrive early to decorate and make and put up a balloon arch which they said was absolutely fine. However when arrived we were greeted with a very rude and grumpy man who said basically they were closed until 12, (we arrived at around 11) we could come in and decorate but have to leave until 12. Also told they are very short staffed. Even though we were at the bar area we were told we would have to go round to the other bar out of our function area to get our drinks and had to queue. Waiting for drinks sometimes took 20 mins. We would also pay for drinks and then the girl behind the bar would say she didn't know how to make it and couldn't find anyone to help. During the whole thing the bald guy also kept walking through and huffing which made everyone feel uncomfortable. Originally I went to complain that my pregnant friend had walked into all that after we were told everything was good and in hand for a day she was already nervous about however I couldn't even find anyone and didn't want to upset things further. I think they were lucky we were as understanding as we were considering the absolute state of things.

I always leave honest reviews and quite honestly do not use for an event. Doesn't look like their reviews are great anyway but considering the money we all spent there, it would appear they sold us a story and then didn't stick to any of it. All to get...