Acle Bridge Inn — Restaurant in Broadland

2024 review Menu same as before, but with amended children's option. Now on menu you can have a third of a pie for the children. We was told it was very popular. The food we felt was exceptional, with the exception of my gravy that seemed watery. However nobody else's seemed to be, we came back a couple of nights later and my gravy was fine. So I think we will chalk up the first lot of gravy as a "broads mystery". Very welcoming and hospitable. The temperature of the building I felt to be too hot, however nobody wants it cold. Radiators make atmosphere incredibly hot.

Our daughter saw a sign "family friendly" which she told me put her at ease, she really loved that and made her feel welcome. Toilets very clean and my wife said there was hand cream and soap which was a lovely touch. Servers Chard and Shane were particularly good and stood out to us as genuine assetsnto their team. All in all, a far more pleasant experience than last year and we will Def be back for some of that delicious pie.

2023 review

Ok, well we come on the broads every year, we came to acle bridge last year, and although pricey we agreed it was the best meal. This year we returned, after a week of eating in various places I'm afraid to say we felt let down. If you want a cider, and I don't mean a fruit cider, I mean a proper apple cider, u better like aspalls, aspalls, or at a push they also have aspalls. The pie was actually very nice, described as 'not for the faint hearted'. The reality was, my 7 year old daughter wanted some, but they was unwilling to deviate from the menu at all.  So we ordered another main and she had half and my wife had half.  My daughter ate her half and I personally think she could've polished off the whole meal.  The pie was very nice but as for "not for the faint hearted". . . . I think the size of the meal was surprisingly "average".  Im unsure of who they are used to feeding, but I'm assuming that they arent used to people from the fen.  Very nice, but a very standard size. When we asked about the meal options for children we was told "the menu is the menu". And we was then informed what other parents do, and how they supplied the children's meals via "market research".  I'm very aware what other parents do, but we aren't really into feeding our children what other people expect them to eat. When we tried to discuss this with our server she just said, I would love to talk to you about this but I'm to busy.  I understand it must have been hard with her workload as there was our table and 1 other to deal with. Must have been tough.  So we tried to talk with the manager who had no time for us and pretended to hear a phone ringing and told us to talk to the server who was about as much use as an inflatable dartboard. All in all, meals tasted very nice, but if someone asked for a recommendation, hand on heart, I would direct them to "acle spice", where we had a take away 2 nights ago.  We were happier with the food, service and it was cheaper. It's a sad sad day when a takeaway beats a restaurant for service, food, price and general hospitality. But I guess that's the...

Called in for breakfast. Beautiful quiet little place set on the riverbank with a gorgeous thatched roof building, covered outdoor bench areas and gorgeous inside. It's a little pricey imo and the quality of food was absolutely brilliant. I make good eggs, but these were A class gorgeous. Had the large brekky and an orange juice, George had the same with a pineapple juice instead. Now, George actually docked them a point cos we got our breakfast, THEN the juice, and i docked them a point for not having fried bread, but I'm still giving 5/5 overall. Large breakfast came as: 2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 [gorgeous] fried egg, ½ tomato, mushrooms, 2 hash browns (could tell they were homemade) and a pot of beans. All good. The only real negative was the subsidiary item price. I digress, these places are literally closed 6 months of the year so have to make 12 months money in the seasonal window that's open, so fair play. Food is brilliant, venue is gorgeous, staff are excellent, maybe I'm too tight?

Update Moored up outside the Acle Inn last night and popped in for the evening meal and holy shit was it good. Portion size, very nice. On the menu, dad, hunters chicken, scored it 10, Dean & George, pulled pork burger, absolutely gorgeous, me, the Lasagne, WOW , simply the best. A single dish serving with chips and side salad, best Lasagne I've ever had. Meaty, creamy, and so tasty & i topped off the dish with a side of onion rings, was absolutely brilliant. Price for 4 main meals, 3 pints Morrietti, 2 pints pure orange juice (me), and a half of pineapple juice (George), £106.

Overall Acle Bridge Inn scores 9.5/10.

-.5 Sticking with the 'where's the fried bread' & £10 a night to moor up ? That should be knocked off your food bill of over £80 imo. Over 80 moor up free, under pay a tenner. Simple.

If you're on the Broads, north side and need a place to moor and eat, put this one...

Whilst walking the dog my parents and I decided to stop at a nearby pub. We had no reservation booked and no idea what the pub would be like, we just knew that the pub was dog friendly which was important to us. We were pleasantly surprised upon arrival of the beautiful setting with boats moored up by the pub garden as one of the Norfolk broads rivers is behind the pub. We had a wonderful greeting and was offered a bowl of water for the dog. Having been shown our table we were handed a menu which had plenty of options, and catered for many tastes. I opted for the Hunters chicken and it was plenty. A nice large piece of butterfly chicken topped with cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce, onion rings on top of chips and a small pot of peas. It was very tasty, well presented and very filling. I just couldn't manage any more which was a shame as I rather fancied the Bakewell tart dessert. The environment was very homely with a fire and plenty of room for the tables and chairs. Too many restaurants cram you in, so it was nice to have room. The servers were very pleasant, and the atmosphere relaxed with background music. The dog curled up on the carpeted floor by the fire and because of all this we stayed longer than we had planned and ordered more to drink. We visited off season in poor weather. I bet this place is even more amazing in the summer sat outside in the very large pub garden by the river. You may need to reserve for summer though. And our bill was very reasonable. If you get the chance, do visit and I strongly believe you will also get the friendly greeting we did. Thank you to the staff for making my visit a ray of sunshine on...