Anchor at Walberswick — Restaurant in East Suffolk

We have just come back from The Anchor in Walberswick after a long August weekend. We had a wonderful time. |Sophie and Mark Dorber are superb hosts, and have a terrific, efficient and super friendly team around them. We could see a lot of regular customers and they were on first name terms with all of them. |The food is unfailingly excellent. The breakfasts (starting off with freshly made bread) provided ample choice. Cannot think of a better way to start the day! The lunches and dinners we had were marvellous. The menu is thoughtful and varied. The ingredients are fresh. Not a single dish disappointed us over the 3 days. The portions are large. This is not overly complicated food, just carefully thought-out dishes that are well-executed and tasty. The service is friendly and prompt. A very discerning wine list too! |Indoors has a pub at the front and a restaurant at the back, The vibe indoors is cosy and comfortable. A lot of cartoons on the wall by Charlie Mackesy (author of "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse") who is a local. Lots of interesting books and cookbooks fill the shelves. The outdoor seating areas to the front and the back are as you would see in a pub garden. For families sitting outdoors after a day on the beach, there is a pizza oven churning out fresh pizzas all day!|The accommodation in the cabins towards the rear was comfy and overlooked a lovely garden full of hollyhocks in bloom. For our last night (which was an afterthought) we moved to a room atop the main pub. This was comfy too in an old fashioned way.|The location is very handy for the beach, the village green and the ferry to Southwold. We were lucky with the weather. We spent one day pottering around Walberswick and Southwold and another day walking to Dunwich and back (out through marshes and woods, pause for a cream tea, and walk back along the beach). We went one evening to Aldeburgh and on our way back to London we took in the farm shop at Friday Street and the shops and galleries at Snape Maltings. Aim to see the RSPB reserve at Minsmere the next time we are here.|Hats off to Sophie and Mark and their daughter Rose, and their entire team (far too many of them to name and they are all wonderful, but Luke, Yoni and Vivien looked after us much of the time and made us feel very...

We have just come back from The Anchor in Walberswick after a long August weekend. We had a wonderful time. Sophie and Mark Dorber are superb hosts, and have a terrific, efficient and super friendly team around them. We could see a lot of regular customers and they were on first name terms with all of them. The food is unfailingly excellent. The breakfasts (starting off with freshly made bread) provided ample choice. Cannot think of a better way to start the day! The lunches and dinners we had were marvellous. The menu is thoughtful and varied. The ingredients are fresh. Not a single dish disappointed us over the 3 days.The portions are large. The service friendly and prompt. A very discerning wine list too! For families sitting outdoors after a day on the beach, there is a pizza oven churning out fresh pizzas all day. The accommodation in the cabins towards the rear was comfy and overlooked a lovely garden full of hollyhocks in bloom. For our last night (which was an afterthought) we moved to a room atop the main pub. This was comfy too in an old fashioned way. The vibe indoors is cosy and comfortable. A lot of cartoons on the wall by Charlie Mackesy (author of "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse") who is a local. Lots of interesting books and cookbooks fill the shelves. The location is very handy for the beach, the village green and the ferry to Southwold. We were lucky with the weather. We spent one day pottering around Walberswick and Southwold and another day walking to Dunwich and back (out through marshes and woods, pause for a cream tea, and walk back along the beach). We went one evening to Aldeburgh and on our way back to London we took in the farm shop at Friday Street and the shops and galleries at Snape Maltings. Aim to see the RSPB reserve at Minsmere the next time we are here. Hats off to Sophie and Mark and their daughter Rose, and their entire team (far too many of them to name and they are all wonderful, but Luke, Yoni and Vivien looked...

Researched and booked a table for Easter Sunday in January for 5 people at 2.45pm. Arrived on Easter Sunday, they had one roast on the menu - lamb, other fish dishes and a chicken salad & steak dish. 3 out of 5 of us wanted a roast. Ordered, for the waiter to tell us they had run out of roasts. I asked for an explantation as we weren’t a walk in and said they knew we were an Easter Sunday booking, since January. Waiter said they ran out of lamb. We said ok no problem can you still do a roast please with another meat. Waiter came back from the kitchen to say the chefs were very busy and that wasn’t possible. I asked to speak to the manager. A lady, who I believe is the owner, came to speak to us. She explained it was her fault she had decided how many lamb legs to order after having years prior she told us where she over ordered and no one ordered roasts & that because we were booked at 2.45pm we should understand it was a first come basis. She also said I should of put on our booking we would want roasts! I explained that with respect we booked in January and I have never had to put on a booking that we want to reserve roasts before, and that they knew we were booked so should of at least saved a couple for us as booked customers. She also said after this I can do chicken & vegetables for you with what we have left - which did not sound too appealing. She offered us a glass of wine & gave us a loaf of their bread in her words ‚to make herself feel better‘. The apology didn’t come across as genuine. We ended up spending a lot of money there on meals we didn’t really want, the meals are not cheap, left the bread on the side. It did unfortunately ruin our Easter Sunday and meal. We won’t be returning sadly and advise anyone booking that you will be treated as a walk in - be prepared that you will be lucky if they have what you want to order left. If it’s gone, it’s gone. Such a shame as the food was nice overall and the table we had...