Dukes Head Somerleyton — Restaurant in East Suffolk

We booked a table for 5 as it was my dad's birthday. On arrival, we were 5mins early for our booking and the waitress at the bar just pointed and said "that's your table over there" ... so we seated ourselves (it was a table for 4 with an extra chair stuffed on the end, cramped and uncomfortable) ... once seated it was a good 10/15mins before a waiter came along with some menus (he didn't even say a word, he just plonked 2 down on the table and left) it was then a further 10/15mins before I was able to catch the eye of a waitress and ask for a wine list. She was shocked that no one had taken a drinks order as yet and was straight on the case .. food was then ordered shortly after and everything was good until we had all finished eating. We must have been waiting a good 20minutes before I got up and went over to the waitress and said "can we have some service please" .... she offered a 2nd round of drinks FOC which was all well and good however we felt completely forgotten about. When leaving, it was a chap who gave us the bill and not only had she taken the drinks off but he said "I've given you a 10% discount as an apology for poor service" ... this was all good apart from its don't think he even noticed we had already had our drinks deducted which just showed us how unorganised the whole thing was. ... the food however was really good so compliments to the chef! Front of house staff let the whole...

On arrival we said it was really cold in the restaurant and staff said they’ve had problems with frozen pipes but it was fixed and heating was now coming on. We were there for my husband and granddaughter’s birthdays and our dining experience we felt was totally ruined with all of us freezing cold as the heating didn’t come on. We left early ordering no desserts and taking the birthday cakes home to be lit there. Our complaints we felt were brushed aside. Others in the restaurant said they were cold and kept their coats on too.

My daughter received a phone call the next day from the manager and she felt she was fobbed off with a different story about the heating and no mention of frozen pipes and no real apology? Apparently their email doesn’t work either as manager informed my daughter of this saying me, her mother, won’t receive a response after having sent one. We have attended the restaurant many times before and have had a good experience each time. A solution for future reference would be to phone and give the customer the choice of attending when heating not on. On a side note, your staff should ask if anyone has any allergies and if they would like their burger cooked through.

Beautiful setting and staff...

Very disappointing! We went to the sister pub The White Lion, Wheatacre and had a fantastic meal, so thought we would try The Duke’s Head. Wish we hadn’t bothered. We arrived early and decided to have a drink at the bar, we waited about 10 minutes with three members of staff walking past us and ignoring us. Then the manager appeared smashing bottles into the bin and slamming the cellar door shut then swearing. Very classy. Food was average. I have a milk allergy and they were not very accommodating, seemed my allergy was a hassle to them. They basically offered me vegan dishes and I had to ask they adapt the smoke salmon starter they weren’t very happy with me. There was no dessert for milk allergies or vegans and they just said there’s nothing we can do. The manager said that if I’d told them in advance she could have arranged something. I informed her I had booked the table 2.5 weeks in advance and ticked the box for milk allergy plus writing a comment about my allergy. She admitted that she never bothers to check for allergies on the booking and that it was my fault for not phoning up and informing them. Lovely blame the customer. We will not be returning...