The Unruly Pig — Restaurant in East Suffolk

I took my father here for his 90th birthday, and four of us dined. I booked it as it had a good reputation and many good reviews and of course because it's won numerous awards.

Whilst there were some positives here, I feel that this restauraunt is charging well beyond what is reasonable for the quality and especially quantity of food.

The service was friendly, if a little bit patchy, but overall I thought that our waitress was charming.

We had sunday lunch, and I ordered a number of nibbles and the roast beef with trimmings and we also had Sea Bass which was tasty, but the borlotti beans were like tiny little rubber bullets, the fork could barely penetrate them.

The roast, with the upgrades of bone marrow gravy (why was this not included in the price) and a yorkshire pudding with ox cheek filling, and a side of mac and cheese came to a truly eye-watering 42 pounds. For that I got a single slice of beef, a carrot, and a quarter of a beetroot with the equivalent of 1 potato cut up and roasted. It was tasty, but not sensational. The best thing about the entire meal (and by far the best value) was the yorkshire pudding stuffed with ox cheek.

These should be offered as a starter as they are truly excellent.

The fact the pub charges 6 pounds for a side order of cabbage, when the main dish is already so expensive to me indicates that they are rather taking the michael with their pricing.

For some contrast, for less money at the bull and last, I got 3 thick slices of beef (all from rare breed animals) excellent gravy with free top ups, and a plate full of vegetables including heritage carrots, cabbage, a large portion of excellent roasties and parsnips which filled the plate. This is 28 pounds all in - and is more than enough to fill you up for several hours.

I am afraid that a roast dinner is not and cannot be haute cuisine and should not be treated as such, no matter how good the beef is, 1 slice for 27 pounds is I am afraid a liberty whatever way you look at it.

The cheeseboard was good, and I thought good value, although the tiny dollop of chutney wasn't really what I'd serve with it, a decent rustic homemade chutney would have been a lot more interesting.

The wine list was good, with several reasonably priced bottles, I had a valpolicella, which was rather uninspiring for the price of 50+ pounds, , and an excellent primitivo, which was much cheaper and far better.

I had a couple of nibbles to start including a pretty tasteless lardo crisp, a duo of oysters which was strange, as the grilled oyster seemed pretty much uncooked and flabby, though the fried one was crunchy and tasty. I was a little bit mystified as to why there were no fresh raw oysters on the menu though, which I would have much preferred.

The cod roe tartlet was excellent, but very very small, but as it was so tasty, thought it worth the money.

The cured halibut starter was good, but a very small amount of food for 17 pounds.

The selection of ales on offer was also pretty lame, for a gastropub I'd have at least have expected one decent stout or porter on the menu. Maybe that's just a personal choice, but the offerings of estrella, and one Adnams pale ale and bitter, seemed a very poor range, at odds with the billing as a gastropub. Where were the local

We had the bloody Mary, and and the house Negroni, which again, were good, but not exceptional.

Is this the best Gastropub in the UK? Certainly not on this showing, I can only presume they are living off their reputation somewhat, as I've had far better for far less money. The prices are even higher than equivalents in London offering superior fare, which is rather perplexing. I am happy to pay good money provided the food lives up to it's pricing, and I am afraid this doesn't.

The bill for four people with two bottles of wine and a tip slightly over the 10% indicated on the bill was 100 pounds a head, which considering the amount and quality of food, did not...

You will find my original 5* review following this one - but I have updated my review based on my latest experience of February 2022.

I came to the Unruly Pig in May 2021 for my husband's birthday. It was superb and I could not rate it highly enough. The staff were fabulous and the food divine. I could not wait to book again but as it is a long way from where we live, I'd planned it as a weekend away to bring both my mother and husband. With the events of 2021 we were only able to do this in February 2022 and I booked a weekend away with accommodation just so we could eat here.

Again the staff were fabulous. Courteous, helpful and without fault. However, the owner is another matter. My mother has an allergy to mushrooms and on pointing this out, the response of "That's the menu" was not only curt but downright rude. The lady serving us and all the rest of the staff were wonderful and went out of their way to help - he could take a leaf out of their books!!! I also heard some rather less than polite responses to other customers so it wasn't a one off. I was not only furious - because allergies MUST be taken seriously by all restaurants - but completely shocked. The restaurant no doubt has good management because they have put in air exchange systems and have great sanitising and mask policies but I think that the chef (whose menu is just stunning) should take the credit for a lot of the popularity of this venue because it certainly isn't the owner. I am sure the chef would be appalled at the response of "That's the menu" especially knowing that someone has booked a whole weekend away around eating their food. All the chefs I know would want to do their best to provide a customer with food they can eat - they would be horrified to think that this kind of response is being put out on their behalf.

The chef did in fact give the lovely lady looking after our table great information and alternatives and described which dishes would work best. THIS is the response I would expect. I asked that the person who had been rude should not come to our table again. I must admit, I had no idea at the time it was the owner - I thought it was a rather rude front of house person and was going to complain to the owner about him later!

The reason I have given 4 out of 5 stars for the atmosphere and service is because of the above. It somewhat spoilt our special evening (also part of a birthday celebration) and it is the members of staff that looked after us that have kept the score high.

I would love to return but feel very conflicted about whether to do so or not.

May 2021: Well it's hard to find words to describe adequately the fabulous meal we had at the Unruly Pig. What a fantastic way to get back into dining out - the last time was August last year! The care and consideration taken for the safety and comfort of the guests was top class, the information clear and obvious but not intrusive - we felt totally nurtured and cared for. The food itself was outstanding.

My husband and I have been very lucky to eat at wonderful restaurants over the years, but even in the best, there is often one course that is not quite as one might hope - but every single course was well balanced, beautifully presented and packed with flavour. I was particularly delighted as each course offered some of my favourite foods! I was in heaven and we are already planning how and when we come back - we live just a bit too far to drive out for an evening, so are looking for a good excuse for a night away and to book in again. I can not recommend this restaurant...

This is on our doorstep and although it is expensive we visit fairly regularly. We visited today for a roast lunch to celebrate my husband’s birthday. I brought a single cupcake I had decorated with a few candles in the hope it could be brought out for him. I asked about this out of his earshot. They told me they would bring it to the table but would charge per person 6.50 in place of us buying a desert. I have to admit I was shocked. Reason? We would be spending about 150 pounds on a roast dinner for 3 people!!!! Isn’t that enough of a spend to just bring out a cupcake? We weren’t setting out to deliberately rob you of the price of a desert! That wasn’t the point. As a regular customer I’m afraid I was suddenly very put off. I would have just mentioned my disappointment however as a birthday meal I didn’t want to make a fuss. So I took the cupcake home. On principal- because adding an additional 19.50 to the bill seemed outrageous to me for a cupcake that cost nothing. I asked my family if they thought it was wrong of me. They agreed it was shortsighted of a pub to be so precious! And it is shortsighted: the unruly pig is a place we would have continued to visit for our family special occasions- we are not wealthy- a meal at this price needs saving up for. However this has put me off, and although we had a nice time together and the food was nice, we decided it would be our last time visiting. The food is good… but not quite as good as they think. The roast potatoes are a bit overdone and we visited at 2.45pm and they had been sitting you could tell. We were told that between 3 diners we would get two little bowls or roast potatoes and two of greens. We got one of each- the same amount as last visit where we were just two. They were trying to persuade us into starters because there would be quite a wait they said for the main course. We said we didn’t need starters and the roast dinner then arrived a very short time later. No wait. What with this and the cake I suddenly felt they were doing all they could to squeeze money out of their customers. I can understand that- but it’s not like we weren’t spending money. In my world 140 pounds for lunch is A LOT!!!! I know they pride themselves on the service here- and the young wait staff are very sweet; but the management should be looking to keep their local custom in my opinion. All for the sake of a little...