Gambas — Restaurant in Great Yarmouth

Our Birthday and Driving test celebration table of 8 was booked and the restaurant had very low customer numbers all evening. Our mood was high as we entered but quickly dampened. We were met with menus that resembled scruffy, dog eared pieces of paper and then waited over an hour for food to arrive even after getting the server to confirm our order before walking away. So to our suprise all meals arrived accept one. We were told to 'wait 2 more minutes'. It was far longer than this because one of us had to leave their meal to go to the bar and enquire on the missing meals 'time of arrival' as it had been well over 15 minutes and we began to believe it had been forgotten entirely. During the meal it became embarrassing because the unfed guest was being offered food from our plates. Over half an hour passed before their meal arrived. The ambience was ruined and staff nor manager who sat at a laptop did nothing to make our experience enjoyable. Staff serving at Gambas were just interested in serving us drinks, probably hoping it would disguise the relentless wait. We suggested to one of the servers that we perhaps could get the 'forgotten meal' for free on this occasion as a more genuine apology, after all that is what happens in any other restaurant I've ever visited and they just embarrassingly said 'oh, I don't think so'. We suggested perhaps their ask their manager. That meal was taken off the meal price but it was the point that we had to ask that was so wrong. Servers just said 'sorry' repeatedly but had no conviction in it. Not particularly friendly either. If you're in hospitality. Be hospitable. The 'non fussy hand cut chips' they advertise were so overcooked with grease that there was no potato inside. Food presentation was poor considering their online pictures. No one's food looked appetizing considering the time taken to get it to our table. This restaurant has serious problems all round. Untrained staff and poor quality cook.

It's simple...if you get something wrong, you put it right!

Would not recommend this restaurant to...

Whenever I go to eat out somewhere new or somewhere I've never reviewed I now give an ununbiased review, i also never give 5* as that implies its perfect and everywhere has room for improvement.

A very solid 4.5* and will definitely recommend and return.

Its been a very long time since I've been here before and my wife and I decided to try here for an anniversary meal. Table was booked for 7pm but we went a little earlier so we could take advantage of the 2 for 1 cocktails which they do between 5pm and 7pm.

The man started by doing us both a classic Mojito, which wasnt on the list but he was very accommodating. And very nice it was.

We had a few more off the menu before sitting at our table we only had some garlic ciabatta for a starter but it was very nice. My wife had a sloppy Joe and I had a cheese and bacon burger. It all looked fresh and homemade. The chips with skins left on were fresh and not at all greasy. I think the coleslaw was also homemade and again very nice. I'm one for homemade so I was pleased. The burger was meaty and filling in a very nice brioche bun.

The young girl serving always had a smile and wanted tp please in any way possible, she was a little nervous so i think she hadn't been doing the job very long. But she was a lot better than some I've encountered with years of experience.

The toilets were immaculately clean and i liked the style, only one thing that was a slight annoyance was the wobbly tables.

I would like to seen a couple more items on the desert list as i didn't fancy what was listed.

We went to a different restaurant last week and Gambas is superior for customer service, cleanliness, price, portion size and general atmosphere. Even though we went quite early it was quiet and Gambas deserves a lot...

Visited as part of a large group to celebrate my daughter's engagement. All I can say is that we will not be back as it was not a positive experience! Service was extremely slow with both food and drinks. At one point I got up and cleared the table myself! Some people had finished their mains before others had received theirs and drinks were sat on the bar for a good 20 minutes at one point. We constantly had to remind the staff that it was time for the next course or we needed drinks. There were no serviettes and I was given a blue roll, it has one piece left on it, as did they toilet roll - shocking to be honest! The staff seemed like they really didn't want to be there, we each experienced rudeness from the 2 members of staff we spoke to. Food was slammed down on the table, there was huffs, eye rolling and shrugs! We had ordered a large amount of food and drinks and asked for the children's drinks to be removed from the bill as they had only the included ones then other drinks after - we were then questioned about this and accused of having 2 of each. They were more than put out by the fact we were paying separately too and made that known. At one point I was in the toilet and I heard someone shout out 'who still needs to pay, your still owe over £200', couldn't she have just gone over to the table! We were given 8 mints at the end 😂. Finally as we were leaving we was asked if everything was ok - this was the first time! So I told them and there was no apology just another shrug of the shoulders. It's a big shame as the food is good. I am a great believer in feedback as it improves businesses when listened to but last night it was not, so...