The Empire — Restaurant in Great Yarmouth

So this place is really cool decor wise, and a combination of the really nice setting and the free kids meal lured us in. Unfortunately the waits were horrendous, it was quiet but my husband was at the bar for literally 10-15mins just trying to order. The first two meals were reasonably quick though I was a bit surprised to discover the burger had no sauce, literally just the burger/cheese. The portions will fill you up but aren't huge, at some places we let our youngest pick off our plate but I wouldn't have wanted to split my meal as there wasn't loads. However, we assumed the waiter was headed straight back for the other two people's meals, one was literally just another burger so makes absolute sense it would have been ready at the same time. But he never returned ...! We asked twice, as the first two people to eat had literally finished our meals despite eating quite slowly, meanwhile my youngest was "dying of starvation". Once we were told "I don't know, shouldn't be long" and then ten minutes after that "you're the next order". Wait, what? Why was our order not all prepared at once?! How did half of it become another order much further back in the queue?! So my husband and son watched us eat then we had to wait for them to eat. Again my son's burger, no sauce (though they do ask if you'd like sauce brought, with my burger I hadn't realised it was dry inside and thought he meant for the chips so declined, by now we were wise to it and they brought a generous pot of ketchup). The kids burger was a cheeseburger which my son, still outgrowing a milk allergy, isn't ready for, so we asked for no cheese but despite the delay they got this wrong and it had cheese in, fortunately his allergy is no longer severe (so we hadn't explained allergy was the reason, just simply said no cheese please), as it hadn't melted on yet luckily we were able to just peel.it off rather than risk waiting for another. The food itself was just ok, the onion rings smelt and tasted of that burger van type oil and (correct me if I'm wrong) the burgers tasted a bit like burger van burgers, like dense and chewy and not homemade. Not horrible but not the type where you comment that it's nice. The edges of the pizza were charcoal on one side and the cheese was running off it (which some people may love tbf). Staff were very young, our waiter was a nice kid but didn't think to chase our order when we first asked. Toilets, general venue and the music playing were all very good, some real late 90s bangers. Just a shame the food is nothing special and service so slow and inept. With this gorgeous building and the funky decor this place has so much potential but it's not reaching it atm. (Also didn't spot Caribbean on the menu, just burgers, pizzas, and...

We visited The Empire Great Yarmouth on Saturday, completely persuaded by a guy outside trying way too hard to get customers in. We thought we’d give it a go — BIG mistake. It was peak lunchtime, and shockingly, there were only about four tables filled. With so few customers, you’d expect decent service, right? Nope. The place was ridiculously understaffed. There was just one poor lad running food, one lady struggling to manage both the bar and table service, and a single person in the kitchen who we later found out was the general manager. That’s it. ONE person in the kitchen and the rest expected to do everything else. We waited forever for our drinks. When we asked for a coffee, we were told it’d take 20 minutes! TWENTY MINUTES for a coffee in a place that wasn’t even busy? They blamed some staff calling in sick, but honestly, having just one extra staff member would’ve saved this disaster. While we were there, TWO groups of six walked in, hoping for a meal. Guess what? Both groups walked straight back out when they were told half the menu was unavailable and they’d be waiting forever for service. Completely understandable!

What’s worse, when we confronted the guy outside — the one who was aggressively pulling people in — and asked why he wasn’t inside helping out, he said he offered to help but was told by the general manager to stay outside and keep trying to bring customers in. Seriously? Instead of sorting out the chaos inside, the manager’s priority was to have someone stand outside to try and lure more people in? That’s just unbelievable and shows a total lack of leadership and common sense.

For a venue this size, the whole setup was an absolute shambles. The service was appalling, the staff clearly overwhelmed, and the management clearly clueless. It’s embarrassing. If you want decent service and food, look anywhere else. The Empire Great Yarmouth needs a serious...

It's a tricky one, this: in short, the atmosphere and decor is great, the food and drinks decent, but the service shocking. So, with that in mind it gets a begrudging 4 stars.

Free kids meals are great (for every adult meal, you get a free kids meal) but the 'streetfood' menu (burgers, pizza and jackets) is limited. Portions are of a good size, though. And prices decent.

Not a huge selection of drinks, but some 'craft' beers (think Camden Hells rather than independent breweries) on tap. It was, generally, a struggle to get served and at one point service was almost refused because they didn't have any clean wine glasses. That particular night we had wine in five different vessels, ranging from water glasses to gin goblets...

Bar service and floor service was generally poor, and perhaps getting rid of some glass collectors and leafleteers outside (somewhat brusquely throwing people in) to pay for more serving staff would help.

There is often live music, which is great, and families generally welcome relatively late (but you will be told to leave sooner or later). Toilets are clean-ish and there is an outside space with some tables where you can watch the world of Great Yarmouth pass by in all its glory. The playlist inside (when the bands aren't on) was far better than the (seasonal) DJ outside.

The building is worth a visit in itself. An old cinema, beautifully repurposed, but keeping some old features (the ticket booths on the way in are great). Decor is a bit of a mismatch of neon, music merch/memorabilia and American diner.

Clientele goes from families in the daytime and early evening to quite a young, drunken crowd as the night progresses. As they say: this must...