Ocean Fish Platter — Restaurant in Ipswich

I don't live in Ipswich, which I'm a bit gutted about now because I'd have to drive for over an hour to eat here again. A friend took me here, and he described it to me as 'unassuming, but really good'. He was totally right. From the outside, it looks a bit like a cafe, but as you enter, little details here and there clue you in that this is a restaurant. We hadn't booked, but luckily there was a table free. Very lucky, as within the next hour the tables started to fill, and just kept going. So, we get seated, the menus are there, the waitress is friendly and happy and we choose our meals and order some wine. I start to realise that this is, indeed, a proper restaurant when the wine arrives with the wine waiter, who shows us the bottle, opens it with practised ease, asks if we would like to taste and pours for us. He is also happy and friendly, which we discover is a general state among the wait staff. I'm already happy to be here, but when the starters arrive I'm extremely pleased. The calimari is piled high on the plate, along with a salad, and the Scottish scallops are large and cooked perfectly. They almost seem to sigh as you cut into them. We're talking as we eat, but the conversation is paused several times to groan over the plates and exclaim 'its so good!'. I'm trying to scrape what's left of the sauce off my plate because I just want more. And I'm thinking to myself, if this was just the starters, how amazing is the main going to be? The wait staff have impeccable timing as well, the plates are taken swiftly and they laugh at our jokes and are so pleased that we've enjoyed the food. My friend confesses this is his third time in the restaurant and he just needed an excuse to come again, explaining his gentle prods when asking me to 'choose'. The main arrives, grilled sea bass with chips (obviously) and vegetables. The chips come in a separate bowl, leaving the sea bass to occupy the plate, and it does so gorgeously! Two pieces recline over their bed of vegetables, and I can't wait to get stuck in. The first bite has me interrupting whatever my friend was talking about, as I'm too busy crying over the deliciousness in my mouth. The fish is grilled to total perfection, skin crispy and holding that barbecue flavour, and the flesh soft and flaky. The vegetables are the same, and compliment the fish completely. I think it's clear that I enjoyed the food, but I still feel the need to say that those were the best plates of fish I've had in my life, and any opportunity to return to Ipswich will definitely include another meal here. I can't emphasise enough, if you're anywhere near this place, you are doing yourself a massive disservice by...

I was so much looking forward to going back to this place as the first time I enjoyed the seafood very much. Unfortunately, this time has been very disappointing. I am normally very patient and positive, but I must say that this business has got serious problems with customer service. Our experience could have been much better with just a bit of professional management of communication. I booked a table for two adults and a child for at 8 pm. We arrived at 8:02 pm just before a big group. The waiter didn't find my reservation but I showed him the registered call on my phone and he got us a table. We ordered fried calamari, falafel, junior cod fish, 1 seafood platter for 2, plus one beer, one glass of wine, and tap water. We got the drinks, and 20 minutes later the calamari arrived as a starter for the child. The problem was that at 9 pm any of the two adults hadn't got any food yet. We asked the waitress how long we should wait and she said there was a problem with the grill and some orders were stuck there. She literally said that we would get our food in 5 minutes. 15 minutes later we didn't have anything yet. Since falafel and fish&chips are not made on the grill we don't know exactly why these two dishes couldn't be served if the issue was in the grill (?). The restaurant was not full at all, there were quite a few empty tables in the front area. My husband went to the grill area where our waitress was standing to ask her for some updates and he realized that nothing was yet ready. The waitress was still saying "5 more minutes". We decided to leave. I paid for the calamari. The staff member at the cashpoint apologized many times and billed me for the drinks, too, but since we were leaving our glasses full because we were waiting to be served our plates, I refused to pay for the drinks. We left the restaurant hungry and sad. I can be fully understanding of any issues in the kitchen, but the experience can be "soothed" with honest communication and some offer to make the waiting a bit more bearable, especially when there are infants (some bread, chips, peanuts, any snack would make it easier). I would have still tried one more time to eat here in the future, but the worse part comes when we leave a review explaining our experience and we receive a reply from the owner lying about us. I don't see the point of treating customers as if we were all...

Honestly we experienced the worst customer service I have ever come across and I’m not one to complain as I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.

My husband and I got to the venue at 7.20 for a a birthday booking at 7.30 and we’re told the table wasn’t ready and they were now putting decorations on the table. We later found out that another party had been seated at our table as all the decorations we had brought had been given to someone else.

Nobody came to our table until 8.11 to offer us a drink and it wasn’t until 9.13 until we actually got our food. I understand Mediterranean service can be slow, however a family of people were sat after us and were served before us even tho we had been sitting their for at least 20 minutes

The party which had our decorations were also given our birthday cake which was a vegan cake. This was given to them even after knowing they made a mistake with the table decorations.

We complained to the waitress and requested an apology from the manager. She said she would let her manager know and she said she will also tell the owner who she pointed too.

The owner came over with the bill and gave it to the birthday girl and said “sorry, I have taken off all your drinks” it was nice the owner said sorry but it was not apologetic in anyway.

I personally requested that the birthday girl at leasts gets her meal free.

When we then looked at the bill not all drinks were removed. When we raised this, the owner began arguing that he took 3 drinks off but he promised to take all drinks off. He then said “what would you like me to do for you” and we asked for the bill to be £130 from £150 and the owner said he can’t do that. At this point I was ready to walk out without paying.

Yes a mistake was made but to make further mistakes just made the situation worse and then to have the owner argue with us over 3 drink and refuse to provide any sort of compensation for the inconveniences was rather discussing.

It really did spoil the birthday girls evening and she was in tears. No happy birthday from any of the staff and no cake as it was all given to someone else even after they knew they messed up.

We got £140 for the bill and we gave an extra £10 to the waitress who gave a better service than the owner and manager combined.

I would definitely not recommend...