Raven — Restaurant in Ipswich

Feels like home... Despite having many more local pubs to myself I have recently adapted The Raven as my "Local" and I just wanted to share why...

Staff - Graham & Chrissie have made me feel more than welcome to the point i regularly called Chrissie "Mummzy". Scott, Sophie, Mel, Jazz and even the Chef (Chefatano) have gone above and beyond regularly to make conversation, cater to any needs and make me personally feel like a part of this pub and pub family, it is refreshing to see a family running a pub together as how it should be.

Activities/Leisure - You have a pool table, darts board, fruit manchines and for the younger ones, they have a separate indoor children's area with interactive touch screens. Everyone is considered.

Food/Drink - Proper Pizza Oven that helps create one of the best 'pub pizzas' in Ipswich, a varied menue that gets changed, reasonable pricing on food too. For the Drink, you are covered with a well rounded selection and the addition of Cruzcampo has been a lovely new addition.

Events/Activities - Darts Team (Plays every Monday in a league to raise money for Mencap Charity), as someone who recently started to enjoy playing darts, I have since taken role as Captain of the team and created a special bond with all of our players. The Raven has done a weekly quiz night (Wednesdays) for many years which has always been popular and run by a brilliant host who i never got the name for however known as Quiz Lady. Kareoke nights on the last Friday of every month has to be an all time favourite for me, time to let your hair down and let them ropey vocals get used, all in great spirit and fun.

Venue - Private carpark with electric charger spots, cute little outdoor tables (very enjoyable in the summer), The inside of the pub offers a windy shape which allows for different sections of the pub to be used for different situations, you can pick to be in a more quiet area or perhaps a more lively area. The bar area is large and the Pizza Oven is on show for everyone watch the craftsmanship of pizza making in person. Toilets are clean & Men have an additional bathroom near the pub games/sports which is nice.

Dog Friendly - Not only are all people made to feel welcome, but with the pub being dog friendly, it just adds to a more loving and family atmosphere, i have made many K9 friends along the way.

Improvements/Negatives - A proper beer garden would really take this place to a different level, especially for them summer months, I see what appears to be wasteland behind the car park, if possible to obtain, this would be amazing for all. I tend to find the temperature a little too warm most of the time but this is knit picking. If the bar is busy, you can find yourself waiting a while for drinks due to lack of staff, it would be a nice addition to be able to scan/order to table. Watching live sport in the Raven can be difficult, there isn't what feels a main screen or separated sound for games to make watching sport here exciting, they have TNT but no Sky Sports, I would love for this to somehow change so sport lovers could collectively come and watch together at The Raven.

Overall - Beautiful pub, lovely staff, friendly locals, nice food, decent beer. My second home for...

Diabolical service. This place has gone down the sh1++er since changing management - when Ele was the landlady it was always a lovely, welcoming place to visit. Sadly this will be our last.

Was told AFTER ordering and paying it would be a 45 minute wait for food. Debated leaving as we were with our already hungry 3 year old, but decided to stick it out as he was enjoying playing in the (disgustingly dirty) ‘play area’ in the corner. Unsure why it was a 45 minute wait for food when the pub was probably 50-60% full, so clearly they hadn’t correctly staffed the kitchen for a Friday night service.

The original table we sat on had old ketchup on the top, and even all over one of the seats. We moved tables and this one was sticky all over, but gave up trying to find the best of a bad bunch.

After 50 minutes I asked for our food to be chased, to be told ours was the next one coming. When it arrived, my son’s pasta was missing the cheese we had ordered, so I asked for some to be added. After a few minutes (must have gone to milk the cow), a sour faced waitress with glasses and a bad attitude brought it over and told us we would need to pay for the cheese, whilst holding the pasta hostage in her hands until we agreed to it. I informed her that my husband had asked for cheese when ordering, to which she replied ‘I didn’t put it through the till with cheese’. I told her that very much sounded like a her problem, and was gobsmacked that after a) having waited so long for the food to come, b) having only been told of the wait after parting with our money, and c) it being her fault the order was wrong, she had the cheek to demand we pay the 40p (or whatever pitiful amount it was that the pub clearly desperately needs) for a sprinkling of cheese to go on top of some kids pasta. Anyone with a basic level of customer service (and knowledge of how to retain customers) would have just gone ‘You know what, we have f’ed up tonight, have the cheese on us’, but clearly this particular waitress missed day 1 of her hospitality training; when every person who goes on to a career in the industry learns that customers are 10x more likely to share negative experiences, than they are good ones.

Upon leaving, the miserable cow was moaning to some poor young lad about hanging around the kitchen when the bell wasn’t ringing, so I could only assume in disbelief at this point that she may even somehow be management; in which case this place has no hope. I didn’t pay the 40p so I expect I’ll be receiving a court summons any day now.

Beef and ale pie was...

We ordered our food and drinks at the bar. After paying I was given a pint of cider instead of a half. I was told that I hadn't specified a half. I'd paid for the pint, so I'd decided to let it go and just drink some of it, as I'm not a drinker. I ordered the rump steak - it arrived with no mushrooms, so I had to go and find someone to ask. By then I had tried the steak, and about a third of it was gristle and fat. I had asked for medium and it was raw inside. The waitress said I could upgrade to a sirloin which would be less fatty, I thought she was offering it free but I would have had to pay extra, so I went for another rump steak. It arrived completely overdone and dry, and half the size of the first one. I told my friend that they should eat because theirs was getting cold, and the mushrooms that they'd brought in a separate dish were now cold too. A decent restaurant would have offered to keep all the food warm. I asked to see the manager and he offered a refund. I said I thought the upgrade should have been free, and he agreed but did nothing about it. He started putting the spare cutlery on my plate while it was still in front of me, ready to take my plate away, and said he'd give me a refund, but I couldn't eat any more of it or I wouldn't get a refund. He said I'd already eaten half of it. I was so hungry by now that I'd eaten about half of the chips. I told him I'd had one mouthful of the steak, as it was tiny to start with! I decided to mention having to pay for a pint of cider when I only wanted a half and he laughed and said was I complaining that I'd been given too much cider? His attitude was awful. We haven't been to the Raven for a long time and had decided to try it for a change, but we won't be going back. Yes the steaks are very poor quality, and both the waitress and the manager said that they have no control over what they get sent by Marstons, and I get that. But having someone in the kitchen who knows how to cook them would help! And having a manager with a much better attitude towards the customer would be a big...