The Forge Kitchen — Restaurant in Ipswich

Visited here for the second time today. Its an impressive looking venue.... and for visitors to Ipswich perfectly located for a stroll to the Waterfront after dinner where you can enjoy a drink or dessert in one of the many harbour-side bars. The Forge is clean with modern, industrial interiors. Both times I have eaten have been on a Sunday.... when there is a specific menu presenting a selection of the usual weekday grill dishes as well as Sunday roasts. We were a party of five who had reserved a table in advance. We were advised that we could dine outdoors. As we sipped drinks in the bar area we were advised that outdoor dining wasn't actually available due to a wedding party. No bother. The menu is moderately expensive... £11.50 for a Sunday dinner plus additional cost for carrots and cauliflower cheese. A selection of vegetables were included in the price which are served communally - each person helping themselves. The issue was all of the vegetables were 'green' - cabbage, peas and green beans.... making the dinner look somewhat insipid. Also there was not enough. The gravy is served in small ramekins.... we were advised that we could ask for more. We did (it was a tiny tiny serving) and were suprised to see a charge of £2.24 for the additional gravy on the bill! We were not advised we'd pay for gravy. Due to an hour wait for mains on our last visit we had a 25% discount voucher. We presented this.... and the overall bill was reduced by £1.50! On a £75 spend. We queried this and on the second attempt the discount was applied to the whole bill.... watch it - they are crafty. I can see why some people like it.... the food is nice.... venue and toilets are spotless.... but with all of the additional charges on the menu (chips, salad, onion rings etc are not included with mains) as well as additional charges maybe you'd be better off at The Harvester.... where the venue may not be so exciting but at least the pricing structure is simple....

Took my family here tonight for our dinner after having visited other nearby attractions (we are on holiday in Dovercourt). Finding the parking is quite difficult with no clear signage to show its behind the restaurant and up the alleyway. There's only about 4-5 spaces which you should reverse into to make leaving easy like I did.

The decor of the restaurant is odd but at the same time rather intriguing and quite enjoyable to look at. I'm a foundryman so for me seeing the old forging tools and such like is great. Love it all.

The menu again is quirky but nice gives it an old English kind of early 1900's vibe, hopefully that's what they are going for or I'm way off.

Staff are polite and friendly.... could be more attentive in my opinion. We had orders taken quick enough and food arrived fairly quick but not much presence after that. And unfortunately they lost out on a second drinks sale from me as I did advise that I would like another pint which did not materialise. I didn't chase it. Also we had 2 waitresses during our visit. In my opinion maybe keep the same servers to the same tables for the attentiveness and server/diner relationship really.

I think that the burgers could use some salad on the plate. Its literally bistro burger and chips but there is room on the plate for a bit more considering the price im paying.

Kids meals again were amazing on portion sizes. Real flavour in the foods on offer. My daughters thought that maybe the children's menu could be made to have more than 3 options please. Also as one of my daughters doesnt do well with dairy they swapped her ice cream dessert for sorbet. Regrettably though she was only given one Scoop wen one of the waitresses advised she would get two. Its all good though as they handled it really well and compensated us for it.

I'm not beating the place down its definitely a lovely place to go to. Peaceful, tranquil, and friendly. I just feel there is places to...

Thoroughly enjoyed our experience here - the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and just generally made us feel welcome and totally relaxed. The food itself is a shade on the pricey side, but I've paid more for less, and everything was perfectly seasoned and cooked (be aware that if you buy a sharing platter, be it meat, fish etc, you will need to add sides, as you get exactly what's listed on the menu). We had the meat platter with the "burnt beans" and "green leaves" (2 sides), and three tapas-style dishes (the squid, the hake scampi, and the calmari). The meat platter did exactly what it said on the tin (or menu), with a decent selection of meats, grilled and smoked without excess rubs, marinades, bastes or glazes etc other than basic seasoning and whatever they add to their ribs before cooking. If I was being picky, I could say the lamb kofta was a tiny bit dry, but I know that was just down to very lean minced lamb. The wings and sausage were really good, but I'm glad I ate them before the ribs, as the ribs were exceptional. As impressive as the platter was, the seafood tapas we had at the same time were what prompted me to write such a lengthy review. All of them were outstanding, but we both agreed the calamari (not squid "rings", more squid "steaks") was the surprising winner for both of us. It was so tender my girlfriend didn't believe it was squid until her second bite! Amazing selection of drinks as well: ordered a "smoking teapot" cocktail (I picked the gin-based one) for my girlfriend, who couldn't stop grinning at it from the second it arrived, and got a watermelon "home-infused" rum for myself. The rum was outstanding, as was my Girlfriend's gin cocktail (well worth the £10 just for how happy it made her, but there was soooo much in there as well. Thanks again to all the staff. If we're ever there again, then we will...