The Duck, Stanhoe — Restaurant in King's Lynn and West Norfolk

We dined here last year, sad to see such a poor decline.

Upon arrival, had a warm greeting and service was okay, although wasnt given a drinks menu when seated.

When we asked for one, a few seconds later another waitress asked our drinks order and then another again too soon after that.

Food arrived after a substantial time, we ordered roast beef and 1 child's roast chicken.

Sadly it was absolutely awful, except the beef itself. The children's chicken, the meat itself was very very dry.

All our potatoes were hard in the middle, the parsnips were rock hard, it was a job to cut through them. The Yorkshire puddings were clearly made hours ago and left to go stale and tasted bad.

None of it tasted fresh.

Tried raising the issues, but could not get waitress attention, she was far too busy chatting for a good 15 minutes to regulars around the bar menu.

We did not get a mid-meal check either, so, sat clearly not eating unable to get their attention we waited, waited and waited a long time until they came towards us.

I said we were not happy and why, the waitress, who i later found out to be a manager was very rude and had a bad attitude, she must have repeated about 4 times that people have enjoyed it all day and we are the only people to complain and it not be up to our high standards.

So, as other people say they've liked it, who knows if thats true, that must mean every dish plated is great?

We were probably served the same food as those people, cooked hours ago and left to go rock hard.

I could not believe how rude the manager was, her attitude, patronising, talking down to paying customers. I'm not sure if shes ever attended any customer service training, but as someone who trains others for a living I'd be surprised if shes ever had a job in hospitality before.

Her attitude turned even worse, when told I would have raised this sooner but we had no mid-meal check, when she was chatting to her regulars for a long time.

She then had the cheek to ask if we were staying for pudding, which we had planned to, but obviously now weren't.

Gladly, the bill came with the OVERPRICED meals taken off of it. As if they didnt, there was no way i was paying for them it was inedible. But she made a huge point of telling me it was a a goodwill gesture as it wasn't up to my high standards.

I echo recent concerning reviews of poor customer service, rude staff and poor food. I've had better food and service at much "worse" establishments, and the price, is the same price I'd pay at gastropubs in Buckinghamshire not a village in Norfolk.

This place clearly has gone downhill and only cares about local regulars, not any holidaymakers let alone annual repeat customers.

No way would we return now, after we had enjoyed it last year, id avoid it and suggest everyone else does too unless you're a local regular to chat all night to - no wonder the car park is essentially empty at 5pm on a Sunday compared to other local pubs and restaurants.

If i had the energy and wanted to ruin my holiday I'd spend the time to write a formal complaint to the owners. But that time would be better spent teaching the manager what customer service is and how to talk to people without sarcasm or attitude.

Overview:

👎 TERRIBLE STAFF, POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

👎 OVERPRICED MEALS

👎 RUDE MANAGER

👎 HARD,...

The Duck at Stanhoe remains a popular village restaurant, now under new family ownership. The chef-owner runs the kitchen, while his wife and daughter jointly manage the front-of-house. The venue still trades on a strong reputation — but our recent visit raised questions about whether the current standard matches the price point or the past acclaim.||||We dined with friends from out of town. The setting is still lovely, but the menu — a single sheet of typewritten A4 — was a stark downgrade from what’s shown online, setting a tone of diminished ambition. Starters were good and arrived promptly, but from there the evening went downhill.||||I had the lamb: five small, overcooked pieces that felt sparse and unremarkable. My wife’s monkfish was served nearly cold, with chilled fennel and an overcooked rice cake that couldn’t be cut. She returned it and asked for the pork ribeye instead — only to be told minutes later it was sold out. She eventually received fish and chips: a disappointing fallback at £25.||||What made the situation worse was how it was handled. Despite being local villagers — supposedly a valued part of the restaurant’s community — we were left in the hands of the owners’ daughter, who was clearly doing her best but shouldn’t have been left to handle it alone. At no point did the front-of-house manager — her mother — step in to engage with guests who were clearly having problems.||||The Duck still charges like a fine-dining destination, but on this evidence, it’s delivering something far less polished — and far less attentive — than the...

Beware - terrible food and terrible arrogant attitude! Don’t be fooled by the old photos - this is not a representation of what actually gets served…. Chicken Caesar salad was awful, fatty limp chicken strips (like the nasty off cuts you give to the dog - probably not even the dog to be fair) with fatty strips of chicken skin, soggy lettuce and soggy bread crumbs (?) - the worst salad I’ve ever attempted to eat. Returned the salad uneaten and charged £18, the chef said it’s okay so apparently that’s all that matters and somebody else had it the other day and enjoyed it so gosh yes it must be okay - appalling arrogant customer service, it’s not as if the salad had been half eaten, it was too awful to eat. Appalling place with a terrible attitude, perhaps consider the customer maybe right if they actually can’t eat your food without wanting to vomit! Disgusting! The fact you served a bad dish is not the problem, it’s how you resolve it that matters - zero customer service - plenty of other bad reviews about poor food and terrible customer service - beware - you may potentially get a bad meal served and go home having not eaten but still have to pay! Do yourself a flavour and go down the road into Burnham Market and have good food and good...