The Lion Needham Market — Restaurant in Mid Suffolk

I decided to walk to Needham Market. After an hour or so I stopped at the Lion for a drink and dinner.

The Lion is an OLD (ca 1618) pub where you need to duck in some places because the wooden beams are so low. There are even Tudor red roses on the walls to give you an idea of it'sage and feel. The deco is traditional English pub, the sound system is new, but the music is loud enough to hear but not so loud so that you can't have a conversation.

I was seen to a table and got my drink quite quickly; and my food ordered sometime after that. The pub was busy so there was a little wait for food, but this just meant I could people watch and listen to my podcast. When the food arrived it was tasty, hot and just what I needed after a long walk. The ratio of quantity to price to quality were a pleasant surprise. (I forgot to take a food pic). The food was high quality, high quantity at a low price. I had trouble finishing the plate! After an hour of drinks and food I started my long walk home, full of warm food and happy thoughts of returning.

I will definitely be coming back here on my next long walk.

2023 update: we went for lunch and things haven't really changed. Things are a bit more expensive, as to be expected, but all in all the quality is as good as...

This restaurant has the worst customer service ever! On my visit with family this September we had a very unpleasant meal & experience . First the drink orders were wrong which wasn't really a problem until they didn't  change when asking, then the two chicken dishes we ordered were both under cooked and we could see that it was still raw when cutting through it. When bringing to their attention the owner was fustrated that we mentioned this & refused to believe that the chicken was not cooked & did not offer to remake us the same dish or see the menu for something else. The owner then insulted me by saying "it's every time you come here there is a problem".

The owner refused to take the 2 meals off the bill even though we had barely touched the plate & the raw chicken, we explained we were happy to pay for the food that we ate but not for what we did not touch.

While handling the money to pay the bill the owner tried to snatch extra money from my hands as we had refused to pay for the 2meals we did not eat.

I have eaten at this place many times over the years and can say this restaurants standards have decreased over the years & my recent experience at the Lion is the worst service I have...

Had an unplanned visit here after a walk over Needham Lakes on a very warm day. So a cool drink and food was certainly welcome. We had two small dogs, so we had to sit outside. That's OK, a nice day and plenty of tables outside, and a large grassed area up the steps beside the inn. Inside the inn it looked clean and the staff were friendly, quite a good selection of drinks. Food selection was good and they had a few specials, what we ordered was brought to our table outside, quite trek for the server, up the steps but they were obviously used to it the way they managed to traverse the steps with a large tray full of food and condiments. Delivered with a smile and made sure we had everything we wanted. Food was tasty and good temperature, plenty of it as well. In all a pleasant visit, prices reasonable and compares well with similar establishments. I would visit again but I would expect for the less able, they would need to be inside or on the one table I saw at ground level. I didn't see a wheelchair access but there may have been another entrance I didn't see. The entrance we went in had steps and would have been very difficult to get a wheelchair through, there are also steps to...