Fishmongers' Tavern — Restaurant in North Norfolk

Chaotic table servers, food disappointing. Looked promising but sadly lacking in all areas, would not recommend or return. Had been really looking forward to dining here with some friends but was sadly so very disappointed with the entire experience. There are lots of issues that needed addressing to ensure happy & repeat customers. We were warmly welcomed and seated promptly and by front of house, but waited around 30 minutes before our order was even taken. The drinks order we placed with the waiting staff was incorrect for two of our party and not corrected very swiftly. We had no cutlery on our table on seating and had to request this twice to be supplied. It took around 30 minutes from ordering for our starter to be served, yet people on tables near us, who came in after us, were served before we were. It took a further 1hr for our mains to be served, during which time our starter plates were not cleared, cutlery not replenished for the mains and the table was filling up with empty glasses. Once the food was served again we had to ask twice for cutlery, as 2 sets were bought for 4 diners !!! It was quicker for us to go to the bar and get our own drinks as the drinks service was non existent, nobody was going round checking everything was okay at your table or if our drinks needed replenishing. There is ample staff for the number of covers but they are not well trained and very chaotic / haphazard in executing their service. Now for the food, which has looked so promising on the menu, totally failed to deliver. Starters - very minuscule portions, would have preferred to pay a bit more and see a decent sized starter. The Smoked Fish Platter contained 2 prawns about 1 inch in length, a dessert spoon of mackerel pate, (not stated as pate on the menu) and a mouthful each of smoked salmon and and roasted salmon. Mains - Cod fillet whilst tasting nice was on a very weird flavour potato cake which was not pleasant. Swordfish this was over salted and totally spoilt the taste. Crab salad, totally misreprented, there is no salad as your would expect, just a bunch of lettuce leaves and had to be the smallest crab shell I have ever been served in a restaurant. Seabass was very dry, was not served on a bed of crushed new potatoes as detailed on the menu, just another strange tasting potato cake. The lobster bisque to accompany the seabass was revolting. How anyone can fail with triple cooked chips is beyond me, but all 4 of our party 'chip tasted' and agreed they did not taste right and were inedible. Needless to say all four of us left a far bit on our plates and left the premises hungry. Our issues were raised with front of house and the waiting staff so hopefully things will be taken on board. We paid our bill in full and despite our issues not even a complimentary after dinner coffee was offered. Sadly, it is not an experience we wish to repeat and we will not be returning and hand on heart would not at this moment in time , recommend to anyone until things VASTLY improve...

This place has huge potential, but falls down in a few areas.

Food - Overall the food is good, but just lacks a few bits of 'zing', to make it very good. Asparagus starter had a pesto dressing, but pesto needed to be more fresher with more herbs and garlic. My main was fish with a curry sauce and rice. The curry sauce was actually katsu curry (not necessarily a bad thing) , but this should have been explained when offering it as a special , plus the katsu just lacked that depth of flavour that you need to elevate it and make it a great sauce. My partner had a smoked mixed seafood starter, and for main she had the sea bass, both of which were excellent.

Service - Lots of very friendly and helpful staff. But they need management out front to show them how to serve food and deal with quests. One lovely waitress came to ask if we were enjoying our food 10 seconds after it had been put in front of us and another put our food on top of the knives and forks and then just left.

Restaurant in general - Decor is nice if simple with a lot of black. There are bottles of tap water on your table when you arrive , which has obviously been there for a while as it was warm. Why not bring a fresh , cold bottle out when guests are seated?

Prices - Not bad. Its not cheap, but not ridiculous for quality of produce .

Menu - Good overall choice with alternatives for Veggies and meat eaters if your not into fish. I was surprised there was not more crab options and there were no lobster choices. Considering its a seafood restaurant with lots of lobsters swimming just a mile away, that was odd.

So overall its a good restaurant. But to make it a great restaurant they just need to tweak the food a bit and give it a bit more punch, plus train the staff on front of house best practice etiquette. I hope to go back in a month or so to see if they...

I have to admit the prawns in Tempura starters were nice, but the main course was so disappointing. I didn't think i could ever have anything bad to say about crab and chips until i ate here. The dressed crab was topped in cheese, which made it taste and smell like sweaty fish. I am a massive lover of crabs, so I was gutted when i took my first bite. Then there were the chips. Which from the dont look that bad, but if you can imagine grating potato skin and frying it, this would represent what was sold as french friends i stated it came with salad too which was just lettuce with a cherry tomato. Honestly, I've never seen a place disrespect a crab in this way. I was starving when i arrived and even more so when i left. I would recommend forgetting about the cheese. A little bit of garlic butter on the crab would have been fine And just normal chips rather than shavings of potato skin. The server was lovely, but sadly, even her kindness couldn't make up for the feeling of dissatisfaction with what we felt. Luckily, we had eaten a few good meals at other places over the weekend, so we won't judge norfolk food by the meal...