The Golden Fleece — Restaurant in North Norfolk

3 years ago I gave the Pub 4/5 * Today it deserves 1/5 * It has no Character. All members seem to be under age. A menu that is out of date/ season. Specials were both fish, one being a fish curry (fish curry already on the menu)and the other local muscles ...Too many fish dishes!!! And the most annoying thing is the reference of the greeting 'Guys'. We are man & woman. I don't have a tail between my legs. I am woman. What is wrong with the greeting of "folks" "Sir" "Madam By the way the fish & chips were awful as was the tartar sauce.. So today 1 December 2024 we returned to the Golden Fleece knowing that it has new owners and that a bit of work has been done on the upper floor, which was in most need off. We booked our table for 3pm. Arrived about 10 mins early. No problem. We waited and had a drink. About 5 mins after 3 I asked if our table was ready. Reply from the young lady was " yeah it's over there table 6" 🙄 We sat down and about 5 mins later our order was taken , which was Steak Ale pie with Chips & peas and a Roast Beef dinner with cauliflower cheese. The pub wasn't that busy. However a couple of tables who had sat down before us was told that there was a bit of a delay due to them being busy. 😲 No one told us that. At 3.50 pm I asked how much longer before we get our food. " Oh yes I'll find out " she says. Eventually we were told 10 mins. Half an hour later, our plates arrived. 🤮 Chips were over done as well as the pie. The Roast Beef with the soggy Yorkshire pudding was awful. It was suppose to have come with all the seasonal veg of leeks white cabbge carrots and peas. Well no leeks carrots or cabbage. I cut into the so called Roast potatoes and it oozes out a lot of grease/ oil/fat. The beef was lukewarm. The veg also that being the peas and pickled red cabbage. I also ordered a side dish of cauliflower cheese. That was disgusting. Under cooked to the fact it was raw and the cheese well that was so enemic to say the least. I told them that I wasnt acceping that plate and to take it off my bill. It all should have been spot on especially after waiting all that time. I asked for the bill. They wanted me to pay the full amount. No way.I said. " Why " they asked. Really. 1 We have waited for 1hr and 20 mins for our meal with no-one letting us know that here was a delay. 2 Lack of vegetables again they didn't inform us about that 3 The soggy Yorkshire pudding. 4 it was luke warm if that. . I am happy to say that they did deduct the 2 meals from our bill. Unfortunately it doesn't want us to go back very soon. We have been visiting the Golden Fleece for many years as there has always a good vibe there pre covid. Unfortunately it's not the...

Unfortunately The Golden Fleece seemed to be incredibly understaffed on our visit, not just in front of house, but at the bar, and in the kitchen too. On an incredibly busy Sunday, there was only one waitress working front of house, one person behind the bar (and there was a constant queue for the couple of hours we were there), plus a very long wait for food.

Once we were seated, we had to wait 10-15 minutes just for a drink order to be taken, and then another 15 minutes for our food order (we were ready to order when drinks were taken, but the waitress quickly rushed off). Food wasn’t served until an hour after we’d first sat down.

Had they said ‘I’m terribly sorry, we’re very understaffed and food may be a bit longer than our usual time’, I would have understood, but there was no mention of this at all. Similarly, it seemed quicker to just go and stand in the queue to get drinks at the bar rather than wait for service.

The food was fine, nothing special - the roast potatoes seemed re-heated as they were rock solid. The ‘Butternut Squash’ Wellington we had ordered I was very confused by, as there was no butternut squash in sight! It seemed to be chickpea, lentil and perhaps spinach? It tasted fine, but it was not what was advertised on the menu.

I felt incredibly sorry for the one member of staff serving tables, as they were polite but obviously very rushed off their feet and didn’t completely seem like they wanted to be there.

We decided to go elsewhere for dessert, as I suspect we’d of had to wait another hour for the order to be taken. Sadly very disappointed with...

We had our table booked for 6pm and arrived 15 minutes early and we're shown to our table where we were asked if we like a drink. Our drinks arrived with menus but we then had to wait 20/25 minutes before we grabbed one of the waiting staff to take our orders. Our starters turned up about 10 minutes later but no cutlery or condiments were left or offered so I sourced them myself, neither of the dishes could be faulted, they were delicious. For main I order beer battered cod with chips and peas and my partner ordered the sea bass with giant cous cous and roasted veg. We felt the wait for our mains a little long considering it wasn't overly busy at this time in the evening but when they arrived again the food was hot and well presented. Again I couldn't fault my dish, it was lovely and tasty, my partner had the sea bass with roasted veg but she was a little underwhelmed as there was hardly any roast veg, a couple of roasted vine tomatoes and some courgette. She was happy with the flavour and presentation but felt for the cost of this dish a few more veg would have completed it. At no point did a member of the waiting staff ask how our meal was or if we needed more drinks..... overall we enjoyed the meal and understand that we are just a week back in to dining inside. We appreciate that some of the waiting staff may be new and learning the ropes but they really need to be more attentive to their customers and make them fell valued and welcome. Please find this review as constructive criticism, we would gladly come back again and the view we had from our table over the...