Whelk Coppers Tea Rooms — Restaurant in North Norfolk

Popped in for breakfast on a Saturday morning around 9:15. Sunny outside with a slightly chill wind but not enough to stop us from sitting outside to enjoy the views (although it is absolutely gorgeous inside!) We ordered tea for two, one full English with gluten free toast and poached eggs on sourdough. The staff were very friendly and helpful and the drinks came very quickly. The poached eggs arrived looking delicious but, unfortunately, a couple sat down at the next table and lit up cigarettes so we were soon wreathed in a cloud of stinky second hand smoke - not how we wanted to enjoy our meal. Fortunately, there was an empty table upwind so we were able to decamp. Unfortunately, there was a long wait for the other meal to arrive so mine was a bit cold by then. It's a shame the food wasn't bought at the same time as we obviously wanted to eat breakfast together and it would have been nice to both have hot meals. We also thought the amount of food with the full English was a bit disappointing - only one sausage, bacon and egg, about three to four small mushrooms, three cherry tomatoes and the tiniest piece of toast I've ever seen! The plate was mainly taken up by a dish of baked beans. (To be fair, the menu does say it's only one of everything but it really was a very small breakfast - I think I had more food than he did!) All the food was delicious, though. The menu has a lovely selection and it's great that there are so many gluten free, dairy free, vegan etc options, the staff were very friendly and the location and decor are great. It's a shame but our experience really was spoiled by other people's smoke and the meals not being served at the same time so it left us feeling a bit disappointed. (It never even crossed our minds that someone would be blowing cigarette smoke over our food - thought that was a thing of the past but the staff provided them with an ashtray so it's obviously just normal - lesson learned!) Hopefully this will be helpful information so that future customers who don't like eating in a smoking environment can choose to sit inside. Not an altogether enjoyable experience,...

Looked amazing when we happened upon it by chance at lunchtime, but was a bit disappointed. Our group is vegan and non vegan and it was great they catered for this, and dog friendly too. We had our three young children with us and the dog. It was a little chilly but no seats inside so we happily sat outside and they had blankets in the foyer which was a nice touch. They gave us menus so we picked what we wanted and ordered, there was no icecream on the childrens menu but my little girl really fancied some as we were at the seaside, so asked if they could do a childrens portion and were told no! Seemed a bit weird to me as only wanted one less scoop in the bowl so as not to waste it. As it was, the dog ended up with some but trying to avoid unnecessary food waste this seemed a bit silly. We ordered a selection of sausage rolls, vegan sausage rolls and vegetable samosas which on the menu said served with picallily and something else which I can’t remember now. Anyway, it turned up and was just sausage roll on a plate. Queried this when we went to pay the bill as didn’t want to pay for an incomplete meal but told that the other bits were chargeable extras. Didn’t make this clear on the menu and the waiter who took the order didn’t mention this. When they brought the order out he asked if we wanted any sauces, we asked for tomato sauce and brown sauce but it never turned up. No babychange drop down table in the one loo either, so a missed opportunity there, especially as they have a kids menu you would think they would have a babychange table. £4 for a reheated sausage roll with no sauce or side salad or pickle felt a little disappointing. That said, it is a great setting with a nice ambiance and...

Just a caveat- MOST of the issues in this review are likely because they were busy. Aside from the black mould. Came in for breakfast for 6 people, was advised it’d be a 35 min wait for food-which was fine with us. 20 minutes later, we had to approach a staff member asking them to take our order. TWICE. They came around 5 mins after the second ask. It took them around 15-20 minutes after that just bring the drinks, it then, took them the advertised 35 minutes to bring our food. Which again, we were made aware of that prior to being seated, so that’s acceptable, whatever. What was unacceptable is that the inside of the milk jug for our drinks was MOULDY. I pointed this put to a member of staff. She apologised. I then had to ask for a fresh jug of milk and new cups and for new tea because we didn’t want to drink anything further that’d been in contact with the black mould. She brought one fresh tea cup (there were two of us drinking tea) and added fresh water to the existing teabags, making for a very weak tea. They then had the audacity to charge us for two teas. I paid the £70 bill and left, vowing never to return. Also, DO NOT order from the kids menu if your kids are older than 3yrs. The portions are TINY and over priced. They even gave my two sons (6&8) toddler cutlery, which was weird. It’s a shame, because the staff were polite and friendly (despite being visibly terrible at their jobs and very busy) and the food was actually delicious and perfectly cooked. If it wasn’t for the mould situation, I’dve just never gone back and not left this review. They should have apologised, got us both fresh drinks and taken the teas off...