Castle Carvery - Clocktower — Restaurant in Norwich

Dreadful Meal & Service

A group of 4 people went to celebrate my Wife's Birthday, we had been looking forward to this day for months. What we thought was going to be a pleasant meal ended up with 1 meal being sent back for 100% refund as it was oozing blood when it was requested to be well done.

At the time of ordering the meal it started going wrong, we ordered 1 Carvery, 1 Castle Platter, 2 Mixed Grills, both well done with eggs flipped. Also ordered 1 Lager, I non Alcoholic beer and 1 pint of Lemonade and Lime. The meal was paid for and I asked how long it would take so that we could co-ordinate the carvery meal. The lady who took our order mentioned to me that there was no egg with the steak!!! She had got the order wrong, so had to dash to the kitchen to correct it, then charge me the £14 difference. At the same time I mentioned the drinks were wrong, that was another error and she poured the correct drink.

On to the meal: The meals arrived, my wife collected her carvery. I started to eat the steak which, although undercooked was okay. They I tried the gammon, it was raw, I then tried the lamb chop, I placed the tip of the knife in the middle and it oozed blood. I went to the bar to complain and ask for a 100% refund. The woman at the bar was a little smug and asked how I knew it was bloody as she could not see I had cut it. I suggested she should not doubt my word, but she picked the chop up and squeezed it and asked if I would like it re-cooked. Under no circumstances would I have accepted that back, so refused to eat anything there and got my money refunded. The reason my Son-in-Law did not complain about his bloody steak is that he did not want to make a fuss. To make matters worse, the sausages were still flexible and grey, the peas were poor quality and bullet hard, the roast potatoes were deep fried and hard in the middle, the cauliflower cheese was hard and tasteless. Overall a dreadful meal and at £85 was a waste of money.

Now this may have nothing to do with the dreadful meal, but later that day my wife threw her heart up and was violently sick!

I have had cause to complain about the carvery vegetables being cold before, it was pretty much the same this time. So, its a big no no and never again from our family - Dreadful in every way, eat at your own risk, but never be afraid to complain and ask for a refund. I always thought that when you go out for a meal it should be enjoyable, even better than what you could cook yourself, but this place really make a bad...

I went with my friends for a nice meal, haven’t been to the place for around 6 years and they have always had a good reputation within Norfolk. However…… I found a selection of the bar staff rude and uninviting. I had the carvery option and decided to try a small amount of everything on offer except from the turkey. Runner beans - hard and undercooked, the green peas are comparable to air rifle pellets as they were so undercooked. The mash potato was tasteless, sticky and unpalatable. The roast potatoes tasted boiled on the inside and the outside was not at all crispy/roasted. The cauliflower flower cheese was grainy and powdery with no underlining elements of “cheese”. Carrots were watery and tasteless. The pork was satisfactory but the beef cuts were fatty with not an enjoyable experience to consume. The gammon tasted as if it was aged in a barrel of seawater. The Yorkshire puddings although sizeable tasted unlike anything I have ever had before…… wallpaper ?…… worst Yorkshire I have ever eaten. The parsnips were satisfactory. Gravy was satisfactory. The stuffing was undercooked but satisfactory. The sausages where very nice. I had chicken goujons as a starter and these where very nice although the side salad was drenched in honey mustard dressing which was way too overpowering. At the end of the meal I made a comment to the waiter and he asked if I would like to complain, I said I would but needed some time to collect my thoughts and got a pint and went to the garden to begin highlighting my thoughts, after this me and my friends attempted to go back inside to make my formal complaint and the manager would not take anything I had said seriously and then commented that she had no recollection of who I was although speaking to her 10 minutes ago exchanging words when the table was cleared by her. With this she said I could not make a complaint as she was unable to confirm I was a customer although showing the receipt and gave me 2 complimentary glasses of coke…… I left the coke on the table outside and left explaining I would be making a review on line. I will never attend this restaurant again due to the quality of food and the staffs unsatisfactory level of care fore...

It's not worth the wait in the queue on a Sunday.

Pick an entrance, any entrance. Whichever way you end up entering the establishment, you still won't know what to do unless you've been there before.

Wait in the queue at the bar for upwards of 30 minutes for what should be a max. 10 minute wait as there is one guy at the bar serving people and not entirely trying to wittle down the queue. Whether this be a tactic of the place to make sure it's not overly full or not, it's not great.

Once you do get your drinks and Carvery order tickets (after another member of staff realises that it's time to start helping to take orders) you can go back to your hopefully saved table that you've hunted down, set down your drinks and head over to the carvery section.

Now, because of the slow queue at the bar, there is absolutely no one waiting for the carvery, so you're straight in.

On a Sunday, you have a choice of 5 meats, which is pretty good (pork, Gammon, Turkey, beef, and lamb). The veg looks pretty good and is cooked pretty well but it does end up being a little luke warm as it's probably been sitting (even on a Sunday at 4pm) with trays only being replaced as the very last drops of food are emptied from them.

When you walk into a place and have to queue, it's expected. When you're standing at the front of the queue, after 30 minutes stainding in it, watching the person in front of you have their order taken and only after 4 minutes do they have the first drink placed on the bar you realise your wait is far from over. Then even after you've been served by another member of staff, to look over after 3 minutes (my whole order took 3 minutes) to see that this staff member has not made any progress on their customer is AWFUL. I get you don't need to rush, but 7 minutes to take 4 or 5 people's food orders and only have 1 drink "made" (j20, he's took the lid off...) is unacceptable, really. If I was the one being served, I'd have been unhappy, let alone the people waiting behind.

TL;DR food is nice but a little cold. The wait time is extortionate. £32 for 2 carverys...