Compleat Angler — Restaurant in Norwich

The Compleat Angler? More like The Compleat Disaster

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to wait an eternity for disappointment, look no further than The Compleat Angler in Norwich. This place has mastered the dark art of making time stand still — we waited so long for our food, I half expected to emerge into a post-apocalyptic world where pubs no longer exist.

When the food finally arrived (possibly hand-delivered by a tortoise from the 14th century), we were treated to what I can only assume were portion sizes designed for hobbits on a diet. I’ve seen more generous servings at communion.

As for the taste? Imagine cardboard. Now imagine someone once whispered the word “flavour” near it. That’s the level we’re talking. It’s as if the chef lost a bet and had to cook blindfolded using only ingredients he resents.

Service? Indifferent at best, invisible at worst. You’d get more attention waving down a UFO than you will trying to order a drink here.

In short: if you enjoy overpriced disappointment, microscopic meals, and service that makes you question your own existence, The Compleat Angler is calling your name. Otherwise, run. Run...

Me and my girlfriend came in towards the end of the night and sat quietly in the corner outside with our drinks. We were made to feel incredibly unwelcome by the staff after the other customers had left. We were repeatedly approached by the doormen, not even being given 5 minutes to ourselves, when the pub was still open for another 20 minutes but was told differently. When challenged about this and asked for 10 more mins, they said ok but proceeded to talk about us from inside. Less than 10mins later the other doorman started running his hand across his neck to me from inside the pub in quite a threatening way! Furthermore one of the bar staff decided to shout at us across the outside area in a rude manner, and started obnoxiously cleaning behind us the whole time. It was over £6 for a shandy so we weren’t really willing to leave our drinks. I’ve never had such a poor experience at a pub and I will not be returning ever again; Norwich has dozens of wonderful pubs, I implore anyone coming to the city for the first time, not to spend any of their time...

Not a bad place, over priced though, went a few months ago, and a friend of mine had the same drink every time she went to the bar, but got charged a different price every time, when she questioned it she was told it was to do with the glass they used? Went again saturday night, and one point was charged £10.30 for a double vodka and coke, she questioned it and the member of bar staff that served just shrugged and said yeah. She went to a different member or staff who was very nice and said something else had been added on, I had three pints of coke and after checking my bank I've realised they charged me £2.60 each for the first two, but the third was £3.20? How can the same drink that came in the same size cup cost a different price? The only difference between the first two and the last was that the last had ice (that I specifically said I didn't want) surely they're not charging me 60p for a few ice cubes? If I ever decide to go back to see a band, I certainly wont be...