Rooftop Gardens — Restaurant in Norwich

I had my wedding reception here on the 31st July 2025, we booked the Cathedral Terrace.

I'll start with what went well.. The food was great and was coming out when it needed replenishing and the drinks were well made.

What didn't go so well..

From the get go, i emailed just shy of a year prior to the wedding reception. I wasn't getting very far with the original events staff member, but was later told she had left and probably lost interest in her notice period. I then spoke with Ed, who was very helpful and things were finally starting to fall into place. When i got back into contact closer to the time, i was speaking with different people every email/phone call. Then a week before, i called up to tell them how many people would need feeding.. something i thought they would have contacted me about, but from here i seemed to be doing the leg work.

The worst parts..

The day before my wedding (a stressful time) we went to drop off some props for the day, nothing major, which was lucky as we were given a small square in their stock room to place things in, the only square in the room that supposedly didn't come into contact with the water that leaked from the ice machine.

I have a disabled family member and on arrival i noticed the disabled lift in the foyer was blocked. I asked a member of staff and asked if the lift will be working for tomorrow, to which he responded "nah, it will probably never work again". I had been very upfront with the importance of the building being wheelchair friendly, this should have been communicated to me. Luckily there was another un-glamorous way in, which im sure makes most disabled people feel great about being told to go through the underground car park and through the back entrance!!

I spoke with another member of staff after this, who didn't seem to have a clue how the evening would go, again this would've been something i thought they would want to discuss prior to the evening.. but i was told " im not here tomorrow but im sure it will be alright" when telling staff member how i wanted it set up. It was not alright...luckily my maid of honour took his words with the biggest pinch of salt and left the ceremony early. When she arrived at the rooftop at 1630 (half an hour before my booking)she found nothing had left the stock room and tables hadn't been cleaned or moved. Thanks to her, i was none the wiser on the day. What i was wise to was the wet floor, where the DJ had been told to set up and of which only got wetter and spread further throughout the night. I was told this was normal due to the water features at the back. By the end of the night we were dancing in puddles.

I also had the bar staff trying to overcharge me for the food on the night, which we sorted there and then.

and my last gripe..

I had my friends collect our property the next day, to free space up in the stock room, only to find everything was soaking wet and not all of my belongings were returned to me. One thing im most upset about is the advice cards, which were being collected on the bar, its a shame ill never get to see them.

I think the learning from this should be not to offer big events if you cant provide the service and do not have a dedicated team. I would also fix the ice machine and the...

We had a birthday meal here, and most of us agreed we won’t be returning. The food was below average considering the hype, pre-booking, deposit, and price. As a large group, we ordered a variety of meals from different parts of the menu, including steak, lamb, seafood platter, pork, fish, and chicken. Most dishes were either overcooked, under-seasoned, or just below average and bland. The one star is for the barman, who was lovely and provided great service. However, the cocktail was average for £11.

Upon arrival, we waited for eight minutes at the entrance while the manager, Liam, was on the phone, ignoring us. He did not get someone to attend to us despite being busy. Eventually, we caught the attention of another lovely waiter who assisted us. The overall service was poor, with staff not paying attention. We had to ask for basics like cutlery with dessert and for the table to be cleared by the two waitresses who attended our table. One waitress spilled something on my white jacket. They are clearly inexperienced in providing great service to a large group.

We were seated near the waterfall feature, and the entire floor was soaked, which is a safety hazard. I slipped twice in my sandals, my child's shoes were soaked, a guest's dress got wet, many of our trainers were soaked, and our bags got wet, leaving us with cold feet during dinner. Birthday cards fell on the floor and got soaked. When we complained to the waitress, she quickly dismissed us, saying it had nothing to do with her and told us to speak to the manager.

The manager, Liam, was rude and unprofessional, saying, "What do you want me to do? You're acting like it's me and my staff's fault. You're the only one complaining." He did not apologize for the inconvenience and was not proactive in offering any solution. However, he did go check and confirm that the floor was flooded. The waitresses knew as well, as we had mentioned it to them, but they clearly ignored it. They had switched off two of the three water features when we had arrived, indicating something was wrong. When we suggested offering a voucher due to the flooded floor, he agreed but then disappeared just before we left. We decided to leave our reviews here and advise others to avoid this place. They were pretentious but could not live up to the hype with the food,...

What once was my favourite restaurant in Norwich has sadly gone downhill over the last year, unfortunately now not somewhere I will be looking to return. Have tried to give it the benefit of the doubt and had a few meals and an afternoon tea experience within the past year. Food was extremely average for the cost. Previously I didn’t mind the cost as it really was worth every penny. But they seem to have changed the menu and quality, both not in a good way, but kept higher prices, and sadly it isn’t worth it.

Visited recently for an afternoon tea experience with my family, and the waiter kept calling us ‘babe’ and ‘love’ which I found very inappropriate. Especially as it was for my nanny’s birthday celebration and wanted her to experience the views and gorgeous setting, however she mentioned how unprofessional calling a group of ladies having afternoon tea ‘babe’ was. Was very odd. We also had pre ordered our menu, and at the table had just mentioned to the waitress about one was vegetarian (told on the phone prior) and she said they hadn’t made a note of that, so had quite a long wait. Another family asked if we could have the ham sandwiches without mustard and she mentioned they were already pre made (and tasted like they had been pre made for quite some time) but then we waited quite a long time to have it served, it didn’t make sense. Also took a long time to get cutlery/ ask for drinks etc

Rooftop gardens is unfortunately not what it once was. The strange change in the social media marketing and random garage & afrobeats music events make it seem like they have gone down a completely different route, and now is not somewhere I would go for a more up market meal. It feels a bit all over the place and now not somewhere I will be returning. Would love to see it return to how it was ran & organised a couple of years back, as the string of bad reviews I have seen recently is really disappointing for those who built rooftop up to be what...