Zaks Mousehold Diner — Restaurant in Norwich

I'll start out by saying the service was fairly good; Our server was helpful and cheerful unfortunately it wasn't enough to redeem the shoddy food. Everybody likes their burgers differently but nobody expects the consistency and taste of a rustlers microwave burger when they are out paying 10-15 quid a pop. The product certainly seemed to be cooked fresh it really just didn't seem to be the quality you would expect from an apparently well reputed establishment. Chewy, fatty meat in what are very clearly preformed patties, no mince here I suspect...

The other major setback for the group was that every single portion of fries delivered were a mix of undercooked / anaemic / soggy. This was a major red flag to me, how can an American themed diner not deliver on the absolute basics like good crunchy fries?! The restaurant was not very busy when we attended so clearly the kitchen was not rushed. It may sound petty but it's appalling that a business that centres its image around a quality authentic experience would ever let such easily avoidable mistakes happen, this is your bread and butter!

The lovely waitress did offer to swap a portion of the fries for me, I said yes please hoping that it was a blip, but sadly the new portion she brought out for me looked and tasted like they had been cooked for approximately 30 seconds longer, as they were one shade closer to masking tape than the previous slightly off-potato batch. There were a few edible fries in this batch though but all this went to prove was that they were in fact simply terribly low quality as well as undercooked. As you may have guessed if you've read this far, I take my fries very seriously, and I can hand on heart tell you that they taste and look akin to Tesco Value frozen fries. Cook some of those at home for longer than 5 minutes at a high temperature and I promise you will have a supererior experience, for a lot less than 3 quid a go. She did offer another attempt but I darent risk the chef's wrath at that point...

In the interest of balance, we thoroughly enjoyed the nacho cheese platter and the onion rings were also top class (a firm 82/100 on my personally developed scale) but this just begs the question if they can get these non staple items right why not something equally as simple and, arguably, much more important?

Not to go too deep, But I can't help but to also mention the atrocious seating, 100% flat wooden unpadded seats, only comfortable to a lucky few as far as I can tell, if you are tall or just boney they really aren't nice, again it just seems so basic.

Overall for ~£125 between four people it was a thoroughly disappointing experience, it certainly doesn't live up to the word of mouth hype and we won't be going again any time soon, avoid like the plague unless you already know you like the food it's not worth the costly...

Usually I dine at the Zak's waterside, when I phoned unfortunately they were fully booked so we chose to dine for the first time at mousehold heath, we were told that they needed our table of two of us by 7pm as there was a table of 8 due in within an hour, we were happy to take the table for an hour, we didn't expect the pushiness of the server to take our order literally as we sat down, we were asked if we knew what we wanted to drink and when asked what hot drinks they served we were told basically we serve tea and filter coffee that's it !!! So I ordered a filter coffee and my friend ordered a milkshake as I had recommended them from previous experience at waterside as they were amazing there, the vanilla shake well what can I say, it left a greasy texture to the roof of my mouth when my friend said try it, and the filter coffee was bitter and only luke warm this was the start of the downhill slope of our dining experience When our meals were bought out I had to ask for my side order of chilli to be changed as it was only Luke warm as we're my ribs, the server took the ribs from my plate and took the dish of chilli away to return with another bowl of chilli which was this time piping hot but inedible as it was too salty to eat, then after a while my ' newly cooked ribs ' were served and were very chewy, the sauce tasted bitter for a BBQ sauce, which I knew was totally different to waterside We were rushed so much I was still eating the last mouthful from my plate when out plates were taken away, we weren't offered a desert menu or any kind of desert offered, instead we were presented with the bill as I was still chewing the tough ribs, I have been dining at Zak's waterside for over a decade and have never ever had to send food back or been rushed, I would never recommend Zak's mousehold heath and would never return, when leaving I said to the server this is the first time I have dined here and she then said and the last !!! For a diner of such high standards as in waterside, the mousehold heath diner was a total disgrace, from server to food to being rushed...

So much fun, awesome atmosphere, and huge portions! The place itself is decked to the rafters with enamel signs, vintage posters, vinyl on the walls, and an old school coca-cola dispenser. The coloured lights really add to the diner vibe! Husband and I visited for the first time after booking on a whim and ordered soda floats (soda with ice-cream) and frickles (fried pickles) to start - and we had such a great time trying both. The batter used for the frickles is really tasty, better than a lot of batters we’ve tried.

We definitely over-ordered for mains and ended up with a takeaway box. A burger cooked medium as big as my head, onion rings, and tater-tots smothered in blue cheese sauce (and they do mean smothered… I asked for the sauce on the side on our next visit as it was just that bit too much for me) Partner ordered a burger which came with an entire steak IN it… and also paid to double up on the patties! Attached a photo of his face when he saw the monster delivered to the table! And finally, mac and cheese on the side. Our wonderful server did warn us it was a lot of food, and we still went full-steam ahead - though we were appreciative when she later passed by and mentioned they have takeaway boxes… half the food came home with us!

We visited again another day so my husband could try the Wednesday bottomless wings, and again had a great experience. I had a bratwurst hotdog with tater-tots and he had the wings, which he was grateful came with plenty of napkins and small wet-wipes to clean off his hands.

Prices are competitive and not overly expensive at all. The service is really relaxed but engaging and kind. All three waitresses we have been served by had a laugh with us and were very knowledgable on the...