Thatchers Needle — Restaurant in South Norfolk

This is our second visit in as many months. We chose to come back for the Valentine's Set Menu based off of our first drop-in visit in January which we thoroughly enjoyed. The second reason was the value for money of the set menu.

We were warmly greeted and seated just before our booking time of 6.15pm. Reuben was our server and I cannot fault him at all. He was friendly, with a sense of humour/personality and very good at what he does. He's got a disarming sort of charm that is a credit to your organisation. I can see that if ever there was a slight mess up, which is so easily done, Reuben would be able to diffuse the situation before it escalated because he is so likeable from the first second he introduces himself as your server. I'd hire him myself in a heartbeat. I heard him really quickly diffuse a query about a lady who required gluten free options in the set menu and she wasn't convinced that was what she had received (she definitely had). He was so sweet to her, asked the right questions and made her feel at ease.

We had paté and pork belly to start. Both arrived in timely fashion which we appreciate. Both were lovely. A tad more of the toast would be appreciated with the paté. I hated the piccalilli but that's just personal taste so it takes nothing away, there was also quite a lot of it (you could get away with much less). The onion chutney was lovely. The pork belly was fab.

Mains. My husband had the chicken and demolished it. I tried a bit and it was perfectly done. I had the pie and it was perfectly cooked, piping hot through. Sides were nice for both and a really decent portion.

We both had the sticky toffee pudding and ice-cream. The ice-cream is really nice. Liked the sticky toffee although I'd probably call it a sponge rather than a pudding.

Just a caveat to say anything I've mentioned that may seem slightly negative is not meant to be that at all, it's just feedback, more so for head office because I understand that a lot of the components I've brought up are not produced by the kitchen themselves. We genuinely had a fantastic meal and would absolutely come back again based on how well everything was cooked, the service we received and value for money.

Interesting that food run is carried out by someone in chef whites (which were very clean to be fair). This has been the case both times we have been in this year. I'm sure there is a thought process behind this although I'm not sure it translates. It sort of feels like the front of house are too pushed to do the food run and have to 'tag in' the kitchen. And FOH definitely didn't give the impression they were flat out and stressed, they all had a lovely demeanour and seemed super happy to be doing their jobs. It was lovely to see.

Lovely touches were that the fire was well attended and roaring. The little valentine chocolates were a sweet extra. The displays in the whole site were lovely and full. Beer was good and in branded glasses. The seating looked really well planned, we had other diners in our server's area which is always nice. I think you definitely deserve more bookings than there were. And I absolutely LOVE that there were dogs allowed. Put a little dog menu on and capitalise on that, even if you ask at the point of booking and have to enforce a dog area to not offend others (people with no soul 😂). I know that's tricky.

It was obvious there are some 'regulars' who are fond of the staff which is lovely.

We are a couple that love a quick dining service and hate to be waiting around. We were never tapping our watches or wondering where our food/drinks were. It was really prompt which we massively appreciate. However if we were people that wanted to take more time, we definitely got the feeling that it would have been ok to do that. We never felt like anyone was...

We arrived at the restaurant for our reservation and had to wait approximately 5 minutes before we were acknowledged and shown to a table, even though there were very few people in the bar or restaurant area. The waitress was very friendly and polite in taking our order but from there on in things deteriorated. My husband ordered a mixed grill, only to be informed that they had just sold the last one. This was at 7pm! He then ordered a ribeye steak. When his meal arrived his plate contained a steak, half a tomato, one small mushroom and some fries. No garnish, no thought to presentation, and the plate looked very unappetising. From here things went from bad to worse. The steak was totally inedible. Each mouthful was full of gristle and was tainted with a fishy flavour. The tomato was also unpleasantly tainted. I tasted the steak myself and could only agree. I don’t think my dog would have eaten it - and he eats anything! When the waitress came to clear our plates we explained how bad my husband’s meal was and she said she would inform the manager. After 10 minutes a gentleman came from the kitchen area to speak to us, apologised and said he could clearly see why the meal was inedible. He said he’d only been working in the establishment for a few days and would ask the manager to speak to us. Some time later, another gentleman came to the table, apologised and asked us what we would like to do as he could only offer us a 50% reduction for the unsatisfactory meal. It transpired he was the assistant manager and hadn’t been working there long either. This is not the first time we have had disappointment and cause for complaint at the Thatcher’s Needle. We moved to the area four years ago and, at that time, when the establishment was a rotisserie chicken restaurant, we were very impressed with the quality of food and standard of service. The chef was superb. Since he left - and management changed - it has sadly and rapidly deteriorated. Two years later, when we chanced trying the restaurant again, we had a diabolical experience on Mothers Day. We had pre-booked a table for the whole family, who had travelled from another county, only to find our table had been given away in error and we would have over a two and a half hour wait before we could hopefully get seated! We had arrived on time but were not even offered a drink by way of apology. All the manager said was “what do you expect me to do about it?” Absolutely unacceptable behaviour and appalling customer service. I must say I am very disappointed with the total indifference Marston appears to have with regard to its customers. It is such a shame as there are very few restaurants in Diss and the Thatchers Needle, run professionally and competently, could be extremely popular and very profitable. What a pity Marstons don’t feel they need to keep their finger on the pulse of all their establishments and realise their customers are the most important thing for both their business - and...

It has always been a bit hit and miss when I have gone to the thatchers needle. The young lady that was serving us and working behind the bar was great. I had a dirty glass the young lady noticed me looking at the glass and came to see if everything was ok. Then got me a fresh drink with a clean glass. Very happy with the service from the young lady. Unfortunately I didnt get her name. Couldnt of asked for more from a service The food was a little bit of a let down. We had the lamb kofta for starter. The the kofter texture wasnt very pleasant it tasted like the kofters was boiled. Kofta's in my experiance are meant to be flame grilled or at least grilled. The ones we was served tasted like they came from a can or pre packaged and stuck in the microwave. the texture was soft and slimy, the flavour was ok although it was ment to have a mint yogurt that didnt taste much like mint. I wouldnt order it again. The the kebab chicken and chorizo was quite tasty the flavours worked well together although it came with nearly no salad it had a single strand of rocket and that was it. The bread it was on was fine on one side but the under side was pale and doey, it just needed a few monent on the heat and it would of been fine. Maybe a bit of laziness from the kitchen staff. The lazagna was a bit bland it hadnt been seasoned properly and didnt have a great deal of flavour, the sauce inside seemed a little dried up. We have had the lazagna and it has been much better in the past. The garlic bread that came with the lazagna was dry and didnt have much garlic butter on it it was like eating normal dry bread with a slight hint of garlic made it hard to swallow. The hunters chiken was ok there wasnt enough BBQ sauce so it didnt taste much like BBQ the chiken was a little tough like it was pre packaged and 3 quarters of the plate was packed with rocket salad. Although it ok quite disappointing. About a year ago managment changed a and it was very good well run the food was nice the service was great. Although the service was really good thanks to the young lady being very attentive. I feel the thatchers is slipping back to it's old way a little. Which was very poor. I will give them the benifit of the doubt since it was a wednesday after noon. And maybe they had a stand in shef and it wasnt their regular shef. If it was their regular shef then management maybe need to replace them before the start loosing customers again. Seemed to be not much care in the food. And algotugh the service was good shouldnt be serving dirty glasses especially with covid...