The Wildebeest — Restaurant in South Norfolk

Average of 2 stars because our first visit was a 3-4 star but today's was a 1. Went a few weeks back for our first visit, ate off the a la carte. Good food overall especially the starters: scallops cooked well, tasty accompaniments. Main of venison was also enjoyable with point off difference like smoked beetroot, albeit the wedges of beetroot bland without seasoning. Let down was the stale bread roll with hard (unspreadable) butter at start of the meal, but overall enjoyable dining experience. Hence why we booked again. Fast forward to today when we were excited to try the Sunday roast, and it could have been a different restaurant. Booked for 2pm and had to wait 20mins for our table. Chaotic atmosphere and clearly understaffed. The starter was bland: everything was underseasoned and the mushroom sauce overpowered the whole dish. The pork belly element was unidentifiable as belly as it was a dried out cube of meat breadcrumbed. Presentation was nice. The main was unfortunately even more of a let down. Overcooked lamb, with inedible fatty parts served, thin jus/gravy, and literally everything on the plate (with the exception of the mint sauce which was nice) was bland. Boiled broccoli and cauliflower without a lick of seasoning? How can anyone think that's acceptable in this day and age? Tasteless cabbage. Roast potatoes (of which there were 2 halves of a small potato) we're not crispy and I couldn't have guessed they're used any kind of animal fat to roast in, some salt woul have been a good start. Everything underseasoned again by a mile. When you're paying over £50 for 2 courses as a couple, you expect tasty decent food, and this massively missed the mark. Service OK (again clearly understaffed today) but when another table thought it appropriate to play a video on a mobile with very loud music for at least 5 minutes, this wasn't challenged at all. Very disappointed and won't be returning. Consistency is everything in dining out and so for us we won't choose to gamble with our dining out fund on this place again. Such a shame as after our first visit we thought it could...

Outstanding dining experience yesterday lunchtime. From the courtesy call the day before the whole experience made me smile. We knew we wanted the tasting menu to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary and I had the wine flight as Joe was driving he enjoyed Adnams' 0.5% Ghostship.

Harry took excellent care of us, really contributing to our enjoyment of the meal with his knowledge and hosting skills. The staff are very unobtrusive, everyone was friendly, it made for a very relaxed and pleasant meal.

I was very fortunate to face the kitchen and see the chefs working to turn out pristine dishes perfectly timed. All the courses are well balanced and beautiful, there's enough food to really taste and enjoy without feeling overly full. The wines complemented the menu so well, far better than choosing my own, the pairings were excellent.

Every course had something to delight and surprise, I won't spoil anyone else's experience by sharing them here, find out for yourself. We love food and enjoy cooking and trying new things so it was wonderful to have combinations that were a first for us.

The restaurant itself contributes to the sensory experience. Glorious wooden tables and fabulous crockery played their part. We can't wait to take our family next time!

All this so close to Norwich meant we were able to eat a leisurely lunch and still have plenty of time to explore the cathedrals and gardens before making our way to the coast to see the...

It seems strange that such a fine restaurant isn't located in the centre of Norwich but the fact that it isn't and was very busy on a Monday evening shows how willing people are to travel for excellent food.

There are a number of great menus to choose from - the Dinner Du Jour, the A La Carte or the Taste of Norfolk if you're really hungry. We both decided to go for the Dinner du Jour menu as there were a number of items on there that we really liked the sound of.

We started with the delicious bread roll and butters with the addition of a free amuse bouche of fennel puree, ash and a crisp biscuit which which was amazing.

For my starter I had poached Crevettes and warm smoked mackerel which was all cooked beautifully and tasted superb.

My main was the roast Chicken Breast with crushed new potatoes, leeks and a lovely jus. The chicken skin was perfectly crisp with a marvellous flavour and the chicken breast was lovely & moist - an excellent dish.

We'd had difficulty in choosing between a Primitivo from Italy or a a wine from Portugal but on the advice of the waitress we'd gone for the Portugese Touriga Nacional which was delicious - very full bodied with a delicious almost peppery taste.

The service was faultless and the whole ambience was relaxed - a perfect dinner out and a pity its so far from Salisbury...