Charlotte Smith-Jarvis is left hungry after almost 90 minute wait for food at Coast to Coast restaurant in Ipswich’s Buttermarket
Food
I hardly ever visit chain restaurants – there are just so many great independents to explore. But, with Empire cinema opening shortly in Ipswich’s Buttermarket, and two eager children in tow, I thought I’d make an exception by popping into Coast to Coast on Saturday afternoon.
We were served pretty quickly by our waitress (I think she was called Manda?) who was lovely. But things went downhill sharpish.
A promising-looking board of garlic bread came out. It was almost completely raw in the middle and the underside was coated in a couple of millimetres of flour that required scraping off with a knife.
We sent it back to the kitchen and, to be fair, the one that came out to replace it was fine. Not very garlicky but at least it was cooked.
I would usually expect to wait about 15 minutes for a starter in a chain restaurant and up to 25 minutes for a main course. Bearing in mind Coast to Coast wasn’t full when we visited at about 1.30pm, we still hadn’t received our main courses within 45 minutes.
I called a server over who apologised and informed us it would be another 20 minutes or so – pushing our ‘lunch’ back to almost 3pm.
Honestly, I could have almost driven Coast to Coast in the time it took for our food to appear. Or at least could have gone home, visited the local butcher, made homemade burgers from scratch and served them to my hungry herd.
Other tables either gave up and walked, or sat impatiently with us, looking around, wondering when on earth they’d get fed.
When our food did arrive it didn’t move the earth. My son’s burger came with mayo (we’d requested without) and had to go back to the kitchen. And mine and my husband’s burgers were similar in size to our son’s. Dry and under-seasoned, with Maccy D style fries that were a bit undercooked. We weren’t that impressed.
Our daughter though, said her pepperoni pizza was nice and tucked in happily.
The whole meal was comped (given free) by management in the end. But that did little to dispel our disappointment.
Drinks
There’s a really extensive cocktails, spirits and beer and wine list. The kids and I couldn’t fault the non-alcoholic cocktails. The elderflower and cucumber one in particular was really refreshing.
But one of my drinks came with a huge crack from the top to the bottom of the glass!
Ambiance
Up until customers started to become disgruntled, there was a good vibe to this place. The décor is what you’d expect in an American-style chain – quite gimmicky with lots of props. But the seating is comfortable, and lighting and music levels are just-right.
Service
Our server was so lovely and was obviously upset that, for whatever reason, food wasn’t getting out on time or cooked well. She couldn’t have been nicer and I felt bad that she was having such a horrible day at the office. She handled the situation to the best of her ability and should be noted for that.
Parking
There is parking underneath the Buttermarket shopping centre
Coast to Coast have been contacted for comment.
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