We were so lucky to find this lovely small hotel with a fantastic restaurant.The owners made a huge fuss of us ,the room was simply beautiful,the food and atmosphere excellent.It is a quirky but classy place and we will absoluely return!

Perhaps the proprietors were having a bad weekend - but we found them very inefficient and, worse, unwelcoming, grumpy, aloof and prone to criticising their guests directly and implicitly ("oh THERE you are at last " at dinner and again at breakfast.) They seemed to find us a nuisance from the moment we arrived: reception was utterly shambolic. (we have no idea what we did wrong, we behaved perfectly normally and politely throughout....) I have stayed at many hotels but never before felt as if I was an uninvited guest who has wandered off the street into a busy private home, to be taken in reluctantly by 2 bad tempered persons! That was what it felt like-quite an unusual experience when you've booked and are paying, it has to be said, handsomely, for the privilege.

The place is cramped, poky, stuffy, full of junk, and the entrance is grotty..through a car park in at a back door and straight into a tiny messy kitchen which does not much tantalise the appetite.

The restaurant is very cramped; we could hardly squeeeze round our tiny table.
the waiter reading out the illegible menu in exaggerated accents from a blackboard to each table got very tedious after the first time. It was also hard to remember what was on offer but the waiter got cross at being asked to repeat anything! Other diners seemed fed up with the rigmarole as well.

The prices for dinner are much inflated. The food is quite good but these prices (main courses at £19) should be reserved for the top flight and this it isn't, sorry. Service was wonky and sometimes rude. Why has this place had such good press? It is not so on the local websites I have just checked.
Overall it all just seemed like an amateur effort, run by people who had got fed up and started taking it out on their guests.
Yet the whole place was full of self congratulation. Notices on the table thanked their "lovely guests" for "making the effort to dress up in these days of declining standards"!
They have got a cheek.
Our room was nice-would be nicer without so much stuff eg fluffy things of unidentified purpose and dusty boxes and nasty vases everywhere- but not exceptionally comfortable. One chair was falling apart, the bathroom had a funny smell. Character is nice, yes, but it needs to be backed up by some professionalism which means being polite ALL THE TIME, please take note, not just to a few customers, and charging some reasonable prices.


Recommend Tatlers to eat but where to stay in Norwich?

We booked the hotel with a view of having a romantic evening together and a good meal. We were NOT disaapointed.

Our room was enormous with chandleirs, huge bed, huge bathroom, and a real fireplace prepared and lit by, the very attentive Tim. We were welcomed with a large glass of chilled champagne, our bags carried to our room and every item on the menu enthusuastically explained. The food was excellent and original with a very good wine list to compliment.

The hotel is almost theatrical and is full of little nooks and crannies and passageways to get lost in. It has a very intimate atmosphere. The staff make you feel like the most important person there, I have not experienced better service.

We loved our brief stay and will return.

I booked this as a restaurant firstly because I knew, from reputation, that one can get a superb culinary experience there. I booked two room for some guests of mine and they raved about the quaintness, the ambiance and excess of being utterly spoiled and pampered by Tim and Robert the owners. Tim and Robert have a class double act and catered to my guests so that they have said they will not stay anywhere else when coming to Norwich. Sadly I tried to book rooms on two occasions but each time they were booked out; this is a testament in itself. Thank you Robert and Tim for making extra special memories. Judith Lea