Red Lion in Suffolk Coastal

Went on a Sunday as they had an offer on which consisted of a 2 course meal and a bottle of wine for £50:00. Having informed the waiter of our choices he informed us that the offer only included the Sunday Roast as the main meal so we changed to that. However, the offer was supposed to include all other items, bar a couple of exclusions. Rightly or wrongly, we chose not to make a fuss. Sadly, we both found the roasts rather under-whelming with most of the plate occupied by a very oversized Yorkshire pudding. Plus, having told there'd be at least a 30 minute wait we went for a cigarette only to then be told 5 minutes later our meals were already on our table. Not really ideal. At this point I must say, despite the above, our waiter was both very professional and very polite. A credit to the pub.

Went in for lunch. Good food & very efficient service. Found the place a bit gloomy during the day.

Alyssa is a really efficient customer service assistant and has a wonderful, friendly personality. The food prepared by Chef Dave was excellent. The new decor has been tastefully done and the place feels very homely.

A great steak & ale pie with a pint 🍻

Great food and friendly service! The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the background music . . Everything else was great.

Was a bit gutted went for Sunday dinner full roast and was let down and even got meal free hopefully turns round and go back to how it use to be would give anther go.

We had a lovely Sunday roast , we were well looked after by Alissa would recommend 👍

Lovely friendly village type pub. Had good conversations with locals. Well worth a visit. Very dog friendly.

It was ok, great staff, food average, but at least not over priced. I liked that the tables were not squeezed in. I don't usually mind when old pubs are quite dark inside but the Red Lion appeared to be particularly bad, however it was a quite gloomy day outside

Great food options but more beef on the bone please

Best lunchtime meal I have ever had.

Wife and I had a meal here tonight must say it was lovely. but just a couple of things to complain about. it would have been nice to be asked if we would like some apple sauce but no we had to ask for it. and had to have the custard re heated up. I asked for the bill and we had a voucher on the wife's phone the young lady went to take the wife's phone we said no the lady got a snotty

Not sure a gastropub though. However staff are friendly and food is very nice.

We were at a nearby campsite so over a wet few days, visited the pub several times! Food was excellent, staff friendly, and newly refurbished premises looked great. Dog friendly too! Lovely pub, clean, safe and welcoming.

Really excellent, lovely food and friendly efficient service. Thank you!

Jenson our waiter was great. In fact all the staff were good. We were greeted when we arrived and taken to our table. I had mentioned it was our anniversary and we were wished happy anniversary by our greeter and Jenson. We both ordered the roast beef which was cooked to perfection. The Yorkshire puddings were enormous, thank you Reagan out chef. We will be back. Thank you

Great newly renovated patio and additional raised terrace out back! Lovely

Chloe was very welcoming, full of cheerfulness, and always smiling. Along with enjoyable food, it was a lovely lunchtime visit. There is only one thing I would like to request Salad Cream, please :)

Me and wife have always loved it here, and the new revamped outside area has made it even nicer and very cosy. Food is always perfect here.

First visit in many years. Nice friendly welcome on arrival but no acknowledgement at the bar by two staff members. Technical issues on tablets made ordering frustrating and asking for food orders before drinks had even arrived was poor. No warning given on sold out dishes meant disappointment on ordering. Fish pie served with no mash and round of bread was unusual and didn't work, just spoiled a favourite dish! Bottles of wine a little expensive.

Lovely place for a birthday meal. Proper pie that I couldn't finish.

Lovely place for a quiet pint,friendly staff, good atmosphere

A Welcoming atmosphere, delicious food and very efficient service, thanks to Madi for looking after our table 👍🏻

We were at The Red Lion twice last week. The food was very good. The two course Christmas menu was delicious. The staff were excellent.

Came for sunday lunch to celebrate a birthday. I want to start by saying the staff and the service were absolutely amazing! No issues from them at all. Unfortunately however, the food was really really bad for the price. The turkey was incredibly fatty and slimy, the broccoli was hard and undercooked, the bacon on the pigs in blankets was 90% fat and the big yorkshire was dry. The roast potatoes were lovely however you only got three and the stuffing was lovely as well but again, a tiny portion. The best tasting parts of the meal for me were tiny portions and the main parts were just inedible i actually gave away 80% of my food to other members of the table. I would like to mention two members had no issues with their food so i don't know if i was just unlucky with what i got but i was starving so incredibly disappointed. The dessert was lovely however again, i felt the portions were really small for the price. I would probably come here again based on the service alone however I would never come back for a sunday lunch.

Good food - plenty of choice - helpful staff!!!

Good food. Service from Madi was excellent!

Highly recommend roast was amazing on Sunday. Really friendly service

Picture perfect pub, great atmosphere and food. Initially I only stopped there to ask for directions but decided to stay for lunch after walking in and seeing the plates of food coming from the kitchen and I'm glad I did. Special mention for Derek who put the Google Maps App on my phone so we easily found the barracks after leaving. Cheers Derek!

Such a beautiful restaurant with incredible food and service. Jensen served us so well and made the evening a wonderful experience. Thank you so much. Will definitely be back :)

Great food, Madi was really attentive, polite and made us feel welcome.

Not as good as usual. Waited half an hour for our drinks. Very cramped seating, think they didn't want to open up the full pub. Seemed short staffed and the two senior staff seemed to disappear and leave the young lad to cope on his own. The food was good though, thankfully as this was an evening out with friends who'd never been before, so a mixed first impression for them. Daytime staffing is always much better.

Great meal, Great service, parking a nightmare, not sure what is going on with the drinks, 3/4 glass of prosecco 1st round, 2nd round just 1/2 a glass, same price for both? Not sure what is going on there, will definitely say something next time!!

We visited this week for hubby's birthday. When arriving we got told there would be a 45 minute wait for food. When food finally arrived which was longer than the advised wait it was extremely disappointing. Two of our party ordered the mixed grill which was awful. One meal was partially cold and another being a steak wasn't enjoyed. Whilst the mixed grills were not charged for and a round of drinks supplied due to longer than advised wait I do not feel there should have been any charge made at all. On contacting the manager when I got home I was told two chefs had not turned up for work and they were trialing a new supplier of chicken and had had other complaints. He said he would speak to his manager and call me the next day. I have heard nothing. We should have been contacted regarding the wait and I just don't think there is any justification in the food that was served. Whole evening ruined. Half the party had either not eaten or barely eaten. We were not going to stay for desserts etc Only one nice thing to mention was the waitress who was lovely.

I was happy that they had game mixed grill on only to be told by the front of house it wasnt available, the people who came in and sat next to us ordered the game mixed grill and got it, which made my wife and I feel a bit second best, we won’t be returning for that reason, the food we did have and the service we did get from the waitress was very good, but that incident did put a damper on the night

Tried calling to ask a question regarding a promotion... phone no listed on website inactive... found another number answered by an AI bot that could NOT answer a simple question.... so... won't be using this pub .... when will companies learn that we sometimes need to a person on site... they also send you emails, but do not accept a reply to same email address .... How dare we ask a question.. So will now take myself off and sit on the naughty step... but will not be using chef and brewer

First time back after the pubs refit and it didn't disappoint.The staff were very helpful as usual, Alyssa who was showing Phoebe the ropes were both very helpful and on arrival informed us that because they had had a very busy day some of the food was not available, and there was a 30 min wait for food,but in fact our food arrived in under 20 min. 10 out of 10 for lovley food from chef Dave and first class service from both Alyssa & Phoebe. Will be back again very soon.

The food at the red lion is usually really nice however had a small piece of gammon not worth the price paid on a previous visit. They did eventually swap it for an equally small piece. The worst part about going to the Red lion for me is that regardless of whether you book a table or not they always try to sit you in the area right outside the kitchen where everyone walks past when you are eating. I'd prefer to sit anywhere else in the restaurant but there however to the staff it seems a big fuss and effort finding another table for us so on occasions I've walked out and gone elsewhere. I did today as I don't want to eat and have everyone walking past me and nudging me in the back as I eat and to pay for a nice meal put today was my dad's birthday we went and ate elsewhere and the alternative restaurant we ate at let us choose our table and we had a delicious meal with excellent service greeted as you'd expect to be with a friendly hello and a smile. There was also at the red lion a lorry parked right in the entrance and exit of the carpark really inconvenient.

We were served by Chloe, who was friendly and welcoming. Food was quick to come out and delicious, with bigger portions than we expected. The evening came to a good price for what we ordered.

What a difference in my recent experience. The service, food and atmosphere was terrific. We were looked after by Chloe, who was new to the team but she was open and honest about her experience and looked after us splendidly. The evening staff could learn from their daytime staff.

My friend had the vegetable pie which was not very good. Seeds on top and inside just onions and celery. Very disappointing .

Lovely lunch today at The Red Lion, Martlesham. Good menu, great food and excellent service from Darcey. Love the option of mini dessert with a drink which allows you to finish off your lunch without feeling over full (or go the whole hog and try the trio of puddings, very yummy). Great atmosphere with options of inside or outside seating, just an incredibly nice place.

Sunday lunch was amazing, highly recomend

After some ups and downs the new team have managed to get the pub back to its best with good food and service. A lick of paint and some upholstery work will get it finally back on track. Six of us had a very enjoyable meal and evening with no complaints. Well done! Complete overhaul of exterior and interior. Garden area enlarged and improved. Very busy now.

Went here for my grandad's birthday lovley staff and good food!

Had a lovely meal with my partner, it was excellent! I had the lamb and my partner had the pie, Finished off with a raspberry tart, chocolate brownie and coffees. We were served by Jenson & Madison who were great and nothing was too much trouble. We will be back!

Tried to book today for 10 adults and 5 children for September was told only take bookings for tables of 8 . We were happy to have two separate tables but said they could not guarantee the tables would be together . I have never heard such a load of rubbish we have been to many a place who are quite happy to accommodate a large family . Obviously doing so well they don’t need our custom .

. Good food, exceptional service.

We had a delicious meal, the service was friendly and attentive (shout out to Jacob!) and the atmosphere was lovely. A really nice pub that I’d recommend :)

Had a lovely Sunday lunch and Alyssa was a wonderful waitress, especially patient with my miserable dog!

Family supper last night (20/09/24) at The Red Lion. Jensen served us and looked after us extremely well - thank you. Food is good pub grub and no complaints at all.

Brilliant Village Restaurant, well worth a visit.

Best Sunday roast I have had in a long while, Jensen looked after us.

Ridiculous wait time for food. We booked a table for 5:30 pm on a Wednesday - just three of us - and we arrived 45 minutes early to have some drinks. When 5:30 came around we were taken to a table that hadn't been cleaned, then left with the menus for 15 minutes before we managed to flag down a waiter. He took our orders then said "just to let you know there's an approximately 50-minute wait for food", at which point we decided to leave. The excuse was "lots of walk-in customers have arrived" - there were only five tables occupied. They could have told us to pre-order our meals if it was getting busy, given that we arrived so early and they knew we had a table booked, but no such initiative.

Great food and a lovely pub. Recently refurbished

Lovely atmosphere for an evening Drink / Meal, will definitely visit again to have some food.

We liked the staff but we didn't enjoy our meal

Always enjoyed our trips to the Red Lion

The food is excellent and the service is excellent too. Their ale is very good. Not much more I can add apart from if you don't go you'll never know

The food was fairly good apart from an overcooked steak. The service and communication with staff was poor. Drink and food orders were missed or got wrong. We had to ask a number of times for missing items. Some staff training would make a huge difference to our experience.

Very friendly atmosphere, food was great again. The children cleaned their plates too.

Food was very good. Service was very slow. Students serving were nice individuals but under pressure looked like they were new to the job and not supported by a senior or manager.

Very interesting place. We entered there by accident during the trip. And we do not regret it. Very nice service, with a smile and patience advised on the choice of food. The food was tasty and beautifully served. Congratulations to such employees. We will gladly return there.

Lovely pub, food is lovely we had a lovely waitress, such a shame the deputy manager is very un friendly derek i think he was called.

20min drive from Ipswich town centre, ample parking. Lovely interior and friendly staff. The Sunday roast airline was average- the cut was dry, was overdone hence came dark brown, gravy was average. Carrots was excellence and best Yorkshire pudding ever- huge and crispy. The greens were average- somewhat lacked seasoning and the stuffing eas not very nice ,potatoes could do with being roasted for longer. Pistachio tart was good. The chocolate granacha was good. All in all a lovely ambience, friendly staff but did not enjoy the meat.

A party of four of us visited on Thursday evening. The recent renovation is good and seating comfortable. Now comes the but.... No draft ales! What? This outfit is owned by Greene King! And, they seemingly offer discounts to CAMRA members! Didn't understand the explanation given. Tempted to walk, but settled for bottled Pedigree of which there only seemed to be two bottles in the entire place. The rest of the party resorted to other beverages. The mains were ok. Never had steamed radishes before and I'm not sure I will ever again. My desert wasn't ok. Apple tart with pastry that resembled steamed dumplings in colour and texture. Sent it back and was told I should have noticed it was "vegan". What? Is vegan pastry soggy and palid? Don't think so. No apology and taken away with bad grace. Probably in the future stick to the Woodbridge Red Lion, where at least you get a decent pint of London Pride.

A quiet late lunch. Service slow to non-existent. Had to ask if we could order food. Then went and ordered drinks at the bar, incorrect drinks delivered. We had to return to the bar to order food as no waiting staff around, and 2 of the 3 were sat looking at their phones. definitely not the service they used to give. Even though the food was good, I'm not in a hurry to return.

Visited for first time tonight. Very disappointing service was poor, staff lingering around not really knowing what to do, having to wait long periods for food and drink. Had to ask for more drinks didn’t seem like we were being noticed. Quite loud atmosphere. Food in general was decent quality, steak was lovely. We would’ve had dessert but didn’t mainly due to having to wait too long. Not a great experience unfortunately.

We did not have a good experience. The table we booked was given to someone else then we had to chase our drinks order after 30 minute wait and one of them was incorrect. It took an hour before we got our food which wasn’t exactly hot. Very unhappy as it was a birthday catch up.

Having been customers on the 1st day of opening we again decided to see if the standard of food and service had stayed the same, we were not disappointed the high level of customer service from the moment we walked in to our waiter Alex was 100% our meals were delicious and Alex also catered for the flexibility of our meal choices.

Love the refurbishment. The Red Lion is looking sharp. Swung by for a bite to eat this evening. Enjoyed a lovely beef roast washed down with a pint of Level Head. Service throughout was friendly and slick. Particularly a young chap called Jensen. He is a credit to this establishment. Attentive, good to chat to and nothing was too much trouble. We will be returning soon!

very Welcoming and friendly staff. The food was great too

Delicious vegan meal! I had the garden plot medley and it was absolutely delicious! Really beautifully presented! My daughter really enjoyed her meal too! Staff were amazing, our server really interacted with my daughter and it made the whole dinner experience really relaxed and lovely. Will definitely come back! :)

This was our first visit since it has changed and all I can say is, it was a total disappointment. The greeting wasn’t that friendly, we had a choice of two tables, so we picked the table for two so we didn’t use up a large table. We waited almost 15 minutes before someone came to us, so we ordered drinks plus two roast dinners. Whilst we were waiting another party came to the table next to us, they had a dog which was barking and jumping on the seats, we don’t mind dogs but it was a bit annoying. We asked to move our table, we were put near the entrance which was noisy because of the bar usage. After waiting an hour we received our meals, apologies were given for the wait. If the dinners had been worth the wait it would not have been so bad but unfortunately they were not! The potatoes were hardly roasted and tasted funny, the broccoli was so hard I don’t think it had seen any boiling water and the rest of the veg was cold. Extremely poor. When we were asked if our meals were ok we had to say no! We left our food and we’re charged for one meal as an apology. We definitely won’t visit again or recommend it either!

Fab food and service. We waited a while but it was worth it - as the food was high quality! There is a lovely outdoor area and a scavenger hunt to keep the children occupied. Everyone agreed the food was delicious, most of all the salted caramel Sundae. Even the kids meals Impressed. Staff were friendly and knowledgeable.

I recently visited this establishment with some ex work colleagues and can thoroughly recommend a visit or many. I had a lovely steak and ale pie with veg which I can highly recommend. The atmosphere and service was perfect for meeting up with friends. I will be back for sure.

Excellent Service and the food is delicious and plentiful. Recommend the duo of chicken, and the chicken leek and cheese pie

Excellent meal and the staff were.so helpful and caring. Thanks to you all.

Lovely food. Welcomed us and dog inside if we wanted. Staff friendly and helpful.

We came for lunch on Tuesday 9th July. It was a lovely atmosphere and the food was delicious. The staff who served us (Jenson & Amber) were polite and friendly. We will definitely visit again 😊

A highly recommended venue serving very good food at a reasonable price with pleasant and courteous staff (Jenson and his colleagues).

Just dropped in on the off chance met by Erin who was not only very helpful but also just a nice young lady. Found us a table all capped off by a good and reasonably priced meal. Will definitely be going back.

Steeper than expected price increases makes this no longer a casual decision to pop in for lunch. The music is unpleasantly loud at several tables and makes conversation impossible. Food is generally good, service is a mixed bag. Our server today was unable to describe the crab special even after having gone to ask someone else. He proceeded to tell us he didn't really like seafood as it went 'right through him': thanks for sharing. 🙂 I'm in my fifties and felt young amongst the lunch crowd though which was nice!

Very nice food and very friendly and helpful great service,but my steak was a bit chewy

Didn't eat here but good looked fantastic!!!! Just popped in for a pint from a trip back. Lovely looking pub and great beer.

So sorry as I know times are tough. First choice of food sold out. Neither my friend or I were happy with our meal. Poor presentation , chips over cooked. My potatoes looked and tasted over done. We did not complain at the time. Mainly because it's not my job to ensure it's up to a certain standard, it's the managers. The waitress found it hard to operate the iPad. Our drinks arrived after our cooked meal arrived. I had to go and ask if we could have coffee once we'd finished eating. You have done a very good job with the make over.

Server Jensen was absolutely fantastic, he was great the whole night. Super helpful!! The food was good as well. But Jensen was the star of the night, what a young lad !!!

Very nice evening, was busy with families, would recommend.

The Red Lion was good before, but after the refurbishment it feels and looks better somehow. We were given a table in a nice secluded area, the wait staff were attentive and polite, and responded quickly to any requests we had. The food was delicious, the best restaurant food I have eaten for a long time. We'll be back very soon.

Fantastic meal,Fantastic service from our waiter Jensen ⭐️ well done you are a credit to the pub keep it up

Good food and good value. Excellent service from young lady waitress.

Awesome steak sandwich which they made for me very fast as I had to dash.

The Red lion catered for my husbands special birthday. We started the day here with a wonderful breakfast for 20 of us. Everyone catered for, including our vegetarian friends , by Dave the chef. We then ended our night here with platters from the menu. The sharing boards are delicious, especially the honey glazed sausages. Alyssa and Chloe couldn’t do enough for us all. They were still smiling when we left the pub late. Thanks everyone.

We arrived at the Red Lion 5 minutes before our booking and was shown directly to our table, our server JENSON arrived with menus and took our drinks order, he was a very pleasant and understanding and attentive young man. He did inform us that the food may take up to 30 mins we were in no hurry so we accepted this. Our food arrived within that time period and the food was hot and the portions were of a good size. One thing I would add is that Jenson albeit young was a credit to the Red Lion in the way he treats his customer's All in all no.complaints.

Excellent service and superb meal. Enjoyed it.

First time visiting & really enjoyed it 😊. Great food, easy access to the disabled toilet & dining area for my Mum, friendly staff. Will certainly visit again in the future 👍

Had a lovely time at the Red Lion! First time visiting after the refurb and the new outside area was stunning! Lovely servers, everyone was so kind and friendly and overall a really comfortable atmosphere. Food was also delicious and really good quality!

Really nice breakfast and lovely staff, will be coming back for more pancakes soon

We have been regular visitors to the Red Lion over the years and always found it good value for money with decent food and friendly staff. This was our first visit since the revamp and we felt that inside not much had changed. Outside there had clearly been money spent and it looked very nice. I had the Lamb Shank Shepherds Pie and was mighty impressed 👍 The wife had a burger and the d in law a chicken & bacon sandwich. This plus a kids chicken nuggets and chips with drinks came to £95 which we felt was a bit steep for a Saturday lunch. Over all we still like the place but it's definitely gotten more expensive.

Went today for early evening meal. We had the fish and chips drinks and mini puddings. It was beautiful, obviously freshly cooked. Everything was excellent, this will be our go to from now on. Server Alyssa/Chef Dave