Riverside Restaurant in Babergh

Not sure where the bad reviews are coming from here. I couldn’t fault our experience, service or meal. Seated quickly, all waiting staff friendly, attentive and fun, without being in your face or hovering. The meal was delicious. Beautiful setting right by the river. Have been a few times before and it never lets us down. Will definitely be back.

Table for 2. Lovely setting by the river. Average food. Very poor service! We arrived and were politely seated outside - it then went down hill from there. The entire experience of our visit was the total lack of attention to the service. Firstly, we were not allocated a specific waiter/waitress, but instead all of them chipped in, as and when, but the problem with this was that none of them appeared to know at what stage we were at. > Other tables arriving after us, getting served before us. > We were asked by one waitress if we wanted coffees after another waiter had taken away our starters. > People placing orders after us getting their food a lot quicker than us. > Main course took 55 minutes to arrive (after chasing them up) > Asked for a jug of water - 20 minutes to arrive > More focused on serving an Italian couple who arrived much latter than us. > Making comments to the same couple (quite loudly) about other diners! - very unprofessional > Didn’t query (or care) as to why my wife left more than half her meal. > Didn’t ask if we wanted any deserts/coffees, after our main course. In the end we decided to get our bill (10% automatically added on!) and leave, Unfortunately, we will not be returning and could not recommend this restaurant to others. By having trained staff (not just relying on family) this could easily have been a 5* review

My girlfriend booked a table as a surprise for me, since was the first time after months that restaurants were allowed to open again. I think that after all this time we were expecting more. We were sat at the table at 20h (time of our booking), the place was busy, but not to an extreme, the gentlemen asked if we wanted water and we ordered sparkling water, after 20min a lady came and asked if we wanted some drinks, at this point we already had decided on the drinks and food, but she only took the order for the drinks, so we commented about the water too. The water took 25min to arrive (it was a San Pelegrino and was open already, for me did not taste like San Pellegrino), short after that the drinks arrived and we order a bottle to be served with dinner. They also took our food order, after 30min which we requested a starter and two main. At 21h they brought us a tray of bread (with 5 slices) complimentary that was because our food was taking too long, so basically we waited 1h to eat bread. Short after that our starter arrived and then the mains, of course we needed to request the bottle again. My pasta was without any salt at all and nobody offered grated cheese on the top, how can a Italian restaurant not offer cheese when serve pasta? My girlfriend had Seabass and the fish skin was very salty. We exchanged plates. The dessert I requested had the description of being Chocolate fondue with Ice cream, which I new would not be a fondue, but at least a lava cake or something with melted chocolate in the middle, again disappointed, it was a simple chocolate cake with nothing in the middle, so mainly that is a petit gateau, not chocolate fondue. The service has to improve a lot and the food can improve on some points.

Great meal…thank you for a lovely evening We returned after a road trip from Monte-Carlo to a lovely Mediterranean style evening in Suffolk by the river, a warm and welcoming experience. Highly recommending the octopus For anyone that knows great food!!!

A traumatic experience at this restaurant this afternoon. Having booked an outside table with an umbrella we arrived to request the reserved table to be told it was not available. We were perfectly polite but we queiried why this was so. The chef took great exception to this, stated he couldn't throw people off the table - we of course weren't expecting that - and refused to serve us and rudely told us to leave. I was totally shocked, we did nothing to deserve this awful rudeness. It was very upsetting and completely unjustified.

The food was good, but the staff sat outside the doors on the deck smoking, so their cigarette smoke filled the eating area inside, This made us feel ill,

We booked a table at the Riversde to celebrate my birthday and arrived about 10 minutes early. We were told our table was not ready and to wait in the bar and they would come came get us. Half an hour after we were due to be seated we were shown to our table for five and given the menus. We were not asked if we wanted any more drinks or told about the specials ( can only assume there were not any specials on that night). Then we waited and waited for someone to take our order. One of our party went over to a member of staff to ask about getting served some drinks and was told they were very busy. So we waited again, eventually the front of house manager took an order for drinks and we waited what seemed ages for the drinks to appear. By now we had been there an hour waiting to eat and no sign of an order for food being taken. Everyone around us was being served, Nothing worse than feeling you are being ignored. Now nearly 9pm and feeling hungry we still had no idea how much longer we had to wait and agreed to finish our drinks and book a table at the Ballingdon Indian down the road. Finally as we were finishing our drinks the front of house manager came back and asked us ‘ if we were ready to order ‘. I am sorry but what a joke - we had been ready an hour ago. The excuses were lame - it was because it was raining, we had a big party in, we are very busy, Firstly I can’t see what the weather had to do with it, the tables outside were empty, the big party of 10 were friends of ours and had booked for later than us but had already had their starters and mains, As for being busy there was an empty table inside. The restaurant is not that big maybe 10 tables inside, hate to think how they would cope when the sun is shining and people are eating outside too. Felt the front of house did not make us feel welcome from the minute we arrived, we could have been offered some bread or olives while we waited rather than just tease us with the menu. The staff need to ask themselves how would they feel if it was them and their family celebration had been spoilt. After paying for our drinks the chef/owner came over, he seemed a decent chap and apologised and did actually ask what he could do to make us stay but I am afraid it was too late. I had heard the food was good - that’s why we booked in the first place- but very much doubt we will go back or recommend the Riverside to our friends because of our experience with the service. On a happier note the staff at the Ballingdon were excellent and the evening ended on a high.

Four of us spent a lovely afternoon/evening here early in the summer. The sun was shining and it was very hot so we were able to eat outside under a large canopy on a table that sat 4 with plenty of room. The setting is lovely right beside the stour with boats/ canoes as well as the wildlife gliding up and down the river. We were greeted straight away and shown to the table. Our waitress took our order for drinks whilst the front of house manager provided us with menus and let us know any specials etc. At first glance the menu may seem a little daunting as it is not your usual run of the mill italian menu (Pizza etc), but if you like quality fresh food this is hard to beat, and there is plenty of choice on there for every one. From pasta and risotto to fish and meat. We all chose something different and none of us were disappointed. I had Bruschetta topped with chopped tomatoes garlic and olive oil, which even for a large appetite like mine was ample.I then had a cracking dish followed by the best Tiramisu ever. The service from start to finish was excellent including a vist from the chef/owner who came to check everything was OK and also charmed us all with various quips and stories without being intrusive.With 3 courses each 2 decent bottles of wine and a few other drinks the bill came to £185 which is not cheap but break it down it it works out at just over £45 each for 3 quality courses in a wonderful setting good service and more than enough quality drinks. Can highly recommend and they are laid back about their menus etc, if you dont want 3 courses and just want to share some starters or whatever you fancy they will accommodate.

It was good but could have been so much better, The food great, service, 100%, Main meal menu 9 items, But when it arrived very tasty, top marks for the food, We all found it was noisy, hard flat surfaces reflected the sound from other tables on the other side of the restaurant, we had to raise our voices across the table to talk, The reason we would not return is due to the cigarette smoke filling the restaurant from people smoking outside. whihch allowing this to happen is illagle. this is agreat sham, Sudbury needs a good nice restaurant. !

Excellent service ..top class .sat outside with river view .lovely to see a swan on river ..staff were very helpful .atmosphere was really good .will definitely go again. Was my sister in law birthday who came lives in Spain and they bought out a cake with no charge ..well impressed also had a nice little drink end of meal compliments of chef ..highly recommended nice and clean and very good food.

The restaurant has been recently updated and has an excellent inside dining room But we chose to eat outside under large canopies. Later the staff put on a heater as it was getting a little chilly

We passed this restaurant on numerous occasions and, recently, noticed it was open so popped in for a ‘snack’. Modern interior with wonderful decking outside overlooking the river. Perfect for when the summer arrives. Certainly not the case today. Lovely welcome by the front of house manager. Obviously a very Italian influenced restaurant as all the staff we saw were Italian. I learned later that it was a family run business, and it showed in the service. Nothing was too much for them. As I said, we popped in for a snack and ordered a drink and mussels with a portion of fries (very Belgian, my heritage). The mussels were chosen from the starters menu. When they arrived they were in a delicious cream and chilli sauce. The quantity was outstanding. Starter???? We have been in restaurants where this quantity was a main course. With a choice of toasted bread slices. The fries were magnificent and, also, enough for two people. As we ate the chef came past and asked if we liked the mussels ‘the way my mama taught me’. ‘Use your spoon for the suppa’. A great character and he did know his trade. A very interesting menu and we will return in the evening, some time, to try their main menu. Worth a trip when the weather is fine for, maybe, just a drink from the bar watching the river flow by and the kayaking.