Swallow Brewers Fayre in Ipswich

Surprisingly good food for a chain place. We were a huge party and all the food came out at the same time which was great.

Whet for the unlimited breakfast, the young man who served us was fantastic, quick polite and delivered great service. Well done guys !

Food is really good, especially for pub food, there's a great play area for kids. And service is quick.

Small.portions waited a while to get meal

Kids meal was cold, smelly and sweaty Pints were disgusting lines hadn't been cleaned properly

Pretty poor for the £40 spend 2 adults and one child inc 1 drink each,naff chips taste like cheap frozen,smallest steak I've ever seen, chewy, smothered platter £13:79 not worth it, onion rings rock hard.and no one checked if meals were ok.mens toilets smell like my grandads old house toilet grimm.bit of an update went to toby carvery 5 mins by car soo much better and cheaper.

Great time had at the swallow will be back soon

A lovely meal at the swallow would highly recommend. Food was excellent, staff very friendly and helpful. Kids had a great time will definitely be returning.

We arrived at this establishment and were first informed that the time in which they were closing was half an hour before we were originally informed, we then went to find our table to find out that although we had reserved a table no table had been saved for us. Although the speed of the clean up cannot be faulted as on the dot of 10:30 the heat was off and the serving spoons were taken away.

Great food great service nothing else to say

Great place, staff are very friendly, lots of choice on menu really enjoyed our visit. We will definitely come back.

Very dirty and worn, table sticky , I put my phone on the table and it stuck had to use w hands to pick it up

Another lovely meal at the Swallow Brewers Fayre yesterday 😊. Food was hot tasty and plentiful 😋. Very helpful staff always on hand if needed and service was great. Can't fault this place for eating and enjoying a drink with the food.

£9.99 for unlimited english/ continental breakfast Inc drinks for myself and two kids... amazing value and the food was all of a decent quality! Will most definitely return!

Fabulous experience. Went for breakfast with my dad, daughter and grand-daughter. Food quality was top notch, well cooked and really tasty. Continental selection was amazing and our 4 generations spent a lovely 90 mins eating, drinking and chatting. Our server Milo was really attentive and friendly. Restaurant was clean and felt welcoming. Thoroughly recommend and we will be back in April guys!

Recently visited the swallow for a meal, upon arrival was very quickly seated, within a few minutes a polite member of staff I believe tammy was her name, she couldn't do enough to see to everything I requested. The steak was phenomenal for its pricing and cooked exactly how I like it done. Will definitely be back.

Always an enjoyable visit here. Friendly staff and great food

1st time trying it out and I have to say the food was delicious everything was cooked perfectly and good size portions will be returning in the future

Lewis and chantay were in fine form great service food was excellent thanks to the back room team

Very poor. Understaffed. Tables left uncleared for a very long time. Carvery unavailable but not advertised. Food very substandard. Mine was served cold. Was also very greasy. Wouldn't recommend and wouldn't return.

The roast was surprisingly good. I would say one of the best roasts of this kind I have had in Ipswich. The staff service was excellent, friendly and efficient. The atmosphere was quite good but what spoiled it was the overpowering heat. It was unbearably hot. The seats also looked a little grubby. But we managed to be comfortable and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and will go again.

Beware of potholes firstly in the car park. where meeting two other family members for food and had pre booked a table,we arrived and where told we had no reservation when we definitely had pre booked,we where seated irrespective of this and awaited the arrival of our other family,we left it sometime and when they still hadn't showed decided to contact them,it turns out they had been seated elsewhere and where sat waiting for us! So we where then eventually seated together. 3 out of the 4 meals where good,I however ordered what looked quite nice in the pictures a curry,when it turned up I was disappointed to say the least on the presentation,it didn't resemble the advertised meal in any way,there was fresh spring onion and chillis on the represented item mine just looked like a bowl of Happy shopper microwave curry and had absolutely nothing in the way of garnish unlike the picture, it tasted how it looked and it wasn't even very hot. The furnishings in here especially the seats need replacing they are worn and black in places,not overly impressed,I didn't take any photos on the evening I should have done really.

Having had a previous not very nice meal here a while back, we decided to give it another go. It was Sunday evening and extremely quiet. Service was good, staff were friendly and polite. Although the food is not a la carte 😀, it was very tasty. My burger was the tastiest I have had for a while. Mixed grill was good too, followed by substantial ice cream sundae and sticky toffee pudding. The decor was nice, they may have had a decorate since my last visit. Would go again. Ideal for families. Thank you

Wasn't happy to have to pay 9.99 for all you can eat breakfast , when myself & a friend had to give the server our order , the toaster took ages to work and we couldn't go for seconds as no more food available I paid for 1 egg,2bacon 1 hash brown mushrooms & beans i had to ask for mushrooms as they were not on the plate no a happy customer that's my reason for 3 stars .

Great service food was excellent as usual

Went here christmas day with family staff were lovely

Decent food at reasonable prices. Pay at the bar when ready so no waiting really. Play area is very handy for the kids. Very good selection of drinks and cocktails. We ate twice and service was much quicker on Saturday night compared to Thursday evening, which i thought might be other way around. Main downside was lack of soap in some of the rest-room areas. We were told that the cleaners don't come until the morning so won't be stocked up until then, it's not within the remit of the evening staff. Seems a bit absurd, but at least they explained why there was a shortage and why they couldn't fix it. Admirable honesty really. Thankfully there are two sets of rest-rooms so we found one with soap.

The food quality has gone down over the last year or so. It's a shame really as we have always loved this place and even held our wedding reception there, though that was nearly ten years ago.

Had premier inn breakfast. Was cooked to order. Breakfast was excellent. Front of house team member was helpful, friendly and professional.

Very nice quit place to have a meal . You can reserve a table or just turn up. The staff are very helpful the place is very clean

Friendly staff, food is okay for the price. If you have young children, it's great as they also have a small soft play area which the children can go on for a small fee approx £4.50.

Very quick service and good food

I had the vegan value meal. The cheezy pie was lovely.

Took over 45minutes for food to arrive

Nice food, good value for money

Food was cold , staff more interested in brushing her hair behind the bar. (Very unhygienic may I add.) then she was in serving our table . Not once did any member of staff ask us if everything was okay with our meal. Waited for ages before table was cleared for dessert. Hence to say my family and I will NOT be returning to this restaurant again 😡

Lovely food friendly staff thank you

Lovely food friendly staff, natasha Burgess thank you for being so helpful

All you can eat breakfast for 9.99 is superb! Fuel up for the week!

Just had a lovely meal with a group of 20. christmas menu was just right Not overpriced, no fancy extras but what do you want for £16.99 in 3 courses! , Food was good staff was very good , a lovely relaxed meal not rushed between courses or under pressure to vacate your table the minute you take your last bite Perfect!

Food and menu were excellent. Friendly staff on the carvery. Lady behind the till provided excellent customer service! Unfortunately the staff clearing tables were visibly grumpy, pushing past customers and looking miserable.

Hungry for breakfast? Def this one is for you. Price is reasonable and plenty of options to choose. 🩵

Worst place I have come across in Ipswich for food and drink

Meal came out incorrect when informed the staff he said he would talk to the chef 5 minutes later he came back and offered to redo my meal 20 minutes later it came out and was stone cold so informed the staff again it was no good and finally offered a refund. We had been in the restaurant for an hour and a half and ended up with no meal. Gone down hill very fast.

This review is for The Swallow Ipswich and is based on the Sunday roast only. The system wasn't explained to us when we arrived so we sat for 10 minutes before approaching the bar and asking. The carvery server didn't look at our tickets so served us standard meals instead of king size twice. The roast potatoes were part cooked,the sprouts were also the same. Some cooked others almost raw. The gravy was like water. All in all I can definitely say we won't be returning for a carvery.

Short & sweet - very unprofessional and lazy staff - food ratting 2/10.

Great place breakfast large selection and plenty of it all for a good price

Not a good experience today for the carvery they kept cutting the meat but i was not moving past the empty tray where potatoes should of been it took 5 minutes before new potatoes were brought out so the meal was barely warm after the wait and potatoes were not all cooked sprouts hard and took the meat home for my dog

Me and the kid's all enjoyed the food

Really good Sunday lunch. 5.11.23. The chef was polite and lovely to the children too. We always enjoy it there. Only slightly grumble is paying for soft play for the duration of what they offer. There should be a price for an hour /30mins to help manage children's expectations.

Went here for meal with a colleague - good food and fast service.

Great meal here last friday night with the family

Everything with our meals was amazing nothing to fault, staff where all very helpful and friendly!

Good food at a fair price Sunday carvery was 11.49. Gammon was tender and not salty. Lovely roast potatoes. Plenty of parking. Entrance would be wheelchair and pram accessible. Clean ladies toilet. Good location on outskirts of Ipswich

So.. if you look online for this particular Brewers Fayre.. the price showing (at the time of our visit,which is what enticed us) was £10.99 for two main meals on the lunch deal (Mon-Fri 12-6pm) HOWEVER once inside it is actually more.. £11.49.. when mentioned to staff (believe a manager, basically told they knew and were trying to get it changed!!! So not the price you may expect!!! Food... we both started with Garlic & Herb Mushrooms with BBQ Sauce.. the staff were helpful and changed one BBQ Sauce for another... HOWEVER.. the mushrooms were like bullets, trying to get a fork in or cut with a knife was near impossible... so we resorted to being uncouth, having to use our fingers!! So, they were slightly overcooked, and lacked any Garlic taste. With also both opted for the Smothered Chicken (Similar to Hunters Chicken). The Skin on Chips were ok, a little cold, the piece of Garlic Bread could have been cooked a little longer.. the Chicken was ok (Succulent, although did not actually taste like chicken.) The staff were very friendly. All in all.. disappointed that the advertised price for that location at that time was wrong.. food ok.. but not great... but filled a hole... certainly had better.

Service shocking In kids play area girl behind counter walked away as I was waiting. I went to to big bar ordered after 30 mins I asked where are food was she came back said it was on hold. The kids were hungry we had a few of us there so won't be back and have told others.

Arrived at 10 am was very quiet but still lots of food tho

Young lady that served us friendly and polite,food served in good time just only one little thing is my burger could of been a bit hotter but still very tasty and would visit again,also would recommend more staff behind bar or one at all times x

Absolute bargain buffet breakfast, with friendly, efficient service. Me plus my two boys fed to capacity for less than a tenner! And veggie sausages and poached eggs on request. 😃 Plus, the croissants are fab!

We had a carvery meal on sunday, was hot and fresh, nothing was too much trouble, will definitely be returning.

Lovely family meal. Nothing was to much trouble for them.

Beautiful, loved every second, my server Tammy went above and beyond for me. Food was well cooked and, overall, a pleasant experience, I was told Arron? In the kitchen cooked our meals! Great compliment to the chef!

I understand this venue is for people staying in nearby hotel who most likely will never come back but Jesus Christ. Literally just finished my sirloin steak. Awful, no taste or smell at all. Chewy and generally really bad. Seems like prepared a month ago and heated in microwave. McDonald's is far better choice for food. It reminds me of Wheaterspoon in Stoke on Trent and Tuesday stake nights. Awful. Service ok.

Pleasant atmosphere and friendly/ helpfull staff. Easy to order as once you have found a table and selected your meal from the menu you just go up to the bar, give your table number, order and pay. We both enjoyed their "mixed grill" and ended with clean plates Good car park.

Food took nearly an hour to be served.

Nice breakfast well laid out and proper runny fried eggs

Visited this pub as I was staying in Ipswich, it's a good clean tidy pub but service was extremely slow considering how quiet it was. Food was good though very fresh and hot and good portion sizes.

Sorry but this is no nice place. We had been to Brewers Fayre before at other places. It's really old and run down. We had an unlimited Breakfast but the eggs had been overcooked and dry and the Bacon had a strange taste

Very unhelpful, found the manager rude and unaccomadating left and went else where, shame cos food is normally lovely and good value,

Good grub at a reasonable price. Friendly staff and a comfortable atmosphere. They also have disabled parking, which is always appreciated.

First time we visited I couldn't fault it, so we thought we'd visit again. We were seated quite quickly. The restaurant wasn't that busy. We decided what we wanted and joined the queue to order at the bar. Forty five minutes it took for us to be served our food. There was no mention at the start they'd be a forty five minute wait for food. We wanted dessert, but wasn't going to wait another forty five minutes for that. We ate our food and left.

Table booked last night for 11 people to celebrate my sons 9th birthday. Tables laid out in an L shape meaning 1 of us was sat with their back to us? Food took over an hour to arrive and when it did come out chips were cold and it was clear some meals had been sitting for a while! Below par experience in comparison to previous visits leaving us all very, very disappointed

Very slow service. Staff not very interested. Get told they need to wash a knife up even tho they’ve brought dinner out. Won’t be returning in a hurry.

Place seriously needs a deep clean and lick of paint,bad considering we're on end of pandemic

Great coffee for great value !! Staff needs a shout out, excellent service with so many customers and so few working and allways with a smile 😃

Food very poor value for money. Had to wait ages for the carvery as the member of staff had vanished. Wouldn't rush back

Lunch out with friends, the food was good, great play area for kids, only down thing was the leaking roof above oir table which continued to drip on one of our party, we spoken too the manager who knew of this problem did not seem bothered, it would have been better surely to have moved us to another table or simply blovked the area off

Mid afternoon visit. Food was bland and I imagine microwaved, service was OK. No atmosphere to speak of. Give it a miss if you can

Well where to start went for breakfast with my daughter and grandchildren got a table booked for 10am .. First went to get a bowl and there wasn't any so thought never mind there busy I will get a couple of plates. There was 2 sitting on the top and was told by a man standing waiting that it might be best to look at each one as some are dirty !!!!and he was right not sure thay had even been washed or just collected from the tables and placed in the pile one even had a yogurt pot lid stuck on the back ... got a bit of fruit and went up for Some hot food uummmm noting had been cooked all that was there was scrambled eggs mushrooms and one hash brown no sausages/ bacon and when they did start to bring food out it was 6 eggs 6 hash browns ect SO as you can imagine with a que of people it was soon gone .. it was one of the worst breakfasts I have ever had if your thinking of going out for a nice breakfast then my advice is DONT BOTHER GOING TO THE SWOLLOW

Quite nice food, the wait for the food was a little while. It was frustrating that a meal i ordered they didn't have as i am yet to try it so had to order something else. It's the second Brewers Fayre I've been to that hasn't got this meal which is a bit ridiculous!

It was ok nothing to be over joyed about.

Go there most Mondays good food.

Really nice food, servers were very indifferent. Waited 50 minutes after ordering for the mains but did get deserts for free as a result. Toilets were not cleaned.

This was my first visit and I won't be rushing back. A party of 4 (2 adults, a 7 year old and a 1 year old) we were seated at the back of the restaurant near the play area. A few other families were there too, and I can understand seating families with children near the play area and perhaps away from those who have no children, but to say it was noisy is putting it mildly. The people on the next table were loud (not the Swallows' fault, I know) but the noise echoed around the entire area as we were seated very close to three walls and actually against one of them. The acoustics were not conducive to enjoying a meal or talking to others on the same table. The wait for the food was far too long. 35 minutes after ordering it hadn't arrived so I went to the bar to ask how long it would be? Another 10 minutes, I was told, due to having a rush on tickets. Given the restaurant had several empty tables (I'd say 1/4 to half empty) I'm glad it wasn't full! My fish pie was nice. Not amazing, but tasty and I did enjoy it. My daughter had fish and chips, and the children a childs meal each. The chips were cold on all but we were so hungry by this time that they ate them (we certainly didn't want to find someone to complaint to then chance a wait of another 45 minutes for hot ones!). Another little niggle is that we had to ask twice for ketchup to be brought to us. Maybe, I'm old fashioned, but no one came to the table to ask if everything was ok with our food. And because of paying on ordering at the bar, no one asked at the end if everything had been ok. That said, the waiting staff, when they did come to bring menus, drinks and food, were very pleasant. So, I'm sorry, not a great experience ☹️

Went for a romantic meal with girlfriend, however that wasn't meant to be as the food was shocking, girlfriends full rack of ribs had a spicy curry paste under the BBQ sauce, we complained and had the waitress try explaining why it was like it saying it came in like that before they put the sauce on was which made no sense at all (I'm a ex chef). They refunded girlfriends meal and I left mine (mixed grill) it was extremely fatty and most of it was cold by time it got to us. Won't be returning.

Went to swallow Ipswich for a lovely lunch with my daughters. lovely food. The service was great. The food was quick to the table,very hot ,lovely. clean and tidy. No queueing and we didn't book but they found room to seats us Very nice atmosphere. Very good service

After booking a table for 5 we were all set for the carvey.. I received a phone call prior to our booking the check on any under 17s & to inform me that they would be closing the play area, I explained we had no young children & checked that the carvery was still running & explained this was the only reason we were attending, I was told the carvery would be due to close a little earlier but still around 1 hour later than my booking, we arrived 20 minutes early so we could get some drinks & relax only to find the carvery was already closed! Not understanding why they had called me to confirm the play area closing but not to confirm the carvery was also going to be closed early after our conversation not more than 20 minutes prior we had no choice but to cancel our booking & return home from a wasted journey! Not the first issue we've had with this establishment but will probably be the last!

Waited over 40minutes for meal and it was not busy when we went in at 1.30 very under staffed when all 4 meals arrived all off the chips were cold so back they went. Grandchidren wanted chicken goujons but they had none they put a chicken breast in the bun which was very chewy (overcooked) so won't be going there again in the near future.

I went to brewers Fayre for unlimited breakfast and had an good experience there ,the only thing was that I found there to be a shortage of foods eg no hash browns for the hole hour I was there and the food that was out was a bit under cooked. The services was amazing throw and my table was clean but tables around mine were a bit dirty. The drinks were nice and over all I would recommend this for family’s with kids on a budget as kids eat free on the same plate size (up to 16 years old).

Very clean, friendly and good for children with a soft play area

Went down on an early Thursday afternoon with friends. Upon arrival we had to wait to be seated which was fine, however the place wasn’t busy and there were two people serving 1 customer. I am working in hospitality and found that a bit odd as we had to wait quite a while considering it wasn’t busy. Our waitress was a young girl, it was probably her first job or just had a bad day, but didn’t smile and was somehow unbothered. She almost took us to the table, just pointing a table across the room. It would have been nice if she let us know that certain meals were not available prior to ordering and the we have to order at the bar. Anyway, we went to the bar and waited a while until someone was served before us. And the thing that put me off is that she saw us waiting and then turned around. Anyway, service was slow, my coke tasted like soap for some reason, had no problem swapping it. Had to wait a while for the food to arrive as well… it was OK, didn’t have really high expectations. My jacket potato was burnt but I don’t eat the skin anyway. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pub or a gourmet restaurant, customers service is important.

Bar staff didn't know how to make a lemonade and lime,then asked if I wanted it in a glass, everytime I went to the bar there was no staff, food was cold and bland, everything was dirty, won't go there again

We came to the Swallow quite late on Sunday afternoon. We hadn't booked, but was given a table straight away. Once we were ready, the bar staff took our order. It didn't take long before our meals came out well presented, hot and very enjoyable. Reece the chef is only 17 years old, keep up the good work 👏.

Very nice and clean.had a buy one get one free voucher so was even better . Will go again.

Visited twice. Both times extremely slow service (about 1 hour from ordering) Food can be ok but be careful what you order! It might be good but it might not be 😆 Most staff are friendly.

Awful experience. Down in Ipswich for one night and ordered dinner with drinks. Quiet evening but took staff a while to turn up and seat us. Not very friendly or welcoming staff, they made us feel like we were an inconvenience. The food was average, definitely not the best but could’ve been worse. The drinks were awful, honestly. We ordered two rum cocktails and there were ingredients missing and the alcohol was not measured - despite the staff member who served us arguing that he had, we clearly saw that he had not while he made them - as both our drinks have very different levels of alcohol in them. They also looked nothing like they should have. When we asked for a refund for the drinks, the staff member argued and said “there were no ingredients missing, the only thing I didn’t add was the grenadine but you wouldn’t taste that anyway”. We did receive a refund by a very agitated manager who didn’t apologise or give any customer service. Overall, extremely poor service. I would recommend going to a different restaurant if you can.

Had an amazing experience with Natasha supporting our little girls birthday party. Nothing was too much trouble and Natasha deserves recognition for her outstanding service. Would highly recommend

Food left a lot to be desired. Evening meal the roast potatoes were disgusting all soggy but had been burnt and not complete meal as advertised as Savoy cabbage missing. Cooked breakfast following morning was barely warm.

Staff are outstanding however we had a very cold carvery. Others said their food was okay though

Very noisy and busy. Had rump steak and onion rings plus side of tender stem broccoli. Steak cooked to perfection ( rare) and portion of broccoli was ample for 2.