The Swan in Suffolk Coastal

First time visitors while going to Helmingham hall for the lights. Friendly service good variety of gluten free food. No hesitation in wanting to visit again.

I’ve been to The Swan twice and the meals are always a hit. The service is friendly and the ambience nice and homely 🥰

Service was very slow and they managed to lose our desert order. We were offered a free desert in compensation. Main course was excellent but the crumble left a lot to be desired. Lots of nice fruit but the topping was rock hard. Drinks were expensive £8 for a medium house wine seemed a trifle high to me.

My friend & I were the only customers in the restaurant for breakfast. The pot of tea arrived promptly , I asked for a jug of water which I had to get up to collect. Given we were the only customers in the restaurant we seemed to wait a long time. I ordered a vegetarian breakfast, the beans were barely warm, the vegetarian sausages were so overcooked & so hard which the waitress commented on when she cleared the plates, my friends bacon was so dry she couldn't finish her breakfast. If this is the best that can be provided given we were the only customer's thenit does not speak well & we certainly won't be returning.

Great breakfast, but too chilly inside, the heating needs turning up

We booked a table for a large group and I ordered their Swan breakfast special. I'm on a low carbs diet so I asked if I could replace some of the carbs for an extra portion of protein and they were happy to do so which is really appreciated. All the staff we interacted with were very kind and the atmosphere is very nice. Prices are reasonable and the food is above your average pub food but nothing exceptional. Would definitely recommend and probably come back at some point.

Black pudding scotch egg. Eggsellent. Great, friendly service. Waitress was able to answer questions about food confidently. Food was hot and tasty

Went to a 50th wedding anniversary food was amazing

Lots of variety on the menu. The portions are are above average size-wise. Not the cheapest place to eat but the quality and quantity offer good value for money. Service is friendly and attentive.

Nice beer garden to get away from the snobs inside

Lovely fish pie. Good gluten free range.

We visited The Swan for my mums 80th birthday and had the most fabulous lunch. The staff were really warm and welcoming and the food was delicious, would recommend the cold seafood platter. Also a plus being dog friendly so we could bring our puppy too.

Lovely place with lovely staff, definitely worth a vist

Part of the Deben Inn chain. A nicely laid out restaurant, with good food at reasonable prices. Food is varied usually have a fish of the day etc. Jan 23, went for breakfast still excellent, although shouldn't have eaten it all!

Wow, what an absolutely stunning pub!! We had lunch before going away for an anniversary weekend and what a way to start it!! The food was incredible, the staff were fantastic, and we will be going back for sure! 10/10!

Really good food, children's portions a good size and tasty

I visited with my mum and grandma for a birthday lunch. I ordered the vegan pearl couscous salad from the main menu and the bread & balsamic vinegar from the nibbles menu, the portions were generous and definitely value for money. Food was tasty. Staff very friendly. The indoor dog friendly area was also a bonus.

Excellent meal, service very good

Great pub with great food, we were 2 couple dining together on a Sunday evening. We had pre booked and the pub was very busy when we arrived. The food was amazing especially the seafood platter , I had the small portion and it was huge !! There was lots on the menu unavailable like the roast beef, but obviously they has been busy. I have rated a 4 because the food was great but service was very slow and they were not busy at this stage so no excuse, would have given a 5 stars for food.

Five of us visited for family birthday meal we all agreed that the food & service was first class Sarah even thou the pub was very busy always had a smile we highly recommend

We like The Swan at Westerfield. The staff are friendly and still stop to talk to you when they are really busy. The food is delicious. We like to eat at The Swan regularly. It is a busy venue.

Excellent pub with good service and excellent food. Visited twice in the space of four days. Can thoroughly recommend the Fish & Chips and my son loved the Burger. Location is nice, ate inside both nights but there is outside seating as well.

Back again & once again very good 🤷 😌. 4 of us had a meal & all were good, nice & hot! The real pull here is 'the staff' they are happy to help. Not intrusive but there when you want them & happy to have a natter. Well done ladies😀😀😀

Fantastic pub. Really good staff. Food very tasty. Can't fault it.

Excellent place for individual meals and functions

The Westerfield Swan used to be a great pub and I used to attend there a lot with friends over the summers. HOWEVER. I will NOT be attending again after today. I ordered the cheese burger and it looked like it was fresh out of a burger van with bun being poor quality and the cheese inside was that liquid type. The beef was under cooked and all round looked like a mess. To top it off the coleslaw as so poorly served. Didn’t realise we are living during times we have to ration. I’ve attached photos as YOU wouldn’t believe me if I said that was £16.95

Our server Courtney was amazing. She should be voted employee of the month and given a raise to £7

Great breakfast with high-quality ingredients. Bacon was cooked to perfection. Decent coffee and pleasant service. The only letdown is cheap vinegary condiments. Nice beer garden. Highly recommend.

Always love the Swan. Will always go back. The food was delicious 😋

Tasty food a good choice on the menu speedy service and friendly staff

We went for dinner last night. The place was packed (which may have contributed to the problem). Service took forever and whilst our starters were fine, our mains were poor. Mixed grill, ribs and a burger all dry and tough. It was as if they had been prepared a while and had been sitting under the warming lamps. Meals were left unfinished and there was zero engagement when I went to pay, no-one asking if the meal was ok etc infact the staff seemed overworked and stressed all night. At £125 for 3 people, I expected better.

Amazing service, and excellent knowledge of gluten-free, cross-contamination and dairy-free. They make it feel easy and like ordering food as someone that doesn't have so many gut issues! Thank you and we will continue coming back.

This is a lovely and cozy pub to eat in. There is also a beer garden outside. The food is good with very generous portion sizes. My wife loved the beef short rib in particular which had lovely seasoning. The only dish we had which was quite plain was the kid's burger: the patty was just a bog standard, mass produced one - I'm not surprised my little one gave it a miss. Overall, everything was good and we would definitely come back

I had the venison pie with chips and veg and It was lovely will definitely go again. It's also dog friendly.

Food was OK. My burger was great the wife's fish not so good

Great service - friendly manager secured improved seating when there was table availability. Fish and chips were very good ...nice open venue.

I had a full breakfast as part of a group. The whole group rated the food and the service as excellent. We have already booked again.

Great evening. Food was lovely and lots of it. Service great and efficient. Lovely all round

Unfortunately this visit proved not to be at the same level as previous visits. Service was ok but the food was decidedly below par.

A favourite of a family member. Pre-Booked to celebrate an 82nd Birthday. No mention at the time of booking of kitchen works in progress meaning a limited menu. No contact between booking date and yesterday to advise of a limited menu. On arrival, advised of a limited menu. Very few options. We had taken the time to peruse the menu on line and the rather delicious looking specials regularly posted on social media to consider our food choices prior to arriving only to find out none were an option on the day. A surprise 82nd Birthday treat was not the special occasion we had hoped and marred by the lack of choice and lack of communication to us as customers prior to. Had we been made aware we could have made a choice as to reschedule for an alternative date or perhaps go elsewhere. Poor customer service.

We were a large party of 25, we placed our order in advance. No issues all food was lovely, presentation and taste no complaints. Was very busy all tables full must to book in advance

Never been there before, but will go back again.

Delicious meal. Staff friendly and helpful. The Swan is a lovely place. Quite busy.

Great food, service and parking. Can accommodate lots of people eating. Really nice food, we will come again soon. 10% discount with app was good

It's a dog friendly pub which for anyone scared of dogs maybe a turn off. As it was there was a quite yappy one when we were there for breakfast which was a little annoying. But overall the food and service was good. £14 for small breakfast and a coffee which is a little on the high side.

Not a great meal. Starter was nice but main wasn't

Came here to celebrate my parents 60th wedding anniversary. Food was lovely. I had the sharing seafood platter with sweet potatoes so filling. I had the cheese board. Massive but very nice. Thank you

All was excellent, if a little pricey for a Monday lunch.

Waitresses worked hard and patiently. Proctors sausages disappointing; spoiled by excess salt. The venue is generally pretty good at supporting dietary restrictions. A reliable place to take a group.

Very friendly staff good selection of beer and wine food was very nice we had roast beef dinner our son and partner gammon everything was cooked nice definitely would recommend

We came here for a midweek lunch as a group of ten. We arrived early, but our table was ready and we were able to have drinks and peruse the menu. Food was delicious and staff were all great. After preparing for a huge bill, I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable to prices were! Great value for quality food.

I've been here a number of times and have always been impressed, whether it's the service or the food. The location is set in a lovely quiet village that's easily accessible. The restaurant itself is very cozy and feels very much like a home from home, the staff were very attentive and friendly and the food is both delicious and comfy. I would definitely recommend visiting here.

Food was great and good atmosphere

Most enjoyable night out with a group friends. As usual it was busy even on a Tuesday night in February. The staff were very helpful and professional in their manner. The food was up to it's usual high standard.

Another very average meal at a Deben Inn. The Sunday lunch was sizeable but the rubber hard roast potatoes and dry meat, both Lamb and beef were, disappointing. Deben Inn group ruining great pub locations Suffolk wide. Find a real independent gastro pub to avoid frozen food and a poor meal.

Nice food, pleasant surroundings and attentive staff.

Had a pleasant evening with my friend, food not bad but would welcome smaller portion main options, rather than choosing sides, which wasn't a problem for the pub. We were well looked after and our waitress put candles on my ice cream as it was my birthday, which was really appreciated.

The same as all the Deben Inns group, food is delicious at a reasonable price. The staff are friendly and helpful. Lovely atmosphere.

A very enjoyable experience. The best in a long time. You can tell when you walk in that it’s going to be great. The staff were happy and inviting. The food was well cooked and enjoyable, the service was great with the staff very attentive. All in all a great experience. Will be coming back and recommending the Swan to friends.

Love readying through some google reviews before I leave a comment, still seams like everyone is a Micheline star food critic. The food was very good and price resembles that perfectly, happy good pub grub with a more upper class twist on it. drinks a little steep but the service makes up for all off it the team are fantastic and really go out of there way to make you feel like your the only customer in there. will be returning as I couldn't be happier with how we were treated.

You need to love this place ❤️Amazing food, great service and great atmosphere. We definitely going to visit again and again ☺️

It was ‘nice’ Had to preorder, given a scaled down menu however on arrival it was clear the full menu was available. We were a party of 9 and no one ordered starters as they were all a bit meh, had we have been given the full menu we all would have ordered starters. We had to wait 15 mins to order drinks and a further 15 mins for them to arrive. Food was good, but let down by front of house. We would have spent a lot more money if the full menu had been given and if service had been faster. Won’t be hurrying back.

Had a fantastic meal out tonight, great food selection especially for vegetarians. Can be a bit noisy on the weekends as its a very popular place.

Very good food, good service and nice atmosphere and good price for food and wine

Excellent food, cheerful and efficient service. We were a group of 11, well looked after throughout our visit

It was very good and the Staff were very nice.

Enjoyed a birthday party with friends on a really rough January night, but a.warm.welcome in the pub. Excellent portions and dog friendly.

Wonderful Christmas Lunch, great service with a smile

Two couples plus two dogs one large and one small. A delicious meal. Homemade soup for starter was scrumptious and from the specials board sea bass resotto and tia green curry (v) also burger and scampi and chips. Chips looked delicious food is really well presented and exceeds expectation on flavour. we all thoroughly enjoyed our meal . service was outstanding. This pub / resteraunt is truly dog friendly not just dog tolerant. We were all made so very welcome.

We had our Christmas lunch here this year. Had a table for 6. We would like to thank each and every one of the team at The Swan who worked their socks off. The chefs and kitchen staff, waiting staff and everyone else.....it worked like a well oiled machine. The food and service was faultless. As a result, we tipped accordingly and I hope other tables did too. Those people gave up their Christmas mornings/afternoons, to enable us to enjoy ourselves. Thank you so much 😁👏👍

Always a great place for a meal. Food is always nice and staff are friendly too.

Booked a table as it was quite close to Christmas and I know it can get quite busy. Good selection of vegan/vegetarian meals and they cater for allergies as well. Had to take some of my meal home with me as the portion sizes are very generous. Atmosphere was good, lively with lots of Christmas meals going on around us. Service was fast and friendly. Will return.

Had an open fish pie, with no prawns, very little sauce. won't be having it again. Definitely not worth the price asked.

Always good nice food and good service

Nice pub and I sometimes come in for food which is good pub food. However, it doesn't provide any space to just have a drink.

Now this is proper food like mother used to make.fab

I went there with the donkeys and we sat outside - I had the burger and it was absolutely delicious! The servers were very welcome and enjoyed the donkeys visit. I would definitely go there again

Great stuff guys keep it up, 5*

Very expensive not a lot for the money no extras on the steak meal and mushrooms were chopped up not so good

Great atmosphere, food always spot on (they even have the Combat to Coffee burger and coffee van) and staff couldn't do more to accommodate your needs. Great rugby club which has an awesome bar for all the family.

We took Mother here for her 92nd Birthday 🎂🎉 The meal was lovely. My Daughter and I went for the sharing sea food platter which wasn't disappointing. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Mother went for stew and dumplings, which by all accounts was also lovely. The staff looked after us well. I would advise to book as it does get busy. There's plenty of parking. I would like to thank the staff for making our time special..They even presented Mum with a free ice-cream dessert which was a lovely touch. I would recommend a visit. Thank you The Swan

Shared brunch with the family. Food well cooked. Several choices, including full English, bagels with salmon and scrambled egg and bacon/egg butties.

Lovely food, reasonably priced, staff very attentive if you have any sort of allergy, thanks for that

Very disappointing visit to the Swan today. They were extremely busy so expected to wait, but it was 20mins before we were asked if we wanted a drink and another 20mins before they arrived. We had ordered our food just before the drinks arrived. When prompted we were brought our starters in about 30mins which we enjoyed. The mains unfortunately were not so good Roast Pork and Roast Beef. The Pork was lovely but my Beef was full of gristle. The veg was ok but roast potatoes impossible to cut and didn’t seem to be freshly cooked. We were asked almost immediately the food was put down if everything was ok which at that point I said fine. We were asked again when a sharper knife we asked for arrived. I should have said something then but still hadn’t eaten enough to realise how bad the beef was. When the plates were cleared it was obvious how much we left and the gristle meat . The waitress apologised and said she would give our pudding Foc. We ordered two scoops of ice cream and peppermint tea When the bill came the ice cream was charged for. Such a small amount but when questioned I was told that because I’d been asked twice how everything was and I said ok. The offer of foc ice cream was withdrawn, Even though it was clear just how much gristle there was on my plate We will not be going to the Swan again Nor would we recommend it

Lovely restaurant good menu and lovely food.

Very friendly atmosphere food was delicious and plenty of it

It's a nice experience, but the meal choices are very standard and trimmed to few. It would help if they valued their dishes and offered seasonal specialities all the time.

We were a table of 6, plenty of space to sit outside even though we booked incase there wasn't. Food came out incredibly fast... too fast in my opinion for it to have been cooked completely fresh! The menu for vegetarian/vegan is very limited compared to meat/fish. Disappointingly the vegetarian roast sounded lovely on the board (only option, meat eaters had 5 or 6 others to choose from) but in reality it was barely warm, the roast potatoes tasted like they had been cooked the day before. They were hard and cardboard like in texture. The Yorkshire pudding was thick and non crispy. The main squash wellington was soggy from the amount of gravy on the plate. It would be nice to put your own gravy on as some prefer less/more. For £17 per roast, (considering there's no meat I feel it should be cheaper than the other roast options) it wasn't worth it. Nice atmosphere outside but poor food choice for vegetarians/vegans compared to meat and fish eaters.

Best restaurant I've been to in ages. Great service and friendly and helpful staff. The food was fantastic, and as a veggie, great choices. Will definitely visit again. A must go to place.

The food always is very good. They could have more vegan varieties. Sometimes we spend long to have someone to take our order. Beautiful place.

Really swift service on a busy Sunday lunch. Roast beef was nice but the whole meal was just OK. Did the job.

Lovely. Good food and lovely staff.

Absolutely amazing food. I had a burger with some of the best onion rings Ive tasted as a side. Other family members had roasts that they really enjoyed too.

No food at minute But good atmosphere with a old world feeling in the best possible way Used the shop which has a well value selection good pricing and choice No hot food from pub at present but they do have a choice of food wagons time to time hog roast this weekend which at only £5.00 each very good value

Top place to visit - our local go-to, great menu with regularly changing specials (including choice of Sunday roasts), plenty of parking, plenty of seating choices, friendly, personal service - dog friendly and serving up the best-dressed Pimms in the area !

We only live a mile from the Swan (in Ipswich), but had never visited before today. Today we decided to go for a meal and turned up without any prior call. The pub, the food and the staff were simply exceptional! The staff could not have been more helpful or cheery, everyone made us feel so welcome. They found us a table (in a heavily pre-book lunch period), but we then decided we'd like to sit outside in the garden. The food was delivered very quickly and the portions were huge. Half way through our meal it started to rain, but the staff rushed to bring our food inside for us and then found us a table inside to sit at. Honestly, what an amazing place with amazing staff! 10/10

First time I had been here and it was a nice experience. Had a roast, food had great flavour however it was warm and they got my order wrong but I didn’t mind as the beef was very tender. The pudding we had after was delicious. Smaller portions then other places but I suppose you are getting quality. Wouldn’t come regularly as found it a bit on the expensive side for what you get although we enjoyed what we had. I’d like to add, we sat outside which was very beautiful and peaceful.

Five of us had a lovely meal. We all had something different, but each said it was the best meal out ever.

Stopped with a friend. Staff very friendly and helpful. Food bought to table quickly and hot. Dog friendly. Very relaxed atmosphere. Would recommend to friends.

Lovely food, nice staff, a little expensive for good pub food, but prices everywhere are going up.