Zaks Poringland Diner in South Norfolk

Sadly, not a great experience today. Food was just OK. Burgers although tasty were cardboardy. 2 sides never arrived (this was rectified on the bill), staff seemed a little apathetic. Although not Zaks fault, there were a lot of screaming children who made conversation impossible most of the time. Probably the last time we will go there.

Great service, nice clean restaurant but so overpriced for a burger and chips, burgers are dry even though requested medium rare, had better at a burger stand, Zak’s is no better than a McDonalds if I’m honest, but the staff are fantastic and go above and beyond to help you, just a shame the food is of such poor quality

Absolutely love this place, food is amazing and the staff are great!! Plenty of parking with an awesome atmosphere. I would highly recommend booking a table in advance as it is very popular and gets really busy.

Just tried to call to book a reservation for Friday night. Phone rang for about minute and a half then ended and no one answered. Literally had this exact same problem a couple of weeks ago trying to cancel a reservation for mousehold restaurant. Why is this a running theme? I'm getting to the point where I'm just not going to bother anymore. Great restaurant but your booking and phone service is terrible. Before I just tried to call Poringland I called mousehold restaurant. Phone was answered but greeted by a abrupt, annoyed sounding worker who took number of people and time I wanted then phone went silent for about a minute. After saying hello afew times and getting no response I hung. Absolute joke. If I could give less then 1 star I would

Had a lovely meal was really lovely food and our service was lovely Lucy was extremely helpful and very friendly such a lovely member of staff

Very pleased with tonight’s visit to Zak’s, lovely food, good atmosphere and brilliant service. Will definitely be visiting again.

Lots of food! Nicely cooked burger and loads of extras to choose Maybe rather too much (!) Sauce on the chips, but excellent throughout.

Average food but not as special as it used to be.

Brilliant Food, and the atmosphere was lovely, nice and spacious with so much to choose from on the menu, we will definitely return.

A local favourite, with mine always being the surf and turf.

Always an excellent experience, lovely food, lovely staff. There Maple Syrup milkshakes are gorgeous.

It was my sons birthday so booked a table for 3 people for 7 o'clock. We arrived early so decided to have a drink. Bearing in mind we had reserved a table, we were still waiting to be seated at 7.35pm. Other diners came in and were seated even though they had not booked. We asked a member of staff only to be told 'oh we will have to move you to another table now'. After approximately 15 mins our food order was taken. We waited 25 mins before asking how long we had to wait for our food, we were told 10-15 minutes because they were busy. When the food arrived 2 meals were fine. I ordered tuna, it was overcooked, dry and tough. After the meal we ordered 1 coffee, 1 chocolate and 1 tea. The coffee and chocolate arrived no tea so again had to go to speak to a member of staff. My tea arrived barely tepid. After paying £96.00 to say we were disappointed with the whole experience would be an understatement. We will not be going back.

Great service and food. Always welcomed by staff who are incredibly helpful. The blue cheese dip is a game changer. A must have with your fries!

Wing it Wednesday. Completed. Great service Great food Still one of the best restaurants in Norwich!!! 14 pound unlimited wings. Burgers are banging.

Great food and service even when busy

10 of us went for lunch on Saturday 24th of August. Absolutely great time had by us all, special thanks to our waitress Lucy. We'll done to all involved.

Still a great place for burgers, with a few interesting new ones as well. Watch out as the portions are very generous 🙂

Great staff, great food, great atmosphere. Plenty of parking, friendly helpful staff. Recommended. Our party of 7 left, very happy.

Yesterday 17 August 2024 around 7pm me and my partner drove all the way from Norwich to Poringland for a nice meal. When we came in we were told that there was no space and that it would be an hour wait. I stood at the door and reserved a space for 2 in 10 minutes. We were both shocked by this. I am not sure why this happened but I feel I was discriminated against because I am a black woman. I called into the restaurant before we left and the person who answered the phone couldn’t even give me an explanation as you why we were turned away. We had to drive back to Norwich and had an amazing experience at the Riverside branch. This racist behavior is absolutely appalling!!!

We always go to Zak’s for our family celebratory meals and as usual our meals were delicious and plentiful and good value for money. We particularly want to thank the lady waitress who kindly changed our table to accommodate our child who is autistic. She seemed to understand exactly what we needed and sorted everything out for us. Thank you Zak’s.

As always, a really nice meal out with friends

We were greeted by a lovely lady named Lynn M (according to the receipt) who catered to all of our needs. The food was awesome as always. We were seated next to the door so the station where you are greeted to be seated is directly in front of us, throughout the entire duration the same staff member congregated there with whoever was passing to bad mouth and outright disrespect every customer that had come in/she was waiting on. This varies from a pregnant lady wanting her food well done (I know because the member of staff moaned about it 3 times) and said she should “eat was she is given” and “sod the baby it’s just a medium burger”, someone wondering if they may eat outside due to his bike being out there and not chained up and “I’m not serving outside it’s cold so tough” to having too many customers and her not wanting to be there because “she has better things to do”. I am just itching to know how I will be spoken about after leaving…

Great menu options for veggies! Ask for the separate menu when you arrive, or it looks there aren’t many options to choose from the main meaty menu. The service was great, fast even though busy and we got the last table. Lyn our host was brilliant, funny and attentive. The frickles were very tasty and big portions, so share a starter if you don’t have a huge waistband :-) Thank you, I’ll definitely be back!

Came here yesterday and had the Chicken Cheese Melt. It took way too long for me to receive my food being around 40 mins which is a disgrace as it was very quiet. The food was very nice but as my buses were in chaos yesterday i had to leave early due to not wanting to get stranded. The waiter also came over several times to ask me if i was enjoying the food which was very annoying as i kept having to waste time talking to her which i don't appreciate. It's also way too expensive in there with most food options being over 20 pounds. Will not be returning, Give me any English food over American food after this experience

Great food and service "lucy" was very helpful and attentive, Food is a little pricey, BUT, it is good. Have the Frickels! If you like pickels. They are to die for with the sauce that comes with it.

Visited here many times over the years, always been first class service. The establishment does tend to get busy so it's best to book in advance. Clean, well furnished and friendly staff.

Honestly, I can’t praise Zaks enough normally we have exceptional service however on this occasion we had beyond exceptional service. I can’t say enough how fantastic Mia and Maddie were. My sister has some allergies and Mia was so attentive and actually cared for my sister my sister can be very annoying but the girls handled it so well nothing was too much trouble and we enjoyed our experience more than ever because of them. We already recommend Zaks to everybody who comes to visit us however now this is more than just a recommendation. This is we will bring them, well done Zaks for employing such fantastic staff both those girls are gonna do extremely well in life and although you probably only have them for a very short time make the most out of having them working for your team food was great as always

I booked brother wrong restaurant whilst rushing. When we turned up here they squeezed us in and helped us celebrate our sons 8th birthday with our family rather than telling us to leave. The food was good and service was also We highly recommend Zaks

Popped in here for some lunch with a friend. I had chicken wings and a pint and my friend had a burger and chips. The wings were great. My mate had the burger which was nice but it came with a crazy amount of fries. The service was great and I can say the value for money was good too.

Great food, huge portions, lovely service

So many little things spoiled it. Table edges where sticky had to lay napkins over it. Water jug and glasses where so water marked they looked dirty. Vegan burger was over cooked, buns were not warmed , cheese not melted, so everything for cold, no relish which was always the staple of an American diner and disappointing cheap frozen fries. Impressed by the vegan menu but end product was not great

Table was booked for 7pm. I inadvertently arrived at 6:30 (no traffic on the road you see) so decided to sit on the tables out the front with my partner. I went in to see about ordering some drinks. There was already a group of about 8 people waiting to be seated - I stood there waiting 10 minutes for them to be seated. After this, I wandered up to the bar to order a drink. The young lad serving asked what I was after as he could not accept large drinks orders. I asked for only 2 drinks. He began serving me when a middle aged, curly haired waitress stormed over and stopped him, proclaiming "We are NOT a pub. We DO NOT do bar service". The lad awkwardly stopped serving me and apologised. I said that I actually had a table booked, but was slightly early so was just looking for a drink while I waited for others to arrive. "We do NOT do bar service" she insisted. I tried to tell her that it was now 6:50 and I had a table booked for 7pm. She refused to serve me. Pure rudeness. She then complained about not having enough staff - I was well aware, having just witnessed a table wait over 10 minutes stood in the foyer to be seated. But, as a customer, your lack of staff is not my problem. Now, I do have a bit of a temper, but decided not to go full Karen mode and just sidled off. I returned to my partner outside who was confused that I had been both 15 minutes and had returned without drinks. To make matters worse, sitting next to us outside was a big table of 10. They were exactly the same as us: had arrived early so had sat outside and had managed to order some drinks while they waited. Not sure how they were allowed to order for 10, when we were refused service for 2. Double standards. I would 100% have left at that point, however the 4 people we were waiting for had also travelled, and did not want to find somewhere else last minute. Food was OK. Table service from a different young girl was 10/10 TLDR: Put on more staff. Don't be so rude to paying customers.

I ordered a Weston burger and it came out cold, young man very pleasant took my meal back to exchange it for another this to came out cold and with the same curly fries I ordered. Refunded meal but were not bothered about offering any gesture or good will off the bill. I think also the tables are generally sticky unpleasant to eat your meal off. Not warm quite chilly in there. We won’t be going back. Second meal took at least 15 minutes to replace I’m not a moaner but this was poor

The burger itself was lacking a lot of flavour, curly fries were alright I just believe for the price you are paying I can easily get better 10 minutes down the road

Had a great time with my work friends this lunchtime. Big fan of the new burger "The Frenchy" too.

Our absolutely favourite Zaks, Staff, Service, food always top notch! You guys do a great job and it's appreciated.

This restaurant never ever dissapoints.Excellent service and fantastic food at astoundingly good value.Higly recommended

Always great food and drink, nice venue with plenty of space so always choose this Zaks.

Went for lunch, 6 of us, had to wait an age for food, looked nice when it arrived I had southern fried chicken, ate my fries and chicken legs, when the waitress asked if everything was ok, only after I cut into a large piece of chicken, it tasted awful and put me off eating anymore, waitress did not come back until everyone else had finished, when I told her how bad it was, she walked off and never came back, when we went to pay was charged for my meal and told if I get sick get in touch

The tastes and portion sizes are authentically American. The menu has something for everybody.

A good selection of American style chicken, burgers etc.

Quick service, lovely staff and great food. Colouring bits for the kids is an added bonus to keep them amused. Food in good portions, and isn't overly priced either

Lovely little eaterie, we normally go in afternoon/late afternoon it's not as busy then if you want a table later in the evening it's best to book on the day if not the day before, as it is always busy specially on weekend evenings. Lovely food and great for families.

Staff polite and helpful if you like burgers I doubt you will be disappointed portion sizes good prices ok, wish milkshakes were cheaper as very nice but gone too quickly and if you have 2 that's a tenner gone straight away.

Very poor. Steak was very tough.

We had booked a table a few weeks ago but had to cancel so I called and asked the chap if we can book it for the following week but at a slightly later time of 6pm all fine so that is what we did. Turned up at 5.45pm, gave our name to the older lady who was checking people in and she told us we were supposed to be here at 4.45pm and that she was then cancelling our table as we were late. I had assured her I had booked it for 6pm so she reluctantly took us to a table without saying anything else to us, we felt very uncomfortable throughout. This is our 2nd visit to the Poringland Zak’s and we wont be coming again.

Food poor, service even worse!! Having been before this evening was an extreme disappointment ....wouldn't recommend & won't be returning

Good food good service atmosphere OK Wouldn't take much to get to 5 stars in every category

Just had a fab meal in Zak’s. The atmosphere and food is great. The boozy shakes are delicious and we never walk out of there hungry!! Want to give a special ‘thank you’ shout out to our server Lewis and Tom. We had to wait a while for our booked table (due to how busy this place is) but they made it up to us by their excellent customer service. Really appreciated. We already love Zak’s but now we love it more x

We have fell in love with this place the food is great was a amazing selection to the point we had to ask for more time twice due to choice. The milkshakes are amazing but you don’t get much the glasses look big but don’t hold much. I would highly recommend this place to all groups big, small, couples or families young or old.

Had a lovely time here and both times iv been the good has been really nice but always come away thinking it’s quite expensive for what it is, sometimes it’s very busy and feels crowded and like your a bit rushed then !!! Over all a nice place though x

Brilliant place, well worth a visit. Made the mistake of filling up on fried pickles before the chill dog arrived. Will make the mistake again for sure.

One of the best American style diners I've been to!

Excellent place to eat, watch out for portion sizes though they are pretty big!!

Just awesome as you would expect foil wrapped burger just the same as when it was made in the cabin at castle cattle market 34years ago made me smile

Great place, friendly, nice food

First time in this branch and became our main one directly! (not because others bad, Poringland is too good :)) Staff is very friendly and quick, burgers are yummy as always, see you again shortly 😬

I have been going there for many years But never been treated so rudely as I was last week , by the manager

Guy was not very pleasant so we left

Great meal, luvly tasting burger. But prefer the Great Yarmouth restaurant the portions are more generous there.

Very disappointing. Waited at the bar for 20 mins (7:15pm booking). No one offered to seat us or a drink. Finally just took a table. Had to ask twice for drinks. No menus brought. Had tonask twice for someone to take the order. Food was all OK when it finally arrived at gone 9pm, but took ages to bring condiments. After eating it took ages for someone to bring the bill, then ages for someone to actually take payment. Biggest problem here is no leadership. No-one was in charge. Most staff were young, so inexperienced. They were nice, but not attentive. Better management required.

My grandson's birthday treat which he didn't eat much of. Very disappointed 😓 would not go back. I had the chicken and thighs again not good.

I visted Zak's last Wednesday with some work colleagues for 'Wing-It-Wednesday'. The wings were cooked perfectly, with a thick coating and a generous amount of sauce. They were not small like other estabslishments, but rather meaty and tender, making these the best wings I've tried so far. The restaurant had a warm and welcoming atmosphere, with aesthetically pleasing American-style decor. The service was excellent, with our servers checking on us frequently and promptly addressing any requests. I rate Zak's a perfect 5-star review and look forward to returning soon for another round of wings.

Lovely food but very, rich, salty etc. Portions way too big. Was asked what type of chips/ fries / potatoes on the spot and found out after they were £2 extra as opposed to coming with the meal. One member of party said butter tasted off but was addressed promptly. Service was fairly prompt and polite, but no set cutlery for each person just random knives. One adult one teen, no pudding, came to £47:50. Family milestone birthday so not optional but will take a whole year to save up for that again. Will definitely pay more attention to find print in future and might order a starter to eat as a main to facilitate cost and portion control.

First time going here drove a good 45 minutes to try it out , we arrived and got sat on a small table so had 0 view of the place really . And well the food is basic you can make it at home definitely not American food.. and even missed topping on the hot dog so I didn't tip for that reason. Even when mentioned the kid didn't understand. So won't go to this restaurant again.

Best Zak’s out of all of them, amazing staff amazing service. Food always perfect !

Went for wing it Wednesday, the food was hot and lovely and fresh every time, really good pricing and amazing service by Leona who kept us topped up with wings!

Good food - if a tad expensive. Good job it was BOGOF on burgers.

Good food, very reasonably priced and the service was excellent, highly recommend

Good choice, food lovely, good portions will be back

Went in during week and enquired about take away for 10 people on Saturday evening was told all ok, phoned early Saturday afternoon to place order and was told no they couldn’t accommodate

Thank you for a lovely time this evening had a wonderful meal

Lovely food, I remember a Big 'Un from the original caravan, still as good after nearly 50 years!!

9 of us for 50th birthday meal. Fantastic food. Great service.

Food was great, but the service was slow.

I had a great time at zaks on my forest visit. The waiting staff are very knowledgeable about every ingredient in each product and advised me on my dietary requirements. It's not often that you get this in many places. I will be returning. The food was amazing, atmosphere was great and the staff were really helpful, welcoming and friendly

First time there, after usually going to the Mousehold Zaks. Much, much, much prefer the Poringland one! Less claustrophobic and feels more chilled. Very good service and a lovely meal. No urgency to us leaving so they could re-use the table, but it got quite chilly in there, almost as if the heating had been switched off, so we left at that point.

A very warm and fun place for families

Great Place Highly Recommend the Chicken Wings

Food was really good but the service like in a lot of restaurants since Covid was not the best as was slow to take orders and ask if we would like more drinks.

I am not a fan of American Diners but came here as part of a group for someone's birthday. I was pleasantly surprised by the food and the service was amazingly good.

Good parking area, really good food, vegetarian / vegan options. Great service!

Go as a group for a better experience,

Love the place great food and great Staff

I ate here for my work's Christmas do and I can honestly say Zak's is fine. If you like that sort of Americana vibe i.e. burgers, hotdogs, fried chicken stuff, you'll enjoy it. Food - The portions are enormous! I ordered a plate of fried chicken because I'd heard their steaks weren't great and I try to avoid ordering a burger in restaurants. It was fine, not a lot of meat on the thighs, the seasoning was flavourful if not a little bit hard, the fries and beans were fine, definitely from the freezer and a can but it is what it is. It was fine, not exciting but edible. Service - The service was friendly, they asked if I had any allergies, I told them onion and in her defence she did everything right, checked with the kitchen etc, they removed the coleslaw from my meal, it wouldn't have hurt offered some gravy as an alternative or something but it's not the end of the world. She messed up the starters for the table but fixed the issue... Service was fine. Atmosphere - Hyper Americana, it was super loud and bright. Plenty of parking, level access to the restaurant at the side. Broken toilet door on the only stall. Nothing to write home about.

As always great food, great service and a wonderful atmosphere.

Have always loved this place, 10/10. Been 50+ times over the last 20 or so years. Don't book on the 241 days as it means I can't get a table...

Visited on a Thursday for their 241 offer nights. Place was very busy but a nice atmosphere. We all had burgers which were nice and had a couple of desserts. We were looked after by Leonna who we could not speak more highly of, she was great fun and looked after us so well.

Excellent food and service thank you for a lovely evening

All amazing food , shame drinks order was slow... the young lad behind bar needed some help, which was not given.. shame really

Great food and service at a very decent price; highly recommended

Fantastic food, service was perfect, friendly and welcoming. Really enjoyed our visit with a large group of us, food all came out together piping hot and delivered with a smile. Highly recommended

Copieux et savoureux. La formule 1 Burger acheté/1 Burger offert le jeudi rend le prix très attractif. Mieux vaut réserver.

We used to come to this particular branch regularly, but after a mediocre experience here we veered towards using the city centre restaurants instead since. It had been a couple of years since our last visit to this Zak’s and thought we’d give it a return visit. We were not disappointed! We prefer the space inside that Poringland offers. Our order was taken swiftly and food served within a very reasonable wait time. Our fussy, particular likes/ dislikes, order came spot on! The food was hot and fresh and the portions were plentiful. Thank you, we will be back soon.

I've frequented Zaks many a time in the past and have always had a pleasant experience. Yesterday was no exception. This American Style restaurant never fails to put you in the mood for a fat ol' burger. I just wished that was what I ordered yesterday! I thought I would go against the grain and order the Texas Combo, a combination of BBQ ribs and chicken. Coming in at £20, I was expecting something a little more than average. When the food arrived, I wasn't expecting to be presented with fried chicken to go along with my self described "Fat Boy" ribs. No where in the description of the Texas Combo did it mention fried chicken, so I was a little taken aback. It was quite literally just a fried drumstick, and what looked like a fried thigh. It's just a shame that it was so dry that I couldn't chew it properly. And the bone was pink, a clear tell tale sign that it had been fried from frozen. The ribs themselves had really lovely flavour to them, but, personally, I found the sauce they were smothered in to be a little too overpowering, so any chance of actually enjoying the ribs, was sabotaged by the shear amount of BBQ sauce cascading off the plate. I think I'll stick to The Hogfather, a tried and tested favourite of mine! Service is always top notch here, too. Nothing was too much trouble, and even as I was handing back my plate of mostly uneaten food, our server was attentive and listened to my concerns.

Cool place with a hefty dose of Americana. Had a burger & fries and it was an honest burger. Nothing mind blowing but not bad in any way.

If I could a 0 then I would. Had pre booked a table & got refused the wing it Wednesday and the waiter then laughed and advices that T&Cs apply. Appalling service.

Food very bland, had burger - tasteless. Wedges oversized and underseasoned. Adult shake felt like it had only a drop of alcohol in it

First time here and we all really enjoyed it. Massive portions that beat me after I made the mistake of stacking up my burger but it tasted lovely 😍 Wife and young daughter both also enjoyed their meals. The waitress was very good and attentive. There was a slight hiccup with my smother (sauce on fries) not being added so I had to send it back but otherwise it was very good. Not massively expensive either at around £15 for a big burger meal. I'll definitely be back 👌

Great food and service! We found this just looking on google maps. We were staying in Great Yarmouth and was going to go to the restaurant there but parking looked very sparse so we decided to come to this restaurant. Lovely food and the sharing sundaes are huge!