Ipswich Restaurants

While waiting for my coach to take me back home (Stansted Airport...), I was looking for a cosy place to drink a beer and read my book. There were at least three restaurants close to the coach stop. The largest one, which drew my attraction at first, had a dresscode. I don't remember how I looked like excatly, but I remember that I hate dresscodes. The second one was a polish restaurant. I wasn't sure if it was open, at least there wasn't anything going on inside. And the third one was the plough. An usual pub with cheap bar food and good prices for beer. Staff was very friendly, but I also heard that staff is changing quite often due to an unfriendly manager...

All in all is fine and worth the money - but I have also been to better pubs

Favorite Dish: Just a good old pint of ale - usually, you can't do anything wrong with that.

They serve some excellent Italian food here at a reasonable price. The service is good and I've never found a reason to complain about anything here.

UPDATE 24 Dec 07:
This place has been closed down for quite a time now

This is a good place to eat if you are really hungry, want no nonsense food quickly. Some of the dishes are huge, but you can also get lighter meals.

below are just a few dishes from the menu, there are starters, but I will consentrate on the main meal section:-

these are served on a 17" big plate -

Mad dog sizzle platter - 10oz rump steak in bbq sauce, fajita pepper and onion mix, corn on the cob, half grilled tomato, chips and a tortilla wrap - £7.99.

Prime rump steak - £6.99
Sirloin - £7.99
Peppered steak - £7.99
other steaks up to a 20 oz megasaurus at £9.99. all served with the usual accompiaments

Massive mouthfuls -
Sausage egg, chips - £4.99
All day breakfast - £4.99
Whole chicken crown £5.99
Cottage pie £5.99
also, cow pie, tex mex enchilada, cod and chips, gammon and eggs, braised lamb joint, at varying prices, and the Mammoth mixed grill which comes in priced at £9.49

There are lighter meals, salads, pasta, vegetarian, and the usual gargantuan desserts.

Hope I have whetted your appetite if you are in the area.


Favorite Dish: The fish, chips and peas I had on the Lighter menu, was ample for me. Lovely crisp battered fish, plenty of hot, non greasy "proper" chips, not microwaved rubbish, and peas, tartare sauce in it's own pot, and lemon wedge, all for £3.99. I was too full to have dessert.

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Zizzi's a quite nice Italian restaurant in Ipswich's town centre. Part of a national franchise (you can find dozen of Zizzi's in London, for instance), it has some nice modern decoration and good music (modern pop/rock selection, not exactly Italian songs...). They have a good selection of pizzas and pastas and a nice selection of Italian wines. Prices are ok - I paid £9,40 for a pizza, still water and an espresso (Apr.2006).

If everyone was rich, then Wetherspoons would go bust. As it stands, they continue to serve cheap drinks for an array of people, from red-flushed clubbers making their first stop of the evening, to the cackling old dossers in the corner.

The atmosphere of a Wetherspoons doesn't change much, be it in Ipswich or Gatwick airport, but the Ipswich Cricketer's benefits from a good location in a grand old building right opposite the main bus station, perfect for snapping up the bus loads of people coming in for a night out.

Without any music, the atmosphere veers from funereal during the quiet hours of the day to clamorous, without anything to take the edge of the cacophony of bellowing voices.

The drinks aren't as cheap as they once were, but they are still cheaper than most. Wetherspoons make up for it by overcharging for a reasonably extensive menu of mediocre pub grub.

Favorite Dish: Thursday night is Curry Club, and you can't really argue. Obviously, the cuisine isn't a patch on a real Indian, but they offer a fair range. And a fiver for a curry, rice, poppadums, naan and a beer can't be bad.

This is a great Chinese restaurant not far from the centre of Ipswich. I've been here a couple of times, most recently just before Xmas 04. The food was excellent, as was the service.

There is a lot of parking available at Cardinals Park so with any luck, you should be able to park right outside.

Though it seems incongrous with the 16th century hotel that houses it, the trendy modern MIZU Noodle Bar is one of the best restaurants I have found in England, outside of London.

Located inside the Golden Lion Inn, in the town square of Ipswich, this restaurant is almost always busy because the food is so delicious and served up hot and fast by a friendly & knowledgeable waitstaff.

When we'll drive 40 minutes just for a big bowl of their noodle soup, you have to know it's good!

Favorite Dish: My husband is a big fan of the giant bowl of wonton soup. Myself, I like the hot chili noodles.