"Booked to eat at five pm online for six of us, four of whom are visiting Bury St Edmunds for the first time and coming to see my partner and me. As our guests had a long drive they were hungry and so we went into town early. Being four pm on a Saturday in mid-January the restaurant was next to empty on arrival so we approached the bar and asked if we could be seated early. We were told by a gentleman at the bar, that no, we could not and that we should return at the time of our booking. This immediately irritated us, there was no reason given, the restaurant was empty and therefore there was no reason whatsoever not to seat us. Walking past at four thirty pm, we could see the restaurant was still empty. So much so, that staff were just stood around chatting to each other while the three tables that did have people were dining. So, we entered again and asked again if we could be seated early, this time a different member of staff agreed and showed us to the same table I 'd predicted would be reserved for us and had been empty for the thirty minutes since we last entered the restaurant. It didn 't take long for us to order, as again, our guests were hungry and so the first dishes came out to the table at four fifty pm. I have coeliac and had ordered cheesy garlic bread for my starter, which had not been brought out with everyone else 's starters so I attempted to get the attention of a member of staff and asked where it was, they returned to say it would be with me soon. When it did arrive ten minutes later, everyone else had finished their starters, and with no word of a lie, I could not even cut it. It had been cremated, it was rock solid and could have been used as a frisbee, I called back the member of staff and returned it, opting not to have a replacement. It was a good thing I didn 't opt for a replacement as our mains came only seconds later. Again, the gluten-free option was the last to be served. I 'd recalled enjoying gluten-free pizzas from Pizza Express in the past, but on this occasion, I was extremely disappointed. Pizza Hut is better and I 've now had such good gluten-free pizzas in independent Italian restaurants that the offering provided by Pizza Express is nothing short of insulting to coeliacs. However, I ate it. Everyone else at the table ate all their food, but no one was overly impressed. Describing food as it 's okay is never a good sign. That 's when people eat because it 's there and there are no options. It 's not bad enough to return, but not good enough that you 'd return for it. I was still hungry after my starter was a fail so ordered a gluten-free chocolate cake dessert which was extremely dense and unenjoyable. One of the children at the table wanted one scoop of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream, but the menu states two scoops of the options so we were refused three scoops even though we were happy to be charged for four, instead, we were forced to order four scoops with two scoops each in two different bowls. Common sense was a commodity sorely missing on this particular day. Service on this day was poor from start to finish. When we first arrived common sense should have allowed us to be seated at four pm. When we returned my gluten-free starter, which should not have even been brought to me in the first place, the return was not dealt with well. After we had finished our mains, plates were left on the table for longer than it took us to eat and only removed once we got the staff 's attention and asked for the dessert menu. We asked for the bill while desert dishes were still on the table as again, they hadn 't been cleared. We had to request extra drinks as no one cared enough to ask when bringing food. All of this, despite our table being next to the bar where several members of staff kept gathering to talk, however, they had their backs to the room and were talking about personal matters and not focusing on guests. One particular young lady spent the entire time we were there staring at her phone and doing no work at all. To add insult to the experience once we finally managed to get someone 's attention to get the bill they hadn 't removed the item that had been returned and we had to ask for this to be rectified, which took over fifteen minutes to complete, though the restaurant was still largely empty. In all, the food was not good enough. The service was the worst I 've experienced in Bury St Edmunds, or anywhere for a very long time. Due to both of these reasons, plus the fact that many other establishments nearby will happily provide a good service to go along with better food, none of us will return."
