The Black Lion - Babergh

We were at the Black Lion for lunch, and sat in the garden. We ordered our drinks at the bar, set up a tab and carried the drinks to the garden ourselves. We then ordered a roast beef sandwich which came with fries and salad. The beef was delicious, nice and rare and very tender. We ordered two more drinks which were brought to us in the garden. Eating in the garden would have been great, as it was a lovely day, were it not for the chef constantly shouting from the kitchen not once, not twice, but incessantly! When the server came to check if all was OK, I drew her attention to the racket from the chef and she admitted that she had been about to go in and tell him to be quiet herself. For a classy pub, it really wasn't good! And then the bill came. 10% service charge added, which is shown on the menu for food. However, whilst I appreciate that someone had poured our first two drinks, no one had offered to bring them out for us and we'd carried them to the garden ourselves so why did we pay service charge on this? To give her her due, we were about to tip and the server told us that service was included, which was very honest of her, Lesson for the future get your own drinks and pay at the bar! And maybe bring earplugs!

Embarrassed to have taken my friends here for a meal. The service was appalling, we had to ask to order food as we had waited so long yet nobody came back to take our order. We eventually had to get up to order food at the bar and the food itself was very slow to come out and wasn’t anything special for the price we paid. I am so disappointed as I used to love the Black Lion but it has gone way downhill in my estimation and I will not be returning.

Very disappointing lunch today, despite excellent food on previous visits. Only one slice of roast beef, which was tough and gristly. The bread and butter pudding was inedible, although one portion was taken off the bill. Coffee Luke warm. However, staff were very pleasant, and their signature gravy was as good as ever. A bit upsetting, as we meet with old friends who have moved away, and an ideal midway venue for a catch-up.

We were disappointed with our recent visit to this restaurant. The starters were overpriced and bland, and the service charge was automatically added to the bill without our consent. The waitress did not handle our complaints well and insisted that the tip was mandatory. We won't be returning, and will be going to Scutchers down the road instead, as their service and pricing are much better. The White Lion needs to improve their customer service and pricing practices. Beware of this ripoff.

We have always enjoyed the food at this restaurant in the past, but this time we were disappointed with the roast beef in our Sunday lunches. The portion was small and tough, with only one piece of beef. The mackerel starter was also very small, with just three 1-inch pieces and no bread to accompany it.