Holiday Inn, Ipswich road is almost Jekyll and Hyde in its service, in my experience. While the…read morehotel itself offers much of what you would expect from the Holiday Inn chain at a reasonable price, and the staff at reception are perfectly helpful and pleasant, the restaurant and breakfast area at this place leaves a lot to be desired.
The service at dinner time was incredibly slow, with what seemed to be one waiter serving every table who would disappear sporadically with no indication of when anyone's meals would arrive. The food was slow to arrive, and for the price, not particularly good quality. We attempted to purchase some wine, only to be brought the wrong bottle, and our attempts to order water were either forgotten or ignored. Other guests, including young children, were very dissatisfied with the service.
Breakfast was a similar affair, although the buffet meant you were less reliant on the staff per se, we were kept waiting at the entrance to the restaurant for a table, despite the dining room being virtually empty, and then brought through the entire dining hall to be made to stand while the waiter cleared our table (we had assumed that was the original purpose of making us wait outside), primarily by brushing crumbs off of the table and onto the floor.
A number of breakfast items such as marmalade and white bread were often missing and not restocked throughout our time there, similarly with the hot food. The service for drinks was also poor.
All in all, if you want to stay at a Holiday Inn in Norwich, it is probably best you don't pick this one. Although the hotel itself is more or less what you expect, it would be safer to eat out every night/morning, which is yet more expense.
