Norwich – The Wallow
James and I were spending Monday evening visiting locations that we hadn’t been to, or it mostly transpired that I hadn’t been to since James seems to have been to every single restaurant and bar in Norwich. Definitely a latter day Alan Whicker, but his knowledge of venues was quite useful if I’m being honest as I had never heard of The Wallow despite it being here for some years.
In fairness for this post, The Wallow is primarily a wine bar and since I’m not much interested in that, I’d better caveat this post by noting that I’m aware I didn’t much test its main strengths.
The helpful staff member was about to excitedly explain how the wine system worked as it’s self-service by pre-loading a card with money. It’s an interesting concept and she only looked slightly disappointed when we ordered two halves of Meantime Anytime IPA. It’s a clean and comfortable location, the meat and cheese boards going out to other tables all looked suitably delicious. It’s certainly not the cheapest of venues, but I’m not sure that it was ever trying to be.
The beer tasted as expected, it was at the appropriate temperature and it was served in a clean branded glass, so everything was technically perfect there. There were a choice of two other beers so there were options at least for those who didn’t want wine.
The on-line reviews are mostly very positive, although one angry customer posted last year:
“robbery as ask and paid 15£ for a glass o bollinger rosé and was served a false champagne with liquor impossible to drink and got headache just look at color it was orange without bubble! i guess they did not want to open new bottle, no shame people thinking we will not notice. my white wine glass was dirty.”
It seems that the customer didn’t tell the staff at the time, which I would have thought was useful, and I note the venue’s rather annoyed response:
“If you had only mentioned something to a staff member during your brief visit we may have been able to remedy your concerns. I can assure you that you were served Bollinger Rosé, it is a slanderous statement that you have made.”
I like a bit of drama.
Obviously, as I’ve hinted at, this isn’t my kind of venue and it’s not targeted at me as a mostly non wine drinker, but I liked the efforts they had made with beer. The staff engaged in a personable manner and it felt a clean and welcoming environment. For those who enjoy their wines and like trying a few, this seems a perfectly agreeable venue to visit.
