KO's Sports Diner - Norwich

(Now closed)

65 Hall Road

Norwich

NR1 3HL

Opening hours

7am - 3pm

Breakfast served all day

Facebook page

It was sad to see Pat's Cafe close down last year but great to see KO's Sports Diner open in the same premises!

Inside it has been transformed beautifully into a boxing themed dining experience. The wall of fame awaits anyone that can eat a burger the size of a diner plate topped with cheese, omlette, bacon, sausage, chicken and salad, and a serving platter full of chips and onion rings in 30 minutes!

 

 Inside it is very spacious with plenty of tables.

There are many breakfast options available and all reasonably priced.

Gingham table cloths and squeezy sauce bottles are always a welcome sight!

 

A hot drink comes with every cooked breakfast.

So does a buttered slice of toast or bread.

This is the heavyweight  breakfast which costs £5.99.

It was nice to see tinned tomatoes and the fried eggs were perfect.

 Excellent mushrooms and crispy hash browns with a great texture.

3 sausages makes a nice change but the bacon seemed a bit dry.

Pat's Cafe closed down in 2012 (read news story here) after over 40 years, it was sad to see it gone and the building sat empty for many months. Just after Christmas I drove past and to my delight noticed it would be reopening as KO's Sports Diner. I was keen to pop in and try their breakfast as I had heard good things about it..

Upon entering - A huge refurbishment has taken place and a new modern and spacious boxing themed diner has been created. The dining areas are huge as the diner occupies a double sized shop unit, I didn't see it but I hear there is also a games room within the diner. Boxing legends can be found on the walls along with a TV for watching sporting events and if you want to make it on to their wall of fame you can attempt to eat a massive burger the size of a diner plate in less than 30 minutes. A long counter towards the rear is where you place your order, collect drinks and cutlery and pay for you food, it will be brought over to your table when it is ready.  The style inside is a mix of modern and classic with gingham table cloths covering the tables, a menu is found on each table along with squeezy sauce bottles, salt and pepper. The diner had a great feel to it when I was there with music from the radio in the background setting the tone nicely and the sports theme is great if that is your thing but not too in your face if it isn't. 9/10

Service - A friendly staff team will take your order and bring the food over when it is ready. 8/10

Contents - I went for the heavyweight breakfast which consisted of: 3 sausages, 2 bacon, 1 slice of black pudding, 2 fried eggs, 2 hash browns, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes, beans, 1 slice of buttered toast and a coffee. 9/10

Presentation - Everything sat nicely on the plate and those perfect looking fried eggs were a beautiful sight! 8/10

The food - The sausages and bacon seemed quite good quality but both were not quite as hot as I was hoping for and the bacon was quite dry. The best part was those perfect fried eggs, they couldn't have been cooked any better and tasted fantastic! The hash browns were piping hot, crunchy and had a delicious hint of onion inside. The black pudding was fairly standard, the mushrooms excellent and the tinned tomatoes a welcome sight. The nice stodgy beans ended up on top of the slice of buttered toast. 7/10

Value for money - £5.99 seemed a good price for this huge breakfast that comes with toast (but only 1 slice) and a hot drink. 7/10

Veggie option - Yes, Veggie sausages replace regular sausages and bacon can be swapped for either another egg/hashbrown or more tomatoes/mushrooms/toast. This is available on all breakfast sizes.

Overall -  I really liked KO's Sports Diner and I think it will definitely succeed with its strong sports theme and addition of food challenges, something a bit different to the rest. The staff are friendly, the environment is great and the breakfast menu varied. Most of the breakfast was excellent but hotter sausages and juicier bacon would have been nice although I am fully aware it is still early days. Fried bread would have make a nice addition to the menu as would 2 slices of toast as standard. Well worth a look though and considering it has just opened they are doing a great job and I'm sure it will grow from strength to strength. 8/10

- Update, March 2014 -

Over a year had passed since KO's Sports Diner had opened so I decided to return for another look and to try the heavyweight breakfast again. It now costs £6.25 and includes a hot drink and toast.


 

Everything was piping hot and it was an enjoyable breakfast to eat.

Good quality sausages, some great mushrooms and I do like tinned tomatoes.
The bacon still seemed a bit dry though and the eggs although cooked nicely were very oily on top.

It was nice to see two slices of toast being served with the breakfast now.