Reviews in Leeds and Yorkshire

We dined here on Friday 7th August 2009, it was a very good service and a very very nice meal the steak was cooked to perfection and we all enjoyed all of our meals, I would fully recommend this restaurant to anyone who was looking for that something special. They even do REAL snake on the menu (not for me though!!) We had a meal for 4 people which included starters,mains and Irish coffees two bottles of wine and several beers and it came to around £186, They gave us a 25% discount as we joined there reward scheme so in total it was around £156 which we thought was quite reasonable.

We ate here some time ago and I kept meaning to add this review it was a disgusting meal and I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone the place is dark and dingy and the wine is some cheap £2.00 wine (that you could buy from your local supermarket) and they try and charge you £15.00 a bottle for it!! There were about 9/10 of us and some people said there meal was ok but I am speaking for myself and my partner we sent ours back and did not get a replacement as it totally put us off. Spare yourselves and don't go ever!!

Fantastic Food, really lovely staff. Good Value for Money

This place was awful the hostess was very rude and had a very bad attitude spoiled what should have been a lovely night, the food was not very good at all very disappointed

I have visited Brooks over a number of years, the food is excellent - good winelist, not too pricy - good selection of bottle beers, the decor shabby chic with eclectic art work - very stylish. Try the spam fritters - they are famous! And the puds are scrummy!

Very nice food and friendly staff, not much parking though.

I love this restaurant, Staff very friendly and the food is fab! the onion Bhaji are the best I have ever tasted

I love this place! The nicest food I have ever tasted. The staff are all really friendly and Knowledgeable.Service is excellent 10/10 for everything.

THE ONLY PLACE TO EAT IN MIDDLESBROUGH IF YOU WANT QUALITY FOOD. FORGET THE OTHER SO CALLED ITALIAN RESTAURANTS THIS PLACE IS THE BUSINESS. HAPPY STAFF GREAT SERVICE AMAZING FOOD KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

What is the chef trying to achieve here. Whilst he is undoubtedly a skillful operator, the combinations of flavours and textures he applies to his dishes are well below par for a Michelin star chef. This guy is trying too hard and failing. Yes at first hit his flavours are OK, but when you get into your third or four mouthfuls, it starts to go all wrong. Too many things are going off to the point that you don’t get to taste the main ingredient. Your palette becomes confused. Mine said to me - what’s this baby food… come on lets go somewhere else. I had to agree with it. The Burlington is not cheap so you expect better. £80.00 - 90.00 per head is easily achieved with wine. Don’t get me wrong, service, setting etc is good, and most will not be disappointed. It all depends on what experiences you have had in the past. In my opinion you can enjoy a better dining experience elsewhere in this part of the world.

We booked the Lebanese night at the Veggie. What a disappointment and I mean disappointment. To be serviced a couple of spoonfuls of couscous and three tiny rock hard tasteless veggie balls for a starter is not acceptable. The main course was no better, this time five spoonfuls of tasteless uninteresting bean mush. The only good thing about the whole experience was the desert - which was bought in, and the wine that we brought along. If you like plain uninteresting food and eat like a mouse then you will not be disappointed.

Good food at good prices - these boy from Wakefield near Hull are bringing bangla flavour from bangla to the Yorkshire which is why I go to aroma. Place is small but went with boyfriend and he enjoyed cozy atmosphere.

I'm sorry, but I have to say that this is one of the worst meals at this kind of price I have eaten in a long time. We decided to try La Rue again after some years where previously we had not enjoyed it on more than one occasion. "It's changed", say people. Well, it hadn't! From the outset, the choice of pre-dinner drinks was abysmal and the poor waitresses had no idea about anything other than, "there's beer" pointing to the lager and "... erm ... some shots". Great! I'll have a German Pils, which clearly tasted of maize and so could not be a German Pils. Oh well ... let's hope the food is better. What a bizarre menu! I'm all for adventurous, but taking a classic combination and sticking a polar opposite from out in left field just because, well it just doesn't work. That went on through the starters to the mains. Scrabbling for something that I could eat, I opted for a Kofta starter with some out of the bottle chilli sauce and a tzatziki without the ziki! My wife had a smoked salmon and pea tart, which turned to the be pureed, rather missing the point of beautiful flakes of smoked salmon and rather tasted of baby food! Oh, the Kofta was on a torilla! What? Yes, I know ... The mains faired no better. I had lamb shank in a roasted mediterranean vegetable jus with garlic potatoes. Gorgeous, except for the flavour which jarred between the roasted vegetable jus and the creamy garlic potatoe gratin. Nooooo ... crushed garlic potatoes. Did I say, classic combinations with a left field entry? My wife has a piece of salmon, which could have been good if it had been cooked in butter to bring out the sumptuous flavour of the salmon, but it was served with an utterly tasteless rositto. Tasteless? Yes, clearly no use of a good stock made from left over bones, most likely water, salt and perhaps a splash of wine. Even lemon juice would have lifted it a little. Puddings. How can they mess this up? Well, I was so fed up by this point, I asked for a mix and match so as to avoid the bizarre combinations and opted for a custard tart with some vanilla ice cream. Finally, I'd found something on the menu that worked, yet I'd had to put it together. I forget what my wife had, but she left it. How disappointing. I got a decent grappa to take the taste away and my wife had a coffee, which they'd manage to burn. Oh well, we won't be going there again. Sounding most pompous, I should suggest that the chef find a culinary primer course in classic combinations and stick to it - the basic are good, but when put together simply do not work. I can't even give the place 1/10 - there were no saving graces. I simply cannot recommend this to anyone.

After reading that Nigel Howarth had finally made it over to Yorkshire, thought I'd give this place a try. Arriving too late for the lunchtime menu we ordered from their Afternoon Bites selection which mainly consists of sandwiches and starter-style dishes. They seem to take great pride in the quality of their ingredients and the Yorkshire heritage of their suppliers... and justifiably so. Everything was excellent: couldn't fault any individual element of the Ploughman's, the chicken with stuffing and bacon mayonnaise was superb, and the hand-cut chips cooked in dripping were like proper chips should be. We might've expected standards to slip a little during this dead spot in the middle of the afternoon, but far from it. My colleague said it's one of the best lunches he's had in a long time and I'd have to agree with him. There's real skill on display in that kitchen and I'm looking forward to returning to sample their "proper" menus. And a quick mention about the quality of the revamp... it really is a lovely country pub with an excellent courtyard for the summer months, and inside the finish is to a high standard. To my mind, this is one of the best gastropubs in Yorkshire. Let's hope Howarth opens a few more.

excellent food, been going for a while now....best vegetarian food in Bradford

The food here is spectacular. Definitely my favourite restaurant in Bradford. Ive been told I am the first person to write a review whilst still in the restaurant, the first of many I hope. Top marks, prashad. I'll be back soon.

Went to Toast after work last night for the first time. Had been before when it was Breeze but it looked totally different, really urban and lively. Were just going to call in for a quick drink (we actually sat outside too - in the sun, in the centre of Leeds!) and ended up eating there. Food is excellent and the staff were friendly and helpful but not in your face. Will definitely go there again, perhaps try it on weekend and will be recommending it!

If you are in the south Huddersfield area and don't fancy ethnic food, then The Farmers Boy in Shepley is the best place to eat in the area and certainly one of the best pubs I have ever eaten at in the country. With a seasonal menu of French inspired, English dishes there is always something that takes my fancy. Starters such as smoked haddock pasta with a poached egg, to chorizo and monkfish on parmesan risotto, to pork belly with king prawns and superb soups. The main menu has featured traditional steak and ale pie, fish and chips and sunday roast through to parfait of foie gras and chicken liver, to confit of duck with lentils. Always a wide selection, but usually only one vegetarian dish (doesn’t bother me though!). Main course dishes probably average out at a price of £12. They also have an amazing sandwich menu - just this past Saturday I had an open club which had smoked chicken and a soft poached egg on it - heavenly. They also have some of the best onion rings you will ever eat and lovely chips. Where The Farmers Boy excels is the quality of ingredients. Meat and seafood are of superb quality and all of the food is put together in an unpretentious manner, but with an attention to detail. A lot of the ingredients are sourced locally as well. The carrots from one mile up t’road! Try the assiette of deserts, they are all lovely. The wine list is very good too along with well cared for handpulled bitters and so I have heard (all though I never touch it!) a wonderful and stinky cheese board. They have only been open two years now, but the food (and service) gets better each time we go. You always have a deep sense of satisfaction when you have eaten a meal there and that is not just because of being full! I have lived all over Europe and in the States and consider myself pretty well educated when to comes to food. The Farmers Boy is an example of a pub doing things the right way - serving high quality, good value food, whilst it still being a pub for drinkers as well. I have had some horrendous pub food in Britain as of late and generally do not eat at pubs because more often than not, they are terrible. It is no wonder that Toby Carvery etc. have become so popular. Something like 75 pubs are closing a week now in Britain and yes it is economics, but also it is that most pubs do not pay enough (if any) attention to the quality of their drinks and food. The Farmers Boy are proof that if you offer quality, then people will come back to the pub.