Horatio Todd's Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Belfast

Met 2 friends here for Xmas lunch, been before and food pretty reasonable so thought why not. Staff very friendly, not overly busy as you would expect in the afternoon, a 3-4 tables of larger groups in for Xmas dinners otherwise just a few others. We all order turkey dinner, mine without gravy. Dinner arrived a short while later, asked for some cranberry sauce which came quite promptly. However, on taking my first mouthful food, at best, was lukewarm. The only thing piping hot was the roast potato. Friends say theirs wasnt that warm either but gravy helped. Plates werent very warm which I'm sure didn't help. We alerted staff and asked could they heat it up, they took my plate away, different member of staff brought it back with the usual 'be careful plate is hot' warning, was so hot I couldn't touch it to rotate plate round. Food however, whilst slightly warmer certain wasn't heated like the plate. As I cut into the meat my hand touched the plate and I got burnt. Food was edible but I was left disappointed dessert I ordered chocolate torte, which was to come with fresh cream (I checked menu as i dont eat ice cream).....none arrived. I didn't bother asking for cream as to be fair I managed without and didn't want waitress to think I was being awkward. Overall, disappointed. Food tasted ok but certainly could have been much warmer, and just small things like providing the advertised cream is attention to detail. Would I recommend, probably. What I would say is don't order the Xmas dinner as it appears to be mass produced therefore quality slips. Order something different from the menu, I had debated tapas wish I had stuck...

Last night we dined here as a family of 6 and had a special occasion, my mum's birthday, ruined due to poor service and excessively long waits between only 2 courses, of what is basically just simple pub grub. The restaurant seemed to be overbooked for apparently only having one chef on and a large party were also seated behind this, I'm assuming the kitchen was just overwhelmed here, the front of house basically ignored us most of the night knowing how long we had been waiting. The manager *guy with glasses), basically just mumbled some half hearted apology then proceeded to bring the wrong order when the main courses did eventually arrive, one of our party didn't get their fish n chips and had to make do with a burger they didn't want instead. We were on the 2 courses for 20 menu, and 3 of our party were supposed to get dessert after their mains and weren't even offered it in the end. Our booking was for 7pm and we didn't get our mains until 8.45. It made for an embarrassing and awkward situation for my mum, and when she went to settle the bill the manager had the cheek to try to fully charge her for everything, when she queried this he reluctantly deducted the drinks from the bill, disgraceful. I work in the industry as a head chef myself so I know times are tough, staff shortages etc, but here tonight there was just no excuse, the restaurant shouldn't have taken the bookings if they couldn't cope, its a shame as we've used Horatio todds in the past for family occasions without any problem, so I hope they get their act together, unfortunately though I can't see us returning...

Visited Todd's on the 10th July and had a great evening! The food was delicious, I tried the new tapas menu and thoroughly enjoyed it and the cocktails were fabulous too. The service was excellent with young but eager and attentive waiting staff - the only time I had to look for someone was when it came time to pay the bill. We were very conscious that they may need the table freed up to allow more people in after food had stopped being served but they absolutely did not make us feel like that but rather encouraged us to stay on and offered to move us to a quiet area of the bar if the nearby table of young fellas were too noisy - we hadn't even noticed them, think we were just enjoying hearing 'normal' bar sounds again! The tables were well spaced and all staff in PPE. There was a screen between our table and the next which both made me feel safer but had the added benefit of making the dining experience feel more private and I really appreciated not having people standing drinking near the table, waiting for you to leave so they could nab it. It all led to a relaxed and very enjoyable evening out but can't help but it really can't be good for profits and I'd worry for the business that way. A great night out with a friend and the set up was such that when I heard a couple of days later that one of their staff had tested Covid positive, I didn't worry as I knew none had been in close contact. Well done Todd's- hope things improve soon so you can start to recover some of...