Bar + Block Steakhouse Birmingham (Exchange Square) — Restaurant in Birmingham

Came here on a weekend trip to Birmingham. Didn't realise at the time that this restaurant is connected to the Premier Inn hotel. Seemed that those staying at the hotel were made priority and were seen to a lot quicker than ourselves. Took about 15 minutes until a member of staff came to take our drink order. There was only 3 other tables seated at this point. A further 10 minutes passed then we placed our starter and main order and enquired where our drinks were. A few moments later the waitress returned asking what our drinks were again as the bar staff "lost the ticket" (may I add we could see the bar from our table, so where it could have got lost i don't understand). We told her our drinks again. Moments later she returned again, apologising that the butchers block meal was unavailable as they had no beef short rib. I changed my order to the surf and turf block instead (which was £8 more!) The drinks arrived, no problems there other than the wait. Starters arrived about 10 minutes later. Rarebit crumpet lovely, tad too much onion overpowering the taste of the meat. Sweet potato fries all overdone, with no dip either- for £8 I expected better. Held out hope for the main course. Approximately 25 minutes later it arrived. Surf and turf block lovely, steak large, cooked well with prawns aplenty. However, it looked a bit sparse on the plate, when I glanced at the menu I realise I should have been given the option of a side, which I was not asked for at the time of ordering. I called over the waitress and enquired about this. She simply said "you didn't mention a side so I assumed you didn't want one" I asked if some mushrooms could be cooked for me as I would have chosen them given the option. She gladly obliged and asked the kitchen to do this, bringing them over about 5 minutes later. I had no complaints about the quality of my food. My partners meal, however, the block steak sampler, could have been mistaken for a kids meal. He did originally ask if one of the cuts of meat could be upgraded by 2oz, like it can if you have steak on it's own. He was told they are all cut ready to size so could not be done. When they came out they could pass for meatballs they were so small, eaten in 2 bites each, with no differentiation between the types of steak. 4 onion rings and a small pot of chips accompanied this, for £35- rip off I say. We didn't bother with pudding as we were already at £100 and didn't want to pay any more for a long wait and small portions. Would not recommend eating here unless you like overpriced food and...

So, firstly they got three pre-booked orders wrong, that were delivered in writing the day before. Several dishes arrived cold, one with hair on it visible as can be. Steaks were the grade below, if you asked for medium rare you got rare. From a steakhouse?! Thankfully I like rare but wasn't feeling it. It took over an hour for our drinks to arrive at the table after they had delivered them to the wrong one. The server was also snappy with me when pointing out they hadn't arrived, she insisted she had dropped them off and I had to say not to us. Thankfully the gent behind the bar made replacements for the restaurants error. The organisation. If you have a table of 12 on a Saturday you might want more than just two bar staff for the whole venue, whoever runs this place, should not. They do not understand staffing, if it's a HO issue, the company does not which is worse. The efforts to correct the multitude of errors were nothing but the bare minimum from the duty manager, the actual manager was not to be seen. That's not to say they weren't pleasant to interact with, but it wasn't enough and hence this review. Children screaming well past 21:00 in fact being the reason we promptly left at 22:15. It's literally illegal for them to be there at that time thanks to the alcohol being served. As far as I'm aware latest license that allows children is 22:00. They would not stop screaming and there were no efforts from the restaurant to factor how this effected other guests. I cannot fault any of the servers, they are the only reason I didn't refuse to pay more than 50%. And I was close to that point, I've lived in this city my entire life, been to most restaurants it offers, heck review them regularly, and this was by far the biggest letdown Vs price I've had since Nightingales started watering down their spirits. If they want a better review, they need to really up their game and give me a reason to return as right now, it's nothing but an avoid. If by some chance the manager reads this, you need to put in a lot more effort especially given your location, you're setting yourself up to fail having a place ran like this. Chefs should know steak grading, staffing should be adequate, drinks should never take over an hour and there should never be issues with the food itself. I will give one point, I didn't have an allergic reaction so they are at least...

We were very disappointed with our evening meal at Bar + Block during a weekend trip to Birmingham. Having chosen this restaurant due to its convenient location next to our hotel, we were looking forward to a quality steak dinner and opted for the most expensive sharing platter on the menu — the Chateaubriand.

Unfortunately, the experience fell well short of expectations from the outset. After being seated, we waited approximately 25 minutes before a member of staff approached our table. During this time, it was evident that the two wait staff on duty were disengaged and inattentive. At one point, a gentleman at a nearby table had to raise his voice across the restaurant simply to place an order, as the staff were standing in the middle of the dining area chatting.

When our food eventually arrived — having been left sitting at the pass for several minutes — the steak itself was decent. However, the accompanying sides were deeply disappointing. The ‘beef dripping triple-cooked chips’ were lukewarm, under-seasoned, and bore more resemblance to oven chips than anything freshly prepared. The onion rings were similarly underwhelming: hard, flavourless, and served at a tepid temperature. The peppercorn sauce, served in a very small portion, lacked any real depth of flavour. The vegetables were acceptable, but nothing noteworthy.

In an effort to salvage the evening, we decided to try dessert. Sadly, this too was underwhelming. The burnt Basque cheesecake had an unpleasant gritty texture and was slimy, while the tiramisu was very basic — palatable, but served without even a dusting of cocoa on top, which felt like a careless oversight.

While these issues may seem minor in isolation, they collectively contributed to a frustrating experience, particularly given the cost of the meal and our intention to treat ourselves. It's disheartening to spend hard-earned money on what was meant to be a special dinner, only to leave feeling disappointed.

For clarity, this review pertains solely to the evening meal. The breakfast provided the next morning was lovely and met...