Bar + Block Steakhouse Birmingham City Centre (Waterloo Street) — Restaurant in Birmingham

We have had a few great meals here over the years but this was our first Sunday lunch. All was very good, unusually the roast beef was more akin to a thin slice of steak, not that this is a criticism. I did feel for just the two staff who were on duty, they were run ragged, yes it was a bit slow, but did a reasonable job under the circumstances. A further midweek visit seemed to confirm that they have staffing issues but on this occasion we felt as though we were invisible which would be some feat for a party of seven. To say we were ignored would be an understatement and can only put it down to bad management and/or incompetence. A last visit some 12 months later suggests that little has changed, indeed disappointingly it wasn't as good as the first visit. On entering we were advised that if we wanted a Sunday roast then they only had beef. We were taken to an awful table right in front of the entrance to the toilets. Admittedly the toilets are a very long way from the doors however there was a cold draught and of course the 'traffic' of customers. We asked to be moved which appeared to be a slight problem, although I am not sure why as the place was less than half full. Allegedly they also had a booking for a table of 9 reserved on the back wall - not sure I believe that. The wife advised that there was no soap in any of the dispensers in the ladies. I hope these aren't also used by the staff. We were told that there would be a 15 minutes wait for the beef as the kitchen was waiting for a fresh joint. This turned out to be 45 minutes, although a later table (same meals) was served before us. When the meal did arrive it was barely luke warm, I suggest this was due to it sitting on the service counter. The beef was very tough, and it didn't look like it had come from a joint in their kitchen to me. The vegetables however were very good We weren't offered any condiments or water, and only asked if everything was OK when we had nearly finished. We had a kulfi to finish, although it was nice, at £6.50 for something barely the size of a scoop, and didn't have the lime zest, seemed rather extortionate. And only just realised I didn't see the breakdown of the bill, I hope I didn't pay service charge. Overall very...

I was on the hunt for dinner on a Saturday evening and stumbled across this place. From the outside it looked OK and the menu seemed typical of a modern day steak house. At the time, I had no idea this was just a rebranded Beefeater attached to a Premier Inn otherwise I would have just kept walking. But I entered and was seated. It was not very busy for a Saturday night which should probably been a warning sign. I ordered the Butchers Block Grill and a glass of wine. My food promptly arrived and I'm not even sure where to start. The tiny skewer of chicken (3 small pieces) was so dry that is was inedible. My rump steak was ordered medium rare but the tiny piece of meat was absolutely the wrong side of medium although it tasted OK. The menu also suggested this was served with chimichurri but that was missing in action. The Slow Cooked Angus Beef Rib was tender and served off the bone but totally lacked any flavour. It didn't even taste of beef! The mini chorizo were OK but nothing special and even the chips were not cooked properly. Finally the signature block sauce appeared to be nothing more than off brand HP in a small pot! On the plus side, the wine was nice. There wasn't a single thing that I was able to finish. It really was that poor and in the absence of any staff checking in on me, I gave up and simply stopped eating. When somebody did come to clear my plate and ask if I wanted to see the desert menu, I had to stop them and explain just how poor that meal was. To be fair, there were no arguments and the meal was taken off my bill. I suspect complaints are quite a common occurrence and the member of staff did not seem surprised. So poor quality ingredients cooks poorly. Whilst the name above the door may no longer say Beefeater, the food being served is the same cheap rubbish as it always was. Save your money and go...

Our party of 5 visited early on a Saturday evening. Immediately we all commented on how good the services was when the bouncer/door man came inside with us to look for our booking, as nobody was at the front of house station. He then made sure our table was ready whilst we got a drink from the bar. Not sure if this is always part of his role but we all mentioned how we appreciated that he made sure we were looked after as soon as we arrived even though we wouldn't normally expect that from the doorman. There were a number of ingredients unavailable from the bar that meant they weren't able to do some of the drinks we originally asked for. Due to a medical condition of one of our party it was quite difficult to chose an alternative drink from the menu but Emily, our server, was brilliant. She was making suggestions and offered to check with the bar if they were able to do certain things to accommodate the requirements of one of our party. We really appreciated this additional bit of patience and good service as it doesn't happen everywhere! Emily continued to serve us with a smile the whole time we were there. She was brilliant. We all really enjoyed our food, although disappointed they'd also ran out of ingredients for the mac and cheese. But everything we did have was lovely! The main thing that let this visit down and why I haven't given it 4 stars are the toilets. The restaurant itself feels really nice, well kept and classy but is let down by the toilets. On my visit there was an odd smell and the floors were dirtier than I'd expect in a nice restaurant. I know it can't always be helped as staff can't be in there constantly cleaning up but it just felt disjointed between the atmosphere and experience in the restraunt to the dirty feeling in...