Chapter Edgbaston — Restaurant in Birmingham

Went for Sunday Lunch with a friend and the atmosphere was great, it was busy but not loud which was lovely, perfect if you want to catch up with friends/family. I got there and waited at the table for my friend for maybe 15-20minutes but no one came to take a drink order or offer water while I waited which was disappointing, especially because I couldn’t catch anyone’s attention being sat in the far corner no walked past which is fair enough. I think if I had waited in the bar area maybe it would have been better. My friend and I were on a bit of a budget so only went with a main course and we didn’t order alcohol (personally for budget reasons but my friend doesn’t drink for religious reasons) which was clearly disappointing for the person who served us when we didn’t want to look at wine list. I ordered the beef and my friend ordered the veggie pie which was mushroom. The beef was so tender, flavourful and the plate had three good slices of beef which I really enjoyed, I would definitely recommend but the mushroom pie was nothing special and fell a bit flat in comparison, especially in size and flavour, as it was really quite small and the flavour was ok but my friend wouldn’t order it again. We also had a side of cauliflower cheese was fab and big enough for two people to share, however the size of the other veg sides was on the smaller side. We had a perfectly nice experience and for the price, for me it was good value £23 for a roast dinner plus a £6 side is as good a value as you can get especially when it really hit the spot for me on flavour. I do think our experience would have been better had we had two or three courses, because servers would have been over to the table more so we could ask for drinks as we struggled to catch anyone’s eye and our empty jug of water was removed and not replaced, not overly an issue but given that we didn’t have wine it would have made us feel better looked after even though we obviously weren’t big spenders and only a table of 2. The 12.5% service charge did feel like a bit of a pinch when we were sat without water for long enough that I’m commenting on it and the service was fine but I can see how a customer ordering wine and multiple courses might feel the 12.5% tip was appropriate. So, I would recommend Chapter for Sunday Lunch if you’re a foodie, it was delicious as a meat eater but I’d opt for the two or three courses for the experience which I definitely will the next time my parents offer to foot the bill. Also, very interested to experience Chapter during a dinner...

The food was nice, not mind blowing as expected with a £100 bill for two people at lunch time.

Service was diabolical which really let this place down - my thoughts are they have regular, older diners who come for a business lunch during the week and are happy with minimal efforts towards them and enjoy the food, which is fine, we felt they didn’t have much level of service to newer guests.

I took my friend for a birthday lunch on a very quiet Tuesday lunch time, we had the 2 course set menu which was ok - the bread was delicious but also required prompting to bring over and the additional side we order was forgotten also - another prompt to remind them.

Arancini balls meant to be truffle, zero truffle flavour super disappointing

The waiter made a crude joke when he was telling us the specials, completely unnecessary and off putting

It was my friends birthday I put it onto the reservation notes and the waiter even asked who the ‘birthday girl’ was so I thought maybe a little ice screen scope but nothing!

£100 wasted for sure won’t be returning sadly as I had such high hopes but was let down tremendously by the service here, in my teens I did 10 years in restaurants and it doesn’t matter if you are quiet or busy you the customer experience is the most important thing - and it was below my expectations of a regular place never mind somewhere that’s supposed to be top quality.

Update - the response from the restaurant shows the lack of care to customers - none of my real issues addressed, if you want a waiter to offer he takes his “meat” out for you at the table be sure...

Booked this restaurant for Sunday lunch at 1pm, on entry the restaurant looked clean, bar area looked well stocked and plenty of seating but for a Sunday lunch sitting it was dead. There were only two other couples in there but multiple members of staff. Within a few minutes of sitting down we were asked what we wanted to order in terms of drinks having scanned the menu quickly, for wine there were 3 options for red and white and one for rosé, which doesn’t make sense. Alternatively we could have a glass of their wine of the month (sparkling wine) for £12.50. It didn’t make sense as to why a well stocked bar only had 3 options - when we later read the menu it’s because they were working in partnership with Loki wine to promote their wines. Either way a restaurant should have more than three options. We didn’t want to order as we had just sat down but the amount of staff working there was applying more pressure as it felt they were constantly looking over waiting for us to hurry up and make a decision which in turn made us feel really uncomfortable. This lead to us leaving the restaurant - the menu wasn’t appealing to us and continued hovering of staff just wasn’t pleasant. Some people may say this is over the top but when your due to pay the best part of £100 plus 12.5% gratuity, why would you settle for something you don’t really want. We ended up at the physician which was much more welcoming and does a great variety of drinks and food. Totally appreciate other reviews have stated a good experience but this personally...