Cherry Red's Cafe Bar — Restaurant in Birmingham

I have been to Cherry Red's a few times. The experience isn't really consistent on a few levels. When it's good, it's good, when it's bad, it's like no one really cares.

Cherry Reds is clearly popular. It's a small place but makes clear efforts with the menu and catering for all. My first experience was an evening meal and I had the Hearty English - it was great and worth every penny. Another evening I was a little later at 9pm and the same dish felt rushed and just wasn't up to the standard for the price paid.

More recently I have called twice for breakfast and found them not open. I made a special trip to drop in for a steak as advised by a colleague. I arrived at 9.20pm to be told they were not serving food. All online information (the board was still out) and the menus say food until ten... this really isn't good enough when you travel for work and pop in on recommendation. If you are not serving until ten change your advertising and menus. If it is about a change in order time make it clear.

The shame is that Cherry Red's can be so good. There are some really polite and wonderful staff, but there are the also the opposite who just want to chat to friends and make it clear they just want to go home. It's a real shame. If you get the unlucky night it feels like they would rather you were elsewhere.

At the moment Cherry Red's is fairly busy in the evening, but you can't keep annoying punters, and many were annoyed. Customers certainly shouldn't feel like an inconvenience and you MUST honour your food times (again, the board was still outisde). I am stunned that someone recommended you and you just alter service, you are right next to the station, and don't even meet what you advertise in terms of food times. I just feel disappointed as I so want to like this place ... it just needs more committed staff and to stick to opening/closing - it's not like it's cheap!

It would be great to sort the customer service in Cherry Red's. It would be great to stick to food times (especially for business travellers you then leave with little...

Food was good, but the service? A complete letdown.

I visited this place after hearing a lot of good things, and while I’ll admit the food didn’t disappoint and the vintage-style ambience was charming, the experience was soured entirely by the service.

To begin with, the location is nice and spacious — they’ve got the setting right. But the service was nothing short of frustrating. Maybe it was just an off day, but I can only speak for what I experienced — and it was far from acceptable.

We waited over an hour for our food. That’s right — we arrived at 10:30 and were served only around 11:35. What made it worse was the lack of transparency from the staff. Every time we asked, they said “just 15 more minutes,” then “five more minutes,” and it just kept dragging on. If you’re running behind because of a crowd, just be honest. A realistic wait time would help manage expectations. Most places do this now — because they know the value of customer experience.

Sadly, this wasn’t it. I believe in giving second chances, but for many people, the first visit can easily be the last — and I can see why. As much as I wanted to like the place, the mismanagement and poor handling of rush hours have left me skeptical, especially about visiting on weekends. They clearly struggle when it’s crowded.

This experience has definitely taken the shine off the good things I’d heard. Here’s hoping they improve — because good food alone isn’t enough if your customers leave...

UPDATE: May 2019.... the below review for reference... but decided to give this place another try today. (Mainly because it was somewhere to sit with a pokestop outside!) and actually, really pleased we did! The food has improved vastly! Vegan fish-like finger sandwich (See image) was really good... and friends had the chicken skewers which were huge! Their omnomnom noises spoke volumes!

Cherry Reds are back in the game! Upped the rating from 2 to 4 stars based on today’s experience... they lose a star for not having plug sockets to go with the free WiFi! 😝

Previous review:

This used to be a total go to for breakfast, lunch or evening meal... but the last few visits have been disappointing. The tofu hash was a poor excuse for a meal: potato, spinach and plain tofu on a plate. Not even mixed up. Just there. Thats it. And at a cost! But figuring this was just a dodgy “special” I’m back today for a tried and tested breakfast... alas, the veggie sausage is underdone and barely warm, the toast burned at one end and soggy at the other. One piece of halloumi cooked the other not... same with part cooked mushrooms! This is less than I’ve come to expect and with staff who appear bored, yet unable to even label jars of tea so you know what’s on offer, I wonder if I’ll...