Original Patty Men — Restaurant in Birmingham

We had tried and loved Original Patty Men burgers a few years ago at a food festival in Digbeth and were keen to try them again in their restaurant.

I was not sure where it was so we followed the directions on my fiancé’s phone. I was surprised when I got there because I’d walked past lots of times. The restaurant is round the corner from Moor Street car park in one of the converted railway arches on Shaw’s Passage. It’s not clear to me from the outside that it is a burger restaurant on the inside. The tiny sign high up on the outside says O.P.M. and that’s it. In all the times that I’ve walked past and ended up in Five Guys, I did not know that O.P.M. was actually Original Patty Men. Maybe a simple sign outside saying ‘Burgers’ would let people know what culinary delights you’re hiding under those arches.

Inside, I’d describe the decor as black, wooden and industrial which suits the location wonderfully. The place was very clean, including the toilet. The waitresses were smiley, attentive and seated us straight away.

We ordered: Organic Razza & Organic Karma Cola (£3.50 per 300ml bottle). Pricey but part of the proceeds go to the families who grow the cola nuts in Sierra Leone.

Naked Fries (£3.00). These were very moreish, crispy and tasty. The barbecue sauce and mayo dips came in little disposable clear plastic tubs. I hope these are washed and reused to avoid contributing to single use plastic.

The waitress was very helpful in explaining what Alabama sauce was to me (black pepper and mayonnaise, what is known as the white barbecue sauce) so we ordered Alabama Fries (£3.75). That sauce was as tasty as she made it sound!

Bacon Cheeseburger (£11.00). This was inhaled almost as quickly as it appeared on the table so I guess it was nice!

I went for the Pineapple Express Burger (£11.50). I thought I’d go for the crazy option that I’d never seen on any other burger menu. The texture of the burger patty was nice and it had a very hot taste due to the chillis that were under the patty. I ate it all but wouldn’t order it again as the greenish pineapple relish wasn’t really for me. It had the watery texture like that of a watermelon and a weird smell.

Boneless Nuggz side (£5.50). Now, these are what I’m talking about! Crispy batter made with all kinds of spices (I think I could taste paprika and Chinese five spice in there) coating that tender chicken… I didn’t want to share these. I would happily order these as a main course next time and I told that to the waitress in the hope that I will be able to!

We also ordered a side of wings off the specials board. I think they were called Butter Chicken Curry Wings (£6.00). The meat was very moist and the abundance of sauce was great for dipping the Naked Fries into.

Now, I know where it is, I will be going back soon to try more food and drink!

P.S. Going back to my earlier point on not knowing what O.P.M. meant on the restaurant sign, I’m holding the receipt right now to help me write this review. The receipt says O.P.M. on the top. My fiancé, who I came here with last weekend, just asked me,...

Rude bunch of boys. Closed the kitchen 2 hours early and then seemed to delight in telling you you couldn't eat. Claimed it was due to 'selling out' but there were only around 6 people dining in so I suspect it was more due to wanting to go home as it's not hard to make a patty, especially as a chef who makes them all day.

We were going to gig so had planned to grab food there on the way, not realising they decide to stop serving whenever they fancy as this isn't stated on their website. We went next door to Kilder (tap room), which we didn't realise was also run by the same people until there was no one there and they ran from next door with the same bad attitude problem. A question of if they have a menu for the cans in the fridge was met with a sarcastic pointing at a pile of random menus at the end of the bar that looked stacked up ready to go away, which is why we hadn't noticed them. When I realised they were connected to next door I asked if they were also going to close early and did we have time for drinks. It was met with an unusually long silence for such a simple question, so I repeated 'what time do you close?' He smirked and said 'when I get bored' - nice one, thanks for that.

We had nuts in Kilder which were nice, or maybe we were extremely hungry, and it's a well done out place, so gave them an extra star for that.

As we sat in the bar we saw a group of 7 go into original patty men and get turned away... literally just put a sign on the door, it isn't hard?? However they did seem to genuinely enjoy turning us away so maybe they get a kick out of feeling like a big fish in a small pond.

Terrible attitudes has secured that we won't try...

I was looking forward to eating from this place as I've seen it's voted as one of Birminghams best burger places by a lot of websites.

If this is considered as one of Birminghams best burger places then I feel sorry for the locals because Londons burger scene is on a different level. Now you might think I'm being biased towards London, but I ain't because most of the awards for best burgers in England come from London.

I ordered the Cheezy-E burger, with an extra Patty and all I can say is it was average. Nothing special about this burger, even Five Guys is better than these lot and that wasn't only one person who said that, 4 others said it was average. It weren't terrible, so I wouldn't rate it a 1 it's a 3/5.

Again with the fries, I ordered the Alabama fries and again nothing special about it. The sauce was alright, but because it came in like a pot/bowl the fries after the top half was soggy.

The price isn't that bad, came up to around £21, however I think you're better off going to five guys down the road for a considerable less price, which is mad to say because some people don't associate five guys with being cheap.

So yh didn't see the hype with this place, tasted like an average burger place. If you want an average tasting burger, there's loads of them around Birmingham, but bare in mind these places only cost like less than £10 which is justifiable...