The Brasshouse — Restaurant in Birmingham

I’m not one to complain but my experience at the Brasshouse was appalling. We had just spent the afternoon at the Sea life Centre round the corner and couldn’t decide where to eat as we wanted to end the afternoon with some lovely food. We came past the Brasshouse and heard the Jazz music they had on and though it would be perfect. As we came in no one greeted us or anything so we just took a seat and had a look at the menu. The menu looked promising but we heard a waitress say there was a wait on food so after ordering on the app I decided to go to the bar to buy a drink so we weren’t waiting too long. The bluntness from the blonde lady at the bar set me back abit but I just figured it was due to them being busy with the jazz band.

I went back to my table then the first drinks came out which was good because I was expecting to wait a while for these. The same blonde lady dropped the drinks off and again was abrupt and said nothing.

5 minutes later our starters came out which was the Cheesey Garlic Mushroom Bruschetta. Which was just melted cheese with a mushroom cut into quarters. Placed on a cut in half soggy baguette, which was cold. But we were hungry so decided to eat it as we didn’t know how long the mains would be.

After another 10 minute wait the mains came out, again this was quicker than imagined so I can’t complain about this. The food was dropped off to the table with out having the cuttlery so we had to wait for this. Instead of waiting for the sauces as well I got up and grabbed some salt and vinegar and asked (who I found out later to be) the Manager as well as the blunt blonde lady from the bar if they had any ketchup. BOTH said they would go and grab one for me so I returned to the table. The food looked okay but it was cold. Everything on the plate was cold. We waited for the ketchup hoping to be able to mention that the food was cold. After 5 minutes when no one came we decided to eat it as we were too hungry and had to leave to get home. We had the Smokey Jo Burger and the Pork Belly Burger. The burgers were both over cooked and cold (how this is even possible is beyond me.)

After eating as much as we could and still not having been approached by our waitress , the manager or the lady who had said they would bring the ketchup we decided to to leave. I work as a bar Manager in a pub myself so service should be the top priority. So I asked to speak to the manager so I could let him know about our experience. As I was telling him he didn’t seem to car at all. He just looked at me and said he thought the other lady would bring the ketchup. There was no apology no reassurance that this isn’t the usual service or anything of the sort. £54 down the drain and our afternoon was ruined.

If you are looking for some nice food or a good at atmosphere for drinks or food I recommend steering clear...

The Brasshouse is fine during the day for food and everything. However, during the night I would AVOID. My friends and I were looking for a bar/pub where we could sit down and were in luck with the Brasshouse that although, busy near the bar and DJ had some free seating areas near the back. There were some others sitting down as well, some came and went and staff would come and clear our glasses every now and then which was appreciated. However, the drinks were extremely disappointing. Expensive but awful. No spiced rum option, red wine tasted like vinegar and the madri was clearly the final dregs from a barrel that had been open a week! The costs were so high for drinks of lesser quality than wetherspoons!

We would have just coped with this and just not come again rather than bother leaving a review... but then later in the night the put a sign up in the corridor saying the seating area is now closed. However, they neglected to inform us. The ones actually still in the seating area. We only found one when one of my friends went to the loo and saw the sign. They knew we were there so I figured as we were quiet and would probably leave soon anyway they decided to just leave us to it but not allow anyone else to sit down. A bouncer then came over and very abruptly and rudely said that that area is closed and we need to leave now. No 5 minute warning to finish our drinks or anything. I told him we're happy to finish our drinks and leave but we had been there for hours (thinking he may have thought we just ignored the sign) and he said he didn't care, we need to leave now. He then lurked next to us and paced around us hurrying us away. Despite us getting up and grabbing our things as requested he kept snapping telling us to hurry up and leave. It only took us about a couple minutes! My friend tried to check how she looked in the mirror in the corridor on the way out of the seating area and the bouncer loomed over her telling her to stop and leave the area now. The place was still open, there were loads of people around the bar and DJ still. There was absolutely no need for us to be rushed out like that let alone be treated so rudely! Rudest bouncer I've ever encountered! He is not fit to work...

I recently wrote a review about the fact that the food I was served made me ill and no one new what was vegan on the menu the food was not made on site it came out of a packet I New this fact because I was told that they needed to check the packaging. The fact that the food made me ill was a understament as I was constantly going to the toilet for 5 days on the third I woke up in sever pain I know it was the food from the brasshouse because I don’t vary my diet a lot I am very aware of what I eat not just because I am a vegan but also because I studied health and nutrition when I passed my level 3 hilst doing personal training also I have also acquired previously a food and hygiene certificate. Now I work in customer service and from experience I know when someone raises a concern or complains you tend to know not to attack there view but try to understand it I feel that rather than understanding my opinion it has been disregarded by the brasshouse and comes across as if they are trying to defend themselves rather than seeing my point of view some sort of apology would have been nice, combined that it seemed that the two memebers of staff although trying to be helpful it is not there fault if the place they work does not educate them in what is what in the menu as when they were suggesting what was vegan they were not to confident and even less so when I pointed out that what they were on about at the time was not, I am only thankful that it has now passed and hope that someone with a major illness such as lactose itolerant, cilleac, diabetic or nut allergy does not experience the same issue as we recently saw the consequences of food negligence can do when we see people with food allergies eat food...