The White Swan — Restaurant in Birmingham

We had our wedding reception at the White Swan yesterday and it was absolutely incredible. The manager, Debs, was the most accommodating person we’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with! She went out of her way to make our day as special as possible, she even went as far as to meet us before opening in order to get everything set up perfectly. The communication between us and the establishment was impeccable, every email was responded to swiftly and professionally, and despite some of our requests being last minute, they were able to accommodate everything we asked for!

On the day itself, Debs welcomed us very warmly, going out of her way to set everything up which gave us valuable time to take photos before the ceremony, which was hugely appreciated! Once the ceremony was done and we arrived at the White Swan, we were immediately greeted with drinks, the service was absolutely impeccable, and Debs made sure we were not waiting long for anything, if we were, she would offer us snacks and consistently made sure we had enough food and drinks.

Everyone at the wedding has such positive comments on the cocktails and other drinks offered! They were very reasonably priced and extremely good quality! And when it came to the food, everyone including myself and my bride said it was some of the best food we’ve had in the whole of Birmingham! The flavours were so good that we all ended up sharing different bites from our plates, we had so many compliments to The White Swan, not just on the food and service, but also the location and aesthetics! The entire building is beautiful, very modern and contemporary. We were lucky enough to have the private room for the reception which was absolutely stunning and met our needs perfectly.

Every request we had was catered to with professionalism, friendliness, and it was so clear that the people serving us (especially Debs) genuinely cared about making our day as special as possible. We couldn’t recommend The White Swan enough and we feel so privileged to have celebrated the most special day of our life there. It honestly made our day and I can say with confidence that we will be back, as well as recommend The White Swan to all of our friends for any future events.

Thank you all, and especially Debs, you made our day more magical than we could have...

I was last there two years ago when there several niggling things wrong with the experience. I reviewed it and was impressed to receive a reply saying you valued the criticisms and would use them to improve the offering.

It would appear that those weren’t just words because I am pleased to say that everything ran much more smoothly this time. We arrived half an hour before the time of our booking for a drink in the bar. After a few minutes, we were told a table had become available should we wish to start lunch a bit early - which we did. That made us feel valued.

We had different roasts and everything on the plates was delicious. Portion sizes were spot-on. One meal came with a mini-pan of gravy, the other had gravy already poured over. We preferred the mini-pan. If anything, the meals arrived a bit t quickly. And, to continue being über-picky, they could’ve been just a couple of degrees hotter. Overall, we were very satisfied, though. Another tiny caveat; a jar of horseradish sauce arrived promptly but with a dessert spoon rather than a teaspoon; and a saucer under the jar would’ve given us somewhere to park the horseradishy spoon instead of directly on the table (we could’ve left it sticking out of the jar, I suppose).

Wines by the glass were enjoyed and correctly and promptly served.

Sticky toffee pudding with ginger ice cream was a smash hit. White chocolate crème brûlée was also great with plenty of white chocolate flavour and a super-thin, perfectly brûléed top. I would point out, however, that the menu promised an accompaniment of lemon sugared raspberries (which sounded like a fabulous combination with the brûlée) but they turned out to be just two or three (literally) berries acting more as decoration, and not evidently lemony or sugary.

Lunch for two wasn’t exactly a bargain but was perfectly reasonably priced in these inflationary times.

The staff were efficient and uniformly lovely. And you attract a civilised, family-oriented crowd.

At the risk of repeating myself, all the above criticisms are really small and are mentioned only because you asked for feedback. Thank you for a very...

Honestly, I'd had a bad experience here before- but thought it was just a one off so came back. This time was much worse than the previous, we were there for nearly 3 hours overall as we were, for the most part, waiting 45 minutes for our food (roasts which are prepared earlier), waiting for desserts to be offered, and waiting for our desserts to be brought out. This would have been understandable if the restaurant was busy- or if it had been communicated prior that they were expecting longer waits.

No communication from the managers, who seemed to be hiding away from the floor the whole time we were there. Once I mentioned how long we, and other tables around us, had been waiting, a discount was offered generously. However, after ordering desserts we had to chase them up 20 minutes later- to which we were told that one of the managers had gone to make them herself. Then they were brought out swiftly after we chased them up and were both wrong and cold, with melted ice cream as if they had been forgotten about. It felt as though the manager had been chatting in the kitchen and had forgotten about them.

Nobody, apart from a few team members, looked like they wanted to be there and it felt as though everyone was avoiding eye contact with tables as it was incredibly difficult to attract someones attention. We were only apologised to once, and weren't even said goodbye to when we left.

Had this been a one off I wouldn't have felt the need to write this review, but as I work in a PCP myself I thought the service here was nowhere near...