Ascott's Bromsgrove — Restaurant in Bromsgrove

Always been impressed with Ascotts, except previous 2 occasions. The first was an evening meal with a friend where we were seated next to an overloaded large birthday table with what was about 50 cm between the tables, barely enough space for a person to fit through and a constant stream of people leaving the table. Suggest restaurant takes this into account when booking large parties and giving them enough space so as not to spoil other guests enjoyment. 2nd occasion when we attempted to order food to take out: placed order only to be notified that the wait time was 55 minutes (2 burgers and fries). Went to restaurant and asked why - told us that the restaurant was fully booked. On a Saturday evening this wouldn’t be unusual I would have thought. Perhaps if the kitchen can’t handle a full restaurant and takeout then don’t offer takeout; or at least offer the same customer experience as diners in the restaurant. I’d be pretty annoyed if I had to wait an hour for food dining in or takeout. Cancelled this order.

Follow up after restaurant’s reply: We did ask to be moved, in fact to a table of 4 that remained free for the entire duration of our meal but we were told that as we were a party of 2 we could not use a table for 4.

We actually arrived at the restaurant about 5 minutes (not 15) after placing the order because I wanted to find out why there would be such a long delay (we had alternatives). We were absolutely not offered a shorter wait by the restaurant, we were told that the restaurant was full and therefore there would be a long wait. In fact the email confirming cancellation said, and I quote: “We are too busy and cannot accept more orders...

Visited one week ago for wife's birthday. Very sunny day and function going on inside so we sat outside which was really nicely shaded at one end of our bench and sunny at the other (perfect!).

Staff were really welcoming and the service continued to be excellent throughout- giving us extra time to order and keeping on top of drinks which was really nice especially considering we were outside the restaurant. The selection of beers and cocktails was also impressive.

We ordered a mixture from their starters and street food selections; Korean pork belly - lots of sauce really like this one. The blue cheese and beef fries (special) - very generously topped and good - maybe if we were super picky the fries could have used a little more cooking. Buffalo and blue cheese wings - 10/10 both loved these and they are massive! Frickles and fralapenos - good crispy batter and did their job. Street corn - this is the only dish I had any real issue with and I will hold my hands up now and say I said nothing when asked if things were OK because the value elsewhere was so good, but this was very elaborately described with lime salt etc but was actually 4/5 of a corn on the cob well-cooked on a grill and served on a lot of lettuce. At £6 I wouldn't order this one again.

During our visit there was a function on and this function was placed at the end of the bar in front of the toilets and made it a bit awkward to push through to use the facilities - maybe they could have been placed more tactically?

Overall our experience was a really positive one and I'd come back in a heartbeat if only for the pork...

Have meant to come here since before it was open. It is owned by the same people as Casa Med and Fuso, so we expected the food to be good. It describes itself as being 'Streetfood', so super-trendy and different to anything else in Bromsgrove. It was a quiet Monday and reasonably quiet. I'd like to bet it buzzes on a busy Friday or Saturday. I also really liked the eclectic music mix - a bit like a quiz on the slightly obscure - excellent!

As we expected, the food was excellent and big portions were large. I had the Blue Cheese burger and added on 'fries fries' (not on the menu) and my wife had spatchcocked chicken (which was exactly that!) and fries with stuff all over them. Delicious! We also had a little pot of lovely, crispy, fresh slaw. A pint of Lawless and a glass of white helped it all go down fabulously.

Some people say it is expensive, but we thought it was pretty good value for the quality and quantity of food and drink we had.

Talking of that..... We would have had at least a coffee each and possibly a desert to share..... Had we been asked. I even had to go the bar to get a second Lawless. The team were busy cleaning and clearing and looked like they loved working in this environment, but could have been a little more attentive.

Does any of this take away from a five star review? No! Looking forward to going back again - if we can get a table on a Friday!...