Roots York — Restaurant in England

I haven't been to Tommy Banks' other restaurant so I can't compare the two but I have eaten 2 Michelin star food at Marcus in London so I have a starting point for comparison.

Roots is a sharing plate menu with a friendly and down to earth atmosphere. All wines can be bought by the glass and there are some interesting sounding cocktails and soft drinks. There is also a bar upstairs we didn’t visit; we went straight to table and spent 2 hours in a kind of food induced reverie. This place is seriously good.

The four of us started with a recommendation to go for the chef's choice of dishes at £50 per person but quickly decided we would make our own selection from the 6 starters and 5 mains and 4 desserts. This turned out to be a wise decision as it meant we had two of the skirt steaks to share between us.

The first course was a basket of warm sourdough bread and amazing crisp seed crackers served with a delicious cheese 'custard' and probably the nicest butter ever. After this course I was worried I would be full before the starters were done but everything was perfectly portioned (apart from the pea falafel - there was only 3 between the four of us!).

The stand out dish of the evening for me was the lamb and fermented turnip bao from the starters. The melt in the mouth lamb with the sour crispness of the turnip encased in a soft chewy cloud bao bun was absolute perfection. Take nothing away from the other starters, however, the cured trout was a delight and the beef fat cooked beetroot had such a meaty flavour and texture you could have been eating a piece of fillet steak.

The main courses are priced a little higher and while the portion sizes are similar, the ingredients and dishes are more complex and inventive with the skirt steak worth another mention. The steak melts in the mouth and the hash brown it's served with is ridiculously good. Again, so glad we got two to share for the table.

The pace of service was just right with not too long a wait between dishes and enough time to savour each mouthful. Of course there were times when I wished I could have the whole dish to myself but I think half the fun is sharing everything and is part of the experience.

Finally, we ordered all four desserts, all of which were a wonderful compliment to each other and to the preceeding courses. The white chocolate and lemon verbena was a lovely palate cleanser and I wish I'd left it until last but I dived right in! The carrot and chicory tiramisu had the most amazing texture and flavour and again hit the mark. Damson with woodruff toast sounds a little strange but the toasts were little batons of Japanese milk bread French toast and were soft, crisp, sweet and unctuous. It was at this point I started mixing dishes together - the woodruff toast with a little tiramisu, some ice cream and it's hard to remain objective about the balance of flavours and textures.

That said, we had such a good time we were already planning our next visit before we had finished, likely this side of Christmas before we go back to sample the new menu come January! It's great that York has attracted a Michelin starred chef in what I hope will be a first star for the city at which point I can see prices rising so best visit the restaurant now while still in...

Whilst we had a very pleasant meal the evening was ruined by the lady in charge of the floor. We wrote to Tommy Banks on TWO occasions and even the recorded delivery letter was IGNORED. We have stayed at The Black Swan at Oldstead twice and at The Abbey and also had food deliveries from “Made in Oldstead”, so we know the food is good and wanted to try Roots.

Sadly, on Wednesday 13th March the service was very upsetting. A lovely gentleman served us for most of the meal and he was polite, helpful and made us feel welcome. Later on in the meal we were served hogget and unfortunately mine was very tough and I left most of it. I DID NOT INTEND COMPLAINING. The lady in charge cleared our plates and asked me if there was something wrong, but she walked away whilst I was trying to explain why I had left it. After she left, I said to my husband that it was very rude of her to ask if something was wrong and then walk off like that. I believe for a lot of the time during the evening she was watching and supervising the restaurant from behind my chair. Suddenly she came over leaning over the table at me getting into my space asking me what was wrong. I said I had tried to tell her but she had walked away and I did not want to discuss it further. She would not let it drop and my husband asked her a number of times politely to go away. By this time I was in tears and the evening was ruined by a piece of tough meat which I would not have even complained about.

She even came back again and got into my face asking what was wrong. My husband again politely asked her to go away and leave us alone. We then called over the gentleman who had been serving us at the start of the evening and asked for the bill as we wanted to leave. He asked what was wrong and we told him about his female colleague. We paid the bill and left before the final couple of courses.

We had travelled a long way and paid for overnight accommodation in order to visit Roots and now we will NEVER visit any of Tommy Bank’s restaurants again.

Finally, someone did get in touch with my husband only to tell us they had looked at the restaurant CCTV and did not see a problem! They must have seen me in tears. No apology was ever given for the way this lady treated me and I guess Tommy Banks does not know...

To start, I can't fault the front of house, the team were excellent, spoke well about the wine, food and pairings. Their enthusiasm was excellent and earnt their wages for sure.

Wine pairing is actually good value (unfortunately this is the only part of the experience that justified the spend). We went for the £80 pairing over £130, but did add £10 when we got the scallops (£30 extra). The wine was top, so no problem there but when you look at other options in York, it's really not worth the spend.

Onto the food. Id love to say it was knock out and the best, if not the best, meal we've had but it just wasn't. At the price point (£650 for wine pairing with added course and service for two) I can name 10 other restaurants in York that you can go to on the fine dining level that outshine in. None of the dishes had a "star" quality or power you'd associate with something in the Michelin world. At that price, regardless of pairing or setting, you should expect each dish to blow you away, but they didn't. I don't think it's too much to ask that you leave thinking "yeah, that was a cut above". We've been to nice restaurants in our lives, and paid a fraction and had a better meal. We're not food snobs or seasoned chefs but we both appreciate what food, and what value for food looks like. If we had paid £300 for the experience, we'd be ok with it, it's more the vast inflation of the price. I've worked in hospitality for 10 years, in restaurants, pubs and events, and understand the strain places are under on labour, running costs and ingredients, but there doesn't seem to be any justification or reasoning for the charge here.

Now - despite this slight tirade - I'm not saying don't go, it's your money, your choice. This isn't to speak unfairly on Roots, it's just a reflection of what consumers should get for their money. If you go expecting excellence be prepared for disappointment. For the money you could go pretty much anywhere else (at a certain level) and get something better. I have no horse in this race, but places like Old Liqueur Store, Fish and Forest, The Star, Rustic, Skosh, would be a better shout. Even better, jump on a plane for a week. I love Tommy Banks' story and history but this just seems to be a massive overvaluation on...