Alora Restaurant — Restaurant in Gedling

Table was booked at 9, arrived at 8.40. There was a free table available but we were told to get a drink at the bar - which was absolutely fine. However, at the bar, we were left without acknowledgement for 10 minutes, before getting our drinks. People arrived after us, and were put on the empty table first. Finally, got to our table and ordered several dishes. However, staff did not have a decent knowledge of the menu and had told us they hadn’t tried everything on the menu, so could not advise us. We received the lamb first - which was decent. However, we were then left for 15 minutes without any food. The waitress then came over and said that if we wanted any more food, we’d have to order in the next five minutes. First comment: don’t take bookings at 9pm if you’re closing the kitchen at 9:30pm. Next, the ‘bravas triple cooked chips’ came out, which were French fries covered in a tinned tomato-esque sauce and a bit of squirty garlic mayo. It felt as if they had been reheated. It was at this point we had also seen a waitress rearrange a flatbread with her own fingers as she was delivering it to another table. We sent back the fries and asked to speak with the manager. The ‘manager’ informed us that he didn’t actually work there and had been pulled in for the night, and said that because they’d run out of triple cooked chips, they’re sorry they didn’t inform us about having to use French Fries (odd excuse). Having said this, once we had complained about the service received so far, staff were very attentive to make things better. We were offered a free dish, and a reduced bill and their apologies which were appreciated. However, I question the longevity and future success of this restaurant. The Old Flower Shop, a local favourite and directly across the road, with the same owners, offers many similar dishes, with many at a cheaper price. At Alora, if you stick to a 3 dishes per person (as typically required at many tapas restaurants), you’re looking at spending between £25-35 a head (not including drinks) which is astronomical. It’s confusing to understand how they will maintain a competitive advantage here. The menu is just bizarre and feels as though it doesn’t really know what it wants to be - it boasts ‘global’ flavours with ‘local ingredients’ - but as a consumer, this is confusing to order from as plates don’t really work together or compliment one another - no synergy. Moreover, the plates sound more like they should be mains (why not make them into mains and charge £16-18 for each?). Who wants to get a ‘small plate’ burger (again, bizarre small plate order, costing £13 for just a burger) alongside monkfish with a tandoori sauce, alongside Korean fried chicken. Also, if you’re going to state how things are made with local ingredients, it would be nice to know where these are sourced and this could be a nice update to the menu. It is a shame, as we were looking forward to our dining experience here. Although efforts were made to recover the service given, and some dishes were really very nicely done (tandoori monkfish, crispy pork belly), we...

Hola from Mapperley,Nottingham. We have a new contender for our favourite restaurant. Located in a previous TSB building on Plains Road.It's been transformed it into a very stylish restaurant with an open kitchen and bar. . On entering,the place was buzzing with customers. We hadn't booked and asked if we could be seated at our favourite spot when dining.Which is next to an open kitchen.This always makes you feel that you are part of the action at the heart of any restaurant. . We were so pleased when we looked at the menu. It was a dream to us, as it has all our must have choices. So many,that it was a very hard decision in what to choose. Eventually after much deliberation we decided on four tapas - Tiger Prawn Toast,Crispy Calamari,Mini Chorizo & Triple cooked chips 'Bravas',a must. Plates - Tandoori Monkfish and Hake Kiev. Once our order was in, we sat and watched the kitchen turfing out some incredible looking dishes. The anticipation of our food was giving us palpitations. Is that ours on the pass? . Then all of a sudden, we were bombarded with our dishes.OMG! Where do you start? Think we needed the whole counter for them. Everything was cooked fresh to order and absolutely mouth wateringly delicious. So much so we could not possibly choose a stand out dish.They all had their merits and were faultless. Are we in a top spot in the Med? No,this is Mapperley top,Nottingham. We couldn't leave without having a dessert. The Tiramisu was devine and a great Affogato,served the proper way. To say we were blown away by the whole experience is an understatement. From the decor,staff and most importantly the food,this is most definatley our New favourite place in Notts. So forget all that we have said, as once the word gets out,they'll be queuing out the door and we won't be able to get in to re-visit. You can Bank on...

What a beautiful restaurant! We arrived a little early so our table was not available straight away. We were warmly welcomed and offered a seat in the bar area and asked if we would like drinks. There was a really good selection of wines and cocktails, we were spoilt for choice. It also gave us time to start perusing the food menu, which was equally as good. We tried: Confit duck flat bread - delicious loved the pickled cucumber. Padron peppers - best ones I have had and there were so many. Could have eaten the bowl to myself. Chargrilled corn - this was disappointing as came as two corn on the cobs, tasted watery and it was listed as a snack but as there was 3 of us it was hard to share? have had at other tapas restaurants as corn ribs which would have been better as a snack/ sharer. Tempura Enoki mushrooms - wow! just loved the texture and the flavour was so good with the aioli jamon croquettes - loved these!! the serrano ham on top was a delight. Korean Fried chicken - so good, crispy and the sauce was delicious exactly as I expected. Tuna tartare - this was very nice, however we didn't think about the flavour with the rest of the dishes we chose and this was one stood out. very fresh. Sticky Beef, truffle mac and cheese - out of this world, beef so tender and the truffle/cheese was just amazing.

The staff were lovely, food amazing and atmosphere made a great evening catching up with friends. Even the toilets looked great, and just a tiny thing but the hand soap looked so out of place, not important in the whole scheme of things but you can get some cheap nice looking ones it ruined the aesthetic. Would definitely...