Secret Garden Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Great Britain

Went for a friend's birthday this past Friday and what can I say? Yikes. The building is beautiful, their decor is fantastic and if you're into aesthetics only, you'll be happy. Unfortunately I can't eat lightbulbs.

I ordered a chicken burger for £8 as I refused to pay £17 for calamari with no sides (of which there are only 4, (1 being a bread basket which includes 4 slices of rock hard french bread with no oil, butter or garnish) on Braunstone Gate. It was okay. It wasn't a burger though, imagine a chicken fillet cut in half and then the remaining half sliced into pieces and those pieces put onto a brioche bun, it was sent back as they forgot the cheese (shavings of dry mozzarella) and this was rectified. It was fine but basic and certainly not worth £8 but whatever. We also ordered a shisha for £25 which is about £10 more expensive than your average shisha lounge. How was it? Simply terrible. I've never had a shisha which tasted of nothing, ever, in my entire life. We tried changing flavours, it all tastes the same, like nothing, not even tobacco. That was weird.

I think where the venue falls flat is it tries to do too much in one place. It's a restaurant and a shisha lounge and a cocktail bar and there's a very loud DJ playing pretty good music but you aren't allowed to dance because there's no dance floor and they aren't licensed for that. I like nice food, I don't mind paying for it but from what I saw that my friends ordered, I'm glad I didn't go for one of the main entrees because I'd have been highly aggitated. A cool concept bar and restaurant on Braunstone Gate sounds fantastic but it feels like there's no substance behind it, which is a shame. I don't think it would take much to improve the venue but until then I won't be returning.

The wait staff were okay and fairly friendly given that it was a busy night and they were under pressure.

Atmosphere: 3.5/5 Food: 2/5 Shisha:...

Don't be fooled by this place - they spent all the budget on neon lights for the instagram crowd.

We tried drinks and shisha at Secret Garden on a Saturday night one week from opening. First we were told that we had to order a shisha for every two people in my group (at £25 - pricey). The cocktails were expensive for braunstone gate (£13 each). We decided not to have food as it was, again, overpriced and looked very average. My partner ordered a bacardi and coke, the staff brought the bacardi out without coke and tried to charge us more for the mixer (the mixer is included with the price on the menu).

The atmosphere for a Saturday night was awful. They had a live DJ who blasted music so loud I had to shout to my friend beside me to have a conversation. It would have been fine if there was a dancefloor if they wanted to go for the club vibe.

My friend got trapped in the toilet for 20 minutes after the handle came off the door. The staff had to boot down the door, and immediately after decided to ignore my distressed friend and pretend nothing had happened. No concern shown, certainly no apology from the staff.

We asked for a refund as we left. A lot of eye rolling from the staff. At first we were told it is nothing they can do as the manager wasn't there. Then they said they can give us a 50% refund - the staff member then changed it to 30% in cash.

Not good enough for a new venue trying to make a name for itself. Total lack of respect and care for its customers.

AVOID THIS PLACE

—————————- Update 13/10

Thanks for your response.

I didn’t submit a rating for food, I said it looked average - that put us off paying for any.

Speaks volumes that there is still no apology and you have to report your negative feedback.

Good luck with...

This fabulous restaurant caught my eye every time I would walk past it on my route to cheerleading training. The luxurious decor immediately stood out to me so I had to google to find out what type of restaurant it was. When I found out that it was an Italian, I was over the moon as that’s my favourite style of food so I instantly booked it to have a romantic evening meal with my boyfriend for my 21st birthday. It was super easy to book through OpenTable and there was a variety of menu options to book and choose from. I decided to book the Christmas set menu which was 3 courses for only £25 per person. That’s such an amazing deal! There were many food options to choose from on the Christmas set menu which was amazing. And they also had my very favourite Italian dish on the menu, Carbonara. The food was absolutely delicious and was the best Italian food I have ever tasted! The portions were perfect sizing all the way through from the starter, main and dessert. Normally you get tiny portions on set menus but our portions were perfect and very generous. The cocktails were so tasty and very well made, and I loved how there was a large variety of cocktails to choose from. The waiter Carmelo is so welcoming and he was attentive throughout. His lovely bubbly character really made mine and my boyfriends night spectacular, and ended the evening of my birthday on a high note. The chef Tommaso is one of the best Italian chefs I have come across. The food truly was superb and I can’t wait to go back to have more of his delicious food. I highly recommend this gorgeous restaurant as they truly take care of you and give you the best fine dining experience while your surrounded in the restaurants spectacular...