Browns Leeds — Restaurant in Leeds

Some of the waiting staff were lovely, but this place needs a good hard look in the mirror! I will certainly not be going there ever again.

I attended a Xmas party meal with my colleagues and cannot adequately express my disappointment.

If you are going to charge prices like this you need to deliver something half decent and have some consistency among the quality of dishes served. How any chef could allow what arrived on my plate to represent a restaurant charging these prices is beyond me.

Despite not being vegetarian I kind of liked the sound of the Asparagus and butternut squash Thai curry with "fragrant coconut, lemongrass, ginger & charred lime served with sticky Thai rice"! " I made a side order of tenderstem broccoli with pine nut granola thinking this would compliment the dish nicely. I deeply regret not taking photos to illustrate, but what showed up would have been more fitting in the 2 for the price of 1 at Wetherspoons... even then I would have felt pretty seriously short changed. I'm not exaggerating! What arrived was a bowl of sludge comprising of two miniscule lumps of butternut squash and the rest of the sludge was broccoli and a completely mediocre Thai sauce... No sign of Asparagus, lemongrass or ginger... and the "charred lime" had the appearance of something someone had stood on (wasn't charred at all) not an asparagus in sight. The rice was not sticky rice(if you want to know what sticky rice is then go to a Thai restaurant and try some) Being on a large social gathering with colleagues makes it feel particularly awkward to complain, but this was so far short of even barely satisfactory that I felt I had to say something. Meanwhile a waiter tried to bring my side order of broccoli with pine nut granola(they were definately trying to eke out the pine nut granola which was barely detectable) I pointed out to the waiter that my Asparagus and butternut curry was 80% broccoli so it seemed rather inappropriate to have a further serving. I had a discreet word with the manager who was of course very apologetic, and admitted that the quality was unacceptable. But given that the food had been slow to arrive(despite pre -booking /ordering and being on a narrow time frame as we had to go back to work) I felt I had little choice but to eat the meal rather than wait for a replacement. Otherwise it would have imposed further on the atmosphere of the social gathering. This allowed me to have dessert at the same time as my colleagues. The dessert was perfectly acceptable. They did remove the price of the curries from the bill.... but it's not really about the money at this point. More the awkwardness of having to complain on what is a social occasion. I should add that many of my colleagues were very disappointed at the incredibly small portions of "Hand pulled lamb shepherds pie".... Little bigger than a creme brûlée..... My only further regret is that I did not confront the chef personally. I understand that years ago Brown's was very highly regarded... From this experience I see it as a chain that is too big and chaotic to function properly. They won't get a second chance from me. Oh yeah...... And the "discretionary service charge" that's already added to the already expensive...

Went here today for afternoon tea while I got some work done. After searching for so long browns had the most reviews and most positive ones. I was very disappointed. As someone who works in a brassiere/fine dining establishment myself I was genuinely shocked. I don’t know if they freeze their afternoon tea and unfreeze it for reservations but I wouldn’t be surprised. Two of the sandwiches were hard I know this is not the norm because the other two were very soft so I believe the sandwiches had not been completely unfrozen yet before serving them to me, because they were hard while the other two were quite soft. The scones felt like they had been microwaved, the bottom/side was soft and top was rock hard?? Coming from somewhere that makes their afternoon tea fresh tasting browns Afternoon tea was incredibly disappointing I ended up not eating most of what I got. The only saving grace was the cakes. And for £32 I expect decent quality. One of the smaller buns that had salmon in it was just one small bit of salmon no butter or cream cheese in the bread, (I tried to add a photo but it won’t let me so I’ll add them in a separate post) it wasn’t terrible and perhaps it is meant to be like that, if so fair enough, but I would definitely rethink it as it was so bland. Same with the sandwiches. I expect more than a basic ham and butter sandwich and basic cheese sandwich for afternoon tea…there was just no love put into that food whatsoever. Secondly the staff. I’m a host myself we all have bad days but the staff look like a bunch of students who dgaf about service or you for that matter. A restaurant like browns should have someone greeting you with a smile, when one of the guys sat me down, 5 minutes later a girl came up to me and asked me if I wanted a table even though I was already seated, I still doubt they knew I had a reservation and thought I was just a walk-in. I don’t know if they follow steps of service or not but it was incredibly lacking. And when the restaurant is quiet I’d think that would be a great opportunity to work on your serving skills. There were 5 tables in the whole place which seemed to make the staff complacent, no check ups or being present so that I could ask for something if needed. The nicest member was actually the person who seated me, after that I had 3 different girls come to the table all of which were miserable. I did order the cheese burger sliders and they were good. So I would order them again. The banifee Mai tai was...

What can I say? I booked this due to past good reviews. Also having come out of a serious illness was looking forward to a nice Christmas meal out with my good friends. Wondering now how genuine those reviews are? Was an utterly abysmal, over priced rip off Christmas dinner. The waitress was really nice but everywhere else tells you up front when things are off the menu, namely the beef. It saves the customer the embarrassment of ordering it to be told it’s off. The food was v v poor and believe me I’m not fussy. The parsnip and apple soup was like it had applesauce out of a jar put in it. I can make nicer at home. The turkey dinner.. looked like it had been chucked on the plate and food strewn all over the place. Reminded me of one of those microwave frozen Sunday dinners. The potatoes were hard and dry and obviously from frozen. One dried up pig in a blanket. Food was also lukewarm at best. I did enjoy the chocolate torte but wonder if this was bought in? Bottle of wine £30! Ok I get it maybe dearer at Christmas. Service charge?! What an insult! Would never come again. What was it £35 a head I think? I’ve had far nicer even cheapest brand carveries. Extremely poor and like a lot of places now in these cash - strapped days are overcharging for poor sub - standard products which says more about making money than about customer experience/care. Next time I’m inviting my friends to my house and I’ll cook a Christmas dinner. Businesses take note.. many will follow suit if this scenario continues in the hospitality industry and people will stop coming. Only had a nice time cos was with my friends. Oh I could also recommend someone paints the outer toilets door. Inside was nice but the outer door needs a lick of paint cos all 4 of us said, it looked shabby. My advice? Either do your own at home or find a cheap little cafe that would do...