The Lock — Restaurant in Leeds

Hmmm. Well, I like the fact that it is part of the hotel, and the hotel is awesome. It's clean and tidy and nice to hang out at. However.. There is something weird going on with the staff. They have drinks and food menus by the door when you go in. So the natural thing is to pick one of each up as you enter to have a look through. But then as soon as you sit down staff members are swooping in on you asking what you want before you know yourself. I mean it is nice to have prompt service, but it can be too much. Then.. as soon as you order, they take away the menus. So then I have to go get them again and they ask if I am okay as I go to the door. Yes, I am perfectly fine thanks, I just want to look at the menu! Next.. the wine is extremely expensive, and nothing to write home about. I understand it is a premium hotel bar, but just saying. Probably I would let it pass, but they pour this expensive wine in really small glasses. It feels more like you are in the bar on the Dover to Calais ferry rather than a swanky posh lounge. One time I did manage to have a slightly larger glass, but then they tried to take it away from me when I went for a second drink. I asked if they had another glass which seemed to confuse them. They made some joke about me wanting the "big dog", lol. No, I simply would like a glass that is appropriate for a nice glass of red wine🍷 It doesn't take much.. everybody knows that. And next, as other people have mentioned, what the heck is up with the pay as you go. This is a high class hotel. Why are you making people pay every round. It makes them look bad and brings down the tone. At the end of the day I wish I could give them a higher review. There is so much potential here, but it is let down by poor management decisions I think. It would be nice if they put some heaters outside as well with blankets. The Double Tree bar in Amsterdam has those. It is awesome. I guess it is what it is, and I will surely be back. But......

My partner and I booked to eat here for a change to our usual locations but quickly regretted it. We ordered two meals but only one arrived so after waiting about ten more minutes I went to the bar to find out what happened to my partner's meal. The bar person said she would go to find out and come back to me but after another five minutes she had not returned and I saw her outside serving other people food and drinks so I went to check what had happened. She then told me that she had checked and that my food was at my table. I then explained that it was my meal but that my partner's meal wasn't there. I had explained that in the first instance and if she had bothered to come back to me when she said she would then I would have explained it again. However, by this point it was now twenty minutes after my meal had arrived and the other hadn't so we decided to ask for a refund. The bar person said she would have to check with the restaurant manager who then asked what the problem was. I explained and she then went off to get the general manager to give us our refund. We were then told that the card machine could not process the refund so they would take our email address and refund us later if that was acceptable. We did not find this acceptable so asked for a refund in cash which was provided. We felt bad for the general manager who was very apologetic and helpful but the biggest problem was the bar staff not communicating the order to the kitchen properly and then a different member of bar staff not coming back to see me, the customer, who had not received a meal they had paid for. Absolutely terrible customer service. Also, the music from the DJ was way too loud for a restaurant and other customers nearby had to move away from the outside speaker because of this. Why you would need a DJ in a restaurant is beyond me.

If it wasn't for the great canal side location and apologetic general manager this would be a one star review...

A Bank Holiday / Pre-Birthday meal with my family and I got to choose where to go. So I picked the lock (if you’ll pardon my pun) and I thought this was fantastic.

The Lock is located at The Double Tree by Hilton in Leeds City centre. If you’re visiting Leeds and want somewhere to stay, I would recommend the Hilton, it’s very close to the train station and has a lot of great restaurants around the area. Plus it’s a short walk into the city centre.

So I went with my family to have lunch at The Lock and this was a wonderful experience. It was pretty busy, as there was a football match on and of course, it was a bank holiday too. The service was absolutely fantastic. The food was absolutely amazing. My mum and dad ordered the Cheeseburger, without Bacon (as they don’t eat bacon) there was no issue with that at all and the burgers were a really good size and looked amazing and they both said they really enjoyed them, and they were delicious and very filling. My other half and I shared some Mozzarella flatbread and we both had Caesar Salads. She had hers with chicken, I had mine with Halloumi. The food was really well prepared and presented well and it was all really delicious, very filling and really enjoyable.

We also treated ourselves to some delicious (non alcoholic) cocktails and had a lovely meal together and a great time. All the staff were really kind, very welcoming, friendly and professional. This was a fantastic experience and we all enjoyed it. I will definitely be going back there again and I can absolutely recommend...