Orleans Smokehouse Solihull — Restaurant in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

So….lets get the elephant out of the room to kick things off….Mitchells & Butlers (the company that owns the Orleans Smokehouse brand), created this new one off brand/venue (for now) as a direct competitor to the increasingly popular Hickory’s Smokehouse brand, which recently opened in Earlswood. Hickories is now owned by the Greene King pub chain.

It has to be said that both venues have done very well since opening at similar times and both continue to be VERY popular venues.

Initial impressions of the M&B Orleans venue (previously a Harvester) were all good. Having had a major overhaul, this is a nice place to visit and has plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Parking is ample too. The bar area has a sports bar type vibe and the restaurant has lots of cosy seating without feeling overcrowded. Bar choices are usual M&B fair…so nothing spectacular.

Service was great although whilst drinks were served promptly, food was very slow. Whilst this could have been linked to how busy they were….this place is made to cater for large numbers so seemed a bit weird.

Food wise, pretty much all you would expect from a smokehouse was there on the menu. We kept things simple, food wise as it helps to compare this with other Smokehouses in the area.

Starters we went for the Classic corn dogs and popcorn brisket bites. The 3 corn dogs were tasty and a nice dish. The burnt ends were a bit on the dry side, not helped by the fact that they had been coated in batter/breadcrumb type coating and then deep fried (A sign of them creating dishes that can be easily scaled up if the brand does grow).

For the main course and we went for the Ultimate Smokehouse Platter for 2 as it had a bit of everything. We upgraded the fries to cheese and chilli fries…and glad we did.

As mentioned above….the food was slow. Starters took a reasonable 20mins to arrive but the mains took another 40mins. The place was busy….but still.

Stepping through the platter. The three slices of USDA brisket were tasty, well when you poured the beef dripping gravy on it. Without the gravy the meat was tender but very dry and didn’t really have the full on smoked flavours we were expecting. To make matters worse, you only got one small pot of the gravy to share between the two of us, which was not enough. We were told, the gravy is basically pulled from M&B’s other meaty brand….Miller & Carter…so nothing unique here. The brisket really told the story of the other meats too….The smoked wings had been deep fried to an inch of their life so were also dry. They did have a mild smokey flavour but this felt like it was added after cooking rather than representative of how they were cooked. Whilst the baby back and beef ribs were both tender….again they had both been overcooked (/reheated) so had dried out and neither had sufficient gooey sauces to counteract that. The pulled pork actually came mixed within the pit beans so there wasn’t much of that, but at least the beans helped a little with the moisture. For some reason, we didn’t get the cheese & jalapeño sausage so can only think it was missed? Unfortunately we only noticed after looking back at the menu the next day lol.

The mac & cheese was a nice addition but the dish was a little small for two and again had been cooked / reheated a bit too long so was dry. Pickles / slaws were ok….but standard catering pack offering. The chips came with a gooey cheese sauce and mixture of Jalapeños and fresh red chilli’s. This was VERY nice and recommended.

We didn’t have room for a pudding and thankfully we doggy bagged a few bits we couldn’t finish at the table.

In summary, a great venue but the food, whilst tasty, was not quite up with the best in the area. Smokehouse meats cooked right should be proper juicy but everything seemed dry (or completely missing lol). M&B will need to keep an eye on quality if they want to expand this new brand and be a match for the nearby...

Where to begin!

Our waitress obvoisly didn't want to be in work and was just going through the motions as and when she felt like. This was also backed up with the constant muttering under her breath and the occasional vocal with other members of staff. I understand that some people don't wish to be in work and was amazed that there appeared to be little to no Covid prep anywhere! Perhaps this was a contributiing factor? There was hand sanitizer and a half arsed effort at a one way system (that didn't work) but that was about it, amazed that staff were not wearing face masks or shields as this in my eyes would be a bare minimum? for an indoor venue such as a restraunt where staff could come in constant contact with multiple guests?

Anyway... We were sat and had drinks orders taken with a little confusion (perhaps the Welsh accent didn't help?) we then headed off to the salad cart and the portions were less than ideal here. It's a very personal thing this and feel that if you can't have complete free reighn, perhaps it's best to not have it at all? The fun then Began when we sat down and had to track down a member of staff visually to obtain cutlery... Ohh boy that's something I don't want to repeat ever again! We finished our salad and after a long wait the waitress returned, we selected our meals BUT were not informed prior that there was no rotisserie chicken.... Well that's a major staple of both the meals myself and parter wished to order so we had to revise on the spot as we didn't wish to be there all night (never great) OK so I ordered the 'pitmaster' and it was decent enough but for some mad reason came with southern fried chicken wings coated in BBQ sauce! Not the greatest combo and I had to leave these as it was just a terrible combo. My partner ended up with a safe option in the ribs and all was well. Both the kids enjoyed the meals of burgers and chicken cujions both were adequate but a little unappetising to see. We asked about a side of Garlic Bread but were informed that they don't do this and garlic balls replace this BUT they don't have any... Oh great...

Then it came to desert.... they had no chocolate cake and had also run out of chocolate sauce.... Meaning that 70%of the deserts couldn't be made. My son asked for his kids desert 'chocolate brownie' and was informed he couldn't have cream instead of the chocolate sauce (that they didn't have) and this was the nail in the coffin for me!

So we left it at that and requested the bill leaving as swiftly as possible. Feeling a little guilty about not leaving a tip but feel the service wasn't worth a tip in this instance.

Guys you really need to step your game up and pull things together.

Very disappointed and honestly the worst meal I have had...

There was nothing 'great' about our visit and an awful lot that we thought could be improved on:

When we arrived the restaurant was empty, we we taken to a table way out the far end to be seated at a very dark and cramped area so we asked if it would be possible if we could be seated somewhere else near a window , the waiter (a trainee Dylan) said he would ask and came back to say he could move us, which was good.

Dylan then took our order for drinks and food and told us there would be a short delay as the kitchen had had a very busy breakfast trade, I asked how short and was told 5-10 minutes, which was of course acceptable. We then waited approx 10 minutes for a small glass of soda water (bearing in mind there were no other diners in the place) it wasn't until we walked up to the salad bar that he decided to prepare the drink and take it to our table.

A few more diners arrived but not busy, 35 minutes later we had still not had our meals but two of the other tables who came at least 15 minutes after us had had their meals served to them. I went up to the bar to find out why we hadn't had our order and was told it was probably my burger that was the hold up even though I pointed out that one of the other tables had been served burgers - i was told that theirs were probably plant burgers!!! Our meals then came, the chips were cold the burger was dry and tasteless. I had ordered the Beef Classic Burger and my husband had the Chicken Stack.

On reflection we should have just sent the meals back but we did our best not to make a fuss, however I could not eat the burger. When I went to pay, I was asked if I had enjoyed the meal and unfortunately I had to say, No, it was awful as was the service. I was a then told that the burger was 80 per cent meat and 20 per cent plant based - I would never have ordered it if I had know (no mention of this on the menu). The chicken tenders on my husbands meal were anything but.

My husband was horrified to see waiters petting a dog in the bar area whilst working in the restaurant. We were told that dogs were allowed in the bar area but this was going on very near to the servery/restaurant area.

We overhead other diners complaining too.

We have had some lovely meals and great service in this Monkspath Harvester since it first opened but unfortunately we will be unlike to return...