Marc & Daina's Restaurant — Restaurant in Nottingham

I don't particularly like leaving poor reviews for places, especially small, family run establishments. Unfortunately, as the issues were completely avoided by our waitress whilst in the restaurant, I feel compelled to leave a review.

The place was nice enough, although the music was too loud and the place smelled slightly musty. The waitress was polite, took our order and the meal started out well with our starters which were both very nice. The problem started with the main course. We both ordered the confit of lamb which is one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. When I tasted it, it was so unbelievably dry, tough and did not taste at all like lamb. I told the waitress that the lamb was incredibly dry only to be told that "It's a confit, it's supposed to be dry, it's cooked for two and a half hours and it's just different tastes, some people like their lamb well done." She then walked away.

Okay so let's back up a minute...firstly I am actually French so I know full well what a confit is! I know for a fact, having eaten confit many times in France, that confit is anything but dry! Quite the opposite in fact, confit meats cook and tenderize with virtually no moisture or flavour loss - the meat is well done but not at all dry. Confit is supposed to be moist, tender and full of flavour; it's so tender that it falls apart on your plate and melts in your mouth. This wasn't a case of lamb well done, it wasn't a confit either, nor was it about 'different tastes'; it was simply a very overcooked, dry, tough and flavourless piece of meat, which quite frankly for a French restaurant is pretty poor. The red wine jus that accompanied it was nice and the veg were OK, but neither of these made up for the fact that the lamb was absolutely terrible. I couldn't eat mine at all, my partner ate his and some of mine mainly for not wanting to throw £34 down the drain.

As for the crêpes suzette, I'm really not sure what they were either. Wasn't crêpes suzette that's for sure! Some may like them, they weren't terrible, they just didn't taste like crêpes suzette. The crêpes were too thick, sweet and soggy (not thin, slightly crispy on the outside French crêpes), there was too much sauce, they didn't look or taste like they'd been flambéd (they certainly weren't flambéd at the table, which of course they should be) & I couldn't taste the Grand Marnier.

I'm not sure what the other dishes on the menu are like, they seem to have a lot of good reviews so I guess there must be some things they're good at. All I can say is avoid the lamb at all costs! As for us, we won't be...

I don't like giving poor reviews but unfortunately I have to after a recent first visit here. We went during their 'Early bird' offer between 17:45 and 19;00. We entered the restaurant and was immediately welcomed with a 'fusty' smell. No other customers were inside and this should have set our alarm bells ringing for a Saturday evening. Daina greeted us and was very pleasant. She turned the ambient music on which was Michael Buble!! We ordered a glass each of house red which was very nice and came in a large glass. We weren't given the choice of size. We weren't informed of or offered the 'Early bird' menu so just ordered a main each, one Steak Cassoulet and a Chicken Chasseur. I have been to France many times and have friends who live there so appreciate what a cassoulet should be. Unfortunately this one was just several pieces of over done stewing steak in a watery sauce with a few sliced mushrooms. Accompanying it was a teaspoon size portion of potato which was described on the menu as dauphinoise potatoes. The accompanying vegetables were overdone and unseasoned. The bill came and we noticed we had been charged for two large glasses of wine that we hadn't been given a choice to have but that's beside the point as we were very disappointed with the quality of the dishes. This place could be a little gem but reading reviews similar to ours from 2015 (that we now wish we had read before visiting) it appears not a lot has changed and the owners take umbrage to constructive reviews instead of listening to customers honest opinions. Overall lovely people but poor food unfortunately and we won't...

Happened upon this place at random and had the early bird 3 course. There was 2 of us. We walked in and were the only people in there. We were met with a fusty smell (ultimately this didn't matter as the review is still 5 stars). It was silent as we came in but upon seating some ambient music was put on which was nice. The lady was served us was attentive and very pleasant, the timing of the food and spacing between courses was good.

We had the soup of day (red pepper and tomato) and pate (stilton) for starters, steak stroganoff and crispy pork belly for main and sticky toffee pudding and baked cheesecake for dessert. The dishes aren't big but they're not small either. The food is presented very nicely and the soup came with a lovely warm roll. The stroganoff was so very tasty, the beef melting away nicely and the pork belly showing a lovely crisp to it with a healthy selection of veg and potatoes. Seasoning is on the table, presumably for you to do to taste. Whilst usually a bigger eater, the servings being a little small mattered not as they were very flavourful so that having a large portion may have been too rich so I actually agree with the portion sizes.

I was debating a 4* solely due to the fusty smell upon entry but I don't know if its a fixable problem and tbh, you get used to it after a couple mins. Ultimately that doesn't detract away the fact I really enjoyed the food, the atmosphere (even though we were the only ones in), the service and the price and that I would...