Cherrywood Smokehouse Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Sandwell

Group of three, ended up eating here as we found two other local restaurants closed for functions. 'Not to worry' we thought, 'we all like barbecue' so off to Cherrywood we went.

First impressions of the restaurant were good with polite and attentive staff showing us to a table without delay. Our drinks order was taken promptly but took some 15 minutes to arrive. In their defense [and judging from the main counter] it seemed that a large number of takeaways were being processed at the same time as a party booking arriving. It happens, but I think with the number of staff I saw, not sure 15 mins is reasonable but..benefit of doubt given.

Food order was placed and was delivered, again around 15 minutes which I again chalked down to a busy night on the takeaway.

As an avid fan of barbecue, I opted for kansas style ribs and another in the party opted for brisket.

The ribs were pale, mostly unsauced and, despite the menu claiming they were smoked for 6 [I think?] Hours there was no evidence by way of taste, colour or aroma of these dry, grey ribs being anywhere near a smoker. It seemed to me that the ribs were covered in a smoke-style dry rub - the type you get in plastic tubs at butchers / farm shops. Not great at all.

Another in the party ordered brisket which I found dry and flavourless however they don't like to make a fuss so, despite their meal looking like a thickly sliced moccasin, they bravely got on with the job.

Sides for both were the same - generic takeaway fries and generic coleslaw.

Finally, at no point did a member of staff ask if the food was to our satisfaction. After my initial bite I did down tools to speak to someone but the staff were all jetting about between tables, takeaway orders and party bookings so I tried to plough on, achieving a somewhat pyrrhic victory over 1/3 of my meal before throwing in the towel.

It's not all bad though - the staff, when you can pin them down are polite and great to talk to and the restaurant itself looks great.

As the food was relatively cheap, we didn't make a fuss but based on tonight's experience I wouldn't return.

TL-DR version.

Pros- nice staff*, good decor, cheap food

Cons - not a smokehouse. Poor quality food. *Need to use a signal flare to attract attention.

If you like good barbecue,...

I can honestly say that tonight has been the most disappointing experience I have ever had at a restaurant.

We had a 6pm table booked for 5 adults and a small child. We struggled to order our food and drinks due to the waitress clearly having no knowledge of the menu. About 45 minutes later we still hadn't received starters and a waiter came to our table to confirm our order which was completely wrong. He was very apologetic and sent over the same waitress to try and rectify our order. We ended up having to go through the order ticket ourselves and cross out what was wrong and write down what we had ordered.

Another 20 minutes later we still hadn't received our starters and had to chase a member of staff for them. When the starters finally arrived it was still missing one of the orders (which fortunately didn't matter because 2 guests had left because of the delay). The nachos were a poor excuse of a starter being nothing more than some store bought nacho crisps, and tiny pots of grated cheese, salsa and some guacamole. Being fair to the restaurant the chicken sizzler and burnt ends were rather good, even though there was a close call with a waiter placing a sizzling hot skillet in front of a 1 year old who made a grab for it.

Another 35 minutes later we were approached by a waitress who asked if we still wanted our mains because of how the evening was going (there were multiple tables leaving without having received any food). We were advised it would just be another 5 minutes before our food was ready and so we opted to wait. 10 minutes later we left as it was approaching 8pm and the 1 year old still hadn't eaten.

The restaurant acknowledged how poor the service was and did not charge us for food or the drinks they had managed to serve us.

I am very disappointed to leave this review as I have had the brisket as a takeaway from this restaurant and it was a very good meal. I can't help but think the owners have no idea how to run a restaurant and that they should stick to...

First off happy new year to all, after having a month off publishing reviews due to Christmas illness, i thought the next establishment would be the cherrywood given its history of a below average public house i was concerned what could be on the inside. I was greatly wrong a clean organised well dressed open restaurant greeted me with smiles at the counter ready to take orders. Normally these bar/grills is order at the bar so table service was welcomed greatly. After researching the menu their was Plenty to choose from and may i say a great choice for all parties with different taste buds. Onto the food we ordered a regular mixed grill with masala chips and a garlic and cheese naan with a masala sauce completing the order. Time taken to cook was well managed as it didn’t give the feeling of a rushed dish nor thinking they was behind on orders, upon arrival all 4 senses started to get going and in we dove masala chips was a good tasty potato not to dry not to wet with a generous coating of spices. Garlic and cheese naan…wow the naan wasn’t doughy, the cheese pull was correct to my measurements and you could easily want to finish the dish as it didn’t bloat the stomach following a portion of the naan as some establishments do. Lastly the mixed grill was spot on catered for everything my taste buds desired and heavy kick of spices on the sheekh kebab to accompany the rest of the palate only thing missing was a fish pakora to round of the dish…one of the fellow table attendants had the boneless grill which had the fish pakora which all round praise was given for. As a side note the chilli chips were also ordered and I must say hand down the best ive had so far on this journey so i shall not review the taste but i will recommend highly to anyone. Score coming in at a solid 9.2/10 to...