The Steel Cauldron — Restaurant in Sheffield

The Steel Cauldron opened in Sheffield less than a month ago. It is a Harry Potter and magic based cafe.The only one of it's kind in the U.K. It has taken part in the Eat In Help Out national government scheme during August despite just opening. It had over 700 bookings within an hour of it openin. As I have an avid Harry Potter fan in my house but only heard about its existence in the middle of August I attempted to make a booking. I was disappointed to find they were fully booked for the rest of August. However they contacted me to inform me they were they were adding additional booking slots by remaining open an additional half an hour. The first booking slot I was given was not convenient and they very kindly found me another one. The whole cafe is decorated with Harry Potter themed artefacts which anyone who has read the books will recognise and appreciate. The wizards tea which is a set platter for both children and adults was like nothing I had ever seen m, including a cauldron of popcorn, a chocolate frog and wand amongst lots of other things. An amazing afternoon tea alternative which includes a slice of cake. Our was black and delicious. While you are enjoying your tea a magician joins you at your table showing you some tricks which involve your participation. Both my children who are 12 and 13were awestruck by the tricks the magician did. My older daughter googled him to find that he is extremely well known and popular on Instagram. The whole experience it timed to last less than an hour. Within the cafe there is a small gift area that sells lots of Harry Potter and magic themed gifts. The Steel Cauldron offers you a unique experience. There is a small car park very close to it which charges 70p for one hour or £1:40 for 2 hours parking which I thought was very reasonable. The Steel Cauldron has just launched itself as a bar from 7PM every evening. They have also just launched Harry Potter themed birthday parties and will be offering potion and also wand making workshops which you will be able to book online. An amazing unique place that we will definitely will be visiting again. In September they have altered the Wizards menu but will continue to provide a discount which will enable more people to enjoy...

Looked forward to going after seeing an article on Facebook expressing that they were struggling for custom after lockdown due to a lot of cancellations. Unfortunately was let down quite a bit. I assumed (As I booked Wizards Tea online between the options of eating, Wizards Tea or drinks) that orders would maybe already be in motion that however is not the case which was slightly confusing as the booking fee is £5 per person so I had paid £20 before even going to the cafe. We waited a while for someone to take our order and then we waited an hour for our food with two hungry toddlers who were getting more and more aggravated by the second and when the food arrived it was not worth the price point. £11 for adult Wizards Tea and £7 for a children’s Wizards Tea was disappointing as it was something that could be made better at home for less. The sandwiches for all of us were bland and had very little filling and the cake was dry unfortunately. The one thing that could maybe justify the price point would be the atmosphere however that was also lacking. The staff seemed under immense pressure and rushed off their feet. I noticed there were a lot of full tables and only a handful of staff. The members of staff we dealt with were wonderful, I cannot fault them at all. Our original server offered a full refund and apologised profusely and explained how much pressure they had been put under by poor planning from bookings and walk ins and they felt snowed under which was obvious. I witnessed two families within the hour and a half we were in there, sitting down and then leaving due to waiting times.

Overall, I think the planning for bookings etc may need looking at as to not overwhelm the staff and make service run smoother and if I’m 100% honest, the Wizards Tea needs a major upgrade to be worth the price point because at the moment even the adult portion is very similar to a packed lunch you’d get on a school field trip. I honestly believe this lovely place has a lot of potential but in my opinion it’s not up to par just yet and has some kinks that need working out. Unfortunately will not be...

We had a Wizard's Tea a few weeks ago and it was great and worth 5 stars, but we visited a second time and there were a couple of things that, for me, were disappointing.

First of all my daughters loved it and my 3-year-old still talks about it now... She thinks she has met a real wizard! The magicians were really impressive and sat with us and did several tricks, not rushing at all and making my daughter feel special. For that reason alone I would visit again, but if the tea was as nice the second time around I might even go myself while my kids are at nursery!

The first time we visited my daughters had milk to drink as we were told that all the special "potions" were fizzy. The second time we went we were going to order one anyway just to try them but they had all sold out. We were also told that they actually aren't fizzy so we should have had one the first time around. They made a sparkly drink themselves which my daughter thought was fantastic and believed it was magic... but it was just cordial with glitter in and as a moany paying adult I just would have preferred the proper drink.

The big disappointment however was the cake. On our first visit it was really very yummy and I ate every crumb and still tried to get some of my mum's cake. The second time though the cake tasted like one of those cheap, sugary-thick cakes that look nice but taste awful. I ate less than half. It was also extra-disappointing as everyone else had a beautiful rainbow cake but that had run out and my daughter just kept looking around and saying how beautiful it was.

Anyway, it was very original and special, and if I could rely on the cake being tasty it would be a very strong 5 stars. Having enough "potion" bottles available and staff knowing whether or not they are fizzy (for a 1- and 3-year-old) would also be good but those alone wouldn't be a huge problem....