The Beefy Boys — Restaurant in Shrewsbury

Came here with a mate after a long walk on the Shropshire Hills requiring a substantial feed. We decided on this place as a result of watching the 'The Hidden World of Hospitality with Tom Kerridge' and having a lot of respect for TK, it would've been a shame not to have visited.

We arrived with a booking at 5pm on a Saturday evening for the two of us. We were behind a singleton who got turned away without a booking and was told there would be a 45 minute wait. The first thing I noticed when entering was that the restaurant seemed big with plenty of seating space, so for them to turn away a solo diner shows how popular this place is. So if you don't want to be disappointed, book in advance!

The waiting staff sat us down in a large booth on the upper floor of the restaurant which seemed a bit quieter than the ground floor. We weren't complaining as I can't stand loud and noisy environments when trying to enjoy a sit-down meal. The booth also provided us with plenty of space to spread out and we weren't in close proximity to other diners giving us that extra bit of privacy making the dining experience more enjoyable.

After our drinks order was taken (basic tap water for me, I'm here for burgers!) we ordered our food. I got the Rude Boy (the one with the Jalapeno Popper on top) with some buffalo wings, my dining partner got The Shrewsbury Boy, Honey Sriracha and Lime wings and millionaire fries (the truffle and parmesan ones).

The food arrived within 15 minutes and was quickly devoured. The wings and chips seemed pointless as we both agreed that the burgers were on a level of taste and flavour far above the chips and wings would every hope to reach. Whilst I get that sides are needed to add variety to the meal and to satisfy 'combos', My personal recommendation is that if you're hungry, don't bother with sides and get two burgers instead. They're just too good. Whilst I can't comment on the Shrewsbury Boy, my dining partner gave it a solid 10/10. My burger was also 10/10. Why? We both chose the thick standard patty and it was cooked and seasoned to perfection with a hint of pink in the centre, the bun wasn't to soggy or dry and was able to stay intact. The fillings were perfectly balanced with nothing overpowering.

Finally the service was excellent with no problems. We really appreciated the kitchen roll on the table as anyone who's eaten a burger before will know how messy it can get.

This place is 10/10 and lives up to the hype. If you're into a good burger, hit...

Food was great but service was poor. I've eaten with beefy boys before so knew the menu, I know the food is good, and how they operate but my partner doesn't so when they asked if we had eaten before we said no, expecting the menu to be explained to us... we were the first people in, we were sat as at a table with menus and then they walked off without saying anything, not a big deal we can figure out a menu ... a few minuets later they sit another couple next to us.

Within a few minuets the table next to us had there food and drink order placed, we still hadn't had a member of staff come back to check on us although we were trying to make eye contact to place the order. Again the table next to us were checked on several times during the meal and we were checked on once towards the end of the meal. We also heard the menu being explained and the the drink refills explained to tables around us, but nothing was mentioned to us. At this stage we are just feeling a bit ignored.

We tried to get someones attention so we could pay the bill and go but again no one checking on us and people avoiding eye contact, my partner gets up and asks a member of staff for the bill, the staff member goes to the till, calls someone else across to the till, and then both members of staff start serving other tables... we sit there again but no-one has said anything so we get up to pay assuming we've been forgotten about. Ask to pay the bill at the counter, the server asks if we have the bill and I make a bit of a comment about waiting for the bill but not having it yet, and the server instantly gets the bill and asks if we want to pay the service charge ... well if thats the first comment you have about our meal, in that case no I don't want to pay the service charge ... she then tells the other members of staff we aren't paying the service charge, but never actually bothered to ask why we weren't happy.

I usually always do a tip but really felt ignored in there today, especially compared to other tables that were around us. It really felt like they were more bothered about the service charge, than the service. I understand it gets busy, new staff, mistakes on the till etc etc but genuinely a smile and an explanation would have gone a long way ... asking if everything was okay with the meal today would have resulted in the service charge being paid rather than just asking us if we were going...

A truly awesome burger experience. Easily the best burger I've had in Shropshire by a long way and the bacon fries are also excellent. I had the pastrami boy burger which was super delicious. It reminded me of the amazing pastrami you find in New York. Nom! The burger was juicy and the cheeses were a good match. I had bacon fries as a side and I still maintain that bacon and baconaise fries are the only good loaded fries available in this world.

Extra points for the free refills on fizzy drinks. This really should be a standard.

We had brownies and whippy icecream for dessert. The brownie was more basic than those tubs of brownies that you get at the supermarket and didn't even have chocolate chips in, though the icecream was good 👍

The service was excellent and the staff were very attentive and helpful. I was continuously able to get a refill on my drink and they were happy to supply a small spoon for dessert (yes I'm that awkward person).

The only odd thing that happen was that we were initially given snickers brownies to begin with when we hadn't asked for them - we assumed we would get the standard brownie by default. The snickers brownie is an upgraded brownie with peanuts in and a layer of caramel on top with chopped up snickers bar on top. A decent free upgrade if you like peanuts. None of us are fans of peanuts and one of our group is allergic to peanuts (thankfully not fatally allergic), so when we noticed, we had to send them back explaining that we didn't ask for the snickers version thinking they would replace them with the standard brownies with icecream - which they did. They were incredibly apologetic and we were happy that we got the right dessert. Then when we asked for the bill we were told that they couldn't charge us because had one of us been fatally allergic to peanuts, it could have been a lot worse. This was a bit of a surprise to us as it didn't really affect us too much, but I do admire the thought behind it. We did leave a fairly large tip and will be back for sure.

If the owners/managers read this, I hope you keep the member of staff that served us this evening. It was an honest mistake and no one else is going to be less likely to make that mistake going forward 🙂 The power of learning...