Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Birmingham
Hardens guides have spent 15 years compiling reviews of the best Birmingham restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 179 restaurants in Birmingham and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Birmingham restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Birmingham Restaurants
1. Opus Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
54 Cornwall Street - B3
Located in the Colmore District, this “warm” brasserie garners nominations both for a top culinary experience and also for being “good for business”: winning features include accomplished modern cuisine with well-priced wine flights and a “good ambience without pretension”.
2. Maribel
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
6 Brindley Place - B1
On the Brindleyplace site that was once Edmunds (RIP), this April 2018 newcomer attracted some brilliant reviews in this year’s survey for Richard Turner’s accomplished cuisine. He departed, though, in mid May 2019, just before our current survey closed, to be replaced by Harvey Perttola: formerly a sous chef at Lichfield’s Swinfen Hall. The move seems to herald a desire for a ‘more relaxed’ (less ambitious) style of dining than previously and in the circumstances it seems sensible to leave a re-rating till next year.
3. The Karczma
Polish restaurant in Birmingham
Bordesley St - B5
10/10 for effort on the décor at this kitschy classic five minutes from the Bull Ring, but decorated like an old Pollish cottage. Too limited reports this year for a proper rating of the hearty east European scoff, but all feedback is positive.
4. Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Birmingham
Steaks & grills restaurant in Birmingham
200 Wharfside St, The Cube - B1
The Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill is located on the 25th floor of Birmingham's iconic building the Cube. It offers panoramic views of the city with floor to ceiling windows you will be sure to get a superb view. It's newly refurbished restaurant and bar is simply spec...
5. Sabai Sabai
Thai restaurant in Birmingham
268 High Street - B17
Husband and wife team, Torquil and Juree Chidwick, first opened Sabai Sabai as a small, cosy, family-run Thai restaurant in Moseley 10 years ago. Proving a real hit with the locals they opened the Harborne restaurant, oozing a subtle eastern sophistication with carved wooden b...
6. Cucina Rustica
Italian restaurant in Birmingham
24 Ludgate Hill - B3
Cucina Rustica is a contemporary, family-owned Italian restaurant located in Birmingham’s St Paul’s Square, in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter. We very much live by the Italian concept of La Bella Figura. It means beauty is i...
7. Adam's
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
16 Waterloo St - B2
“No need to go to London restaurants that so often disappoint!” – Adam & Natasha Stoke’s “beautiful restaurant with a lovely bar and intimate dining area is in a central location that has parking outside”. Its food score remains the highest in Brum (by a very narrow whisker from Purnells) with practically all feedback describing “fine dining at its best” – “no over the top scientific nonsense”, just “food that continues to be innovative, beautifully prepared and presented” and service that’s “professional, never pompous and which knows how to connect without intruding”. “Enjoying the tasting menu downstairs at the chef’s table is a great experience.”
8. Purnells
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
55 Cornwall St - B3
TV-chef Glynn Purnell’s swish HQ in the business quarter was Birmingham’s most-mentioned restaurant in the survey this year and is often recommended as “Brum’s best” (with ratings on almost exactly level pegging with rivals Adam’s and Opheem). Criticism is most notable by its absence, with nothing but rapturous reviews for his “technically accomplished cuisine, with well-executed creative dishes” and “interested, attentive and well-paced service”.
9. Carters of Moseley
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
2c Wake Green Rd - B13
“Passion for food and drink” is much in evidence, “along with a really warm welcome” at Brad Carter’s “smart casual” fixture, which again scores top marks for his “fantastic” and “inventive” cuisine, from an eight-course tasting menu (for £90), or, if you go earlier in the week, four-course and six-course options. Added attractions include a “really imaginative vegetarian option” and a “passionate wine supremo” who also has some “really interesting alternatives to wine” up his sleeve (“quirky beers, plum sake, natural cider…”).
10. Harborne Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
Jamie Desogus has created a “vibrant, relaxed, open-plan environment” at the former butcher’s shop that he opened in 2016, and all reports are full of praise for his “exceptional” modern cuisine, available from a three-course à la carte (‘choice’) menu early week, or at weekends from six-course or eight-course (‘chosen’) menus.
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