Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Lakeside
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Lakeside restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 61 restaurants in Lakeside and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Lakeside restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Lakeside Restaurants
1. Sabai Sabai
Thai restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
19-20 Wood Street - CV37
Solid if arguably “fairly standard” Thai dishes again win a good rating for this branch of Torquil & Juree Chidwick’s small group, which they’ve created over 20 years on the promise of ‘The True Taste of Thailand’. Top Tip – competitively priced lunch and pre-theatre deal for £17.95.
2. Itaewon Korean Restaurant
Korean restaurant in Birmingham
43 - 45 Station Street - B5
Welcome to Itaewon Korean restaurant in Birmingham city centre, a celebration of all things Korean. Our menu features traditional Korean dishes and Korean BBQ, paired perfectly with hand-made cocktails. Inspired by the vibrant Itaewon district in Seoul, we invite you to experienc...
3. Loxleys
British, Traditional restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
3 Sheep St - CV37
“One of the old favourites in Stratford”, this “always reliable” two-floor establishment was previously home to a women’s clothes shop, but nowadays it makes a “great place for a pre-theatre meal (other reasons for eating there also work)” thanks to its “nice environment” and “good menu choices, including some lovely vegetarian options”.
4. Lambs
British, Modern restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
12 Sheep Street - CV37
“A popular, long-established bistro on Sheep Street close to the RSC theatre and river, located in a fabulously atmospheric Tudor building – all oak beams and ancient accoutrement” (“mind your head on the ceiling… part of the charm of an old building!”). “It’s very useful for a meal before a performance”, with “staff who are welcoming, friendly and highly efficient”; and “a good menu, including a few seasonal dishes as well as old favourites”. “We eat here regularly, about five or six times a year, and always for pre-theatre meals. We have tried other restaurants in Stratford but always return here: there’s never the slightest danger that diners will miss curtain up and the pre-theatre set menus are exceptionally good value. The first floor dining room is particularly atmospheric, being in one of the oldest buildings in Stratford. The only downside is for diners of limited mobility, who have to negotiate two flights of steep stairs in order to access the toilets”.
5. Nuthurst Grange
British, Modern restaurant in Hockley Heath
Nuthurst Grange Ln - B94
A superb privately owned country house hotel, restaurant, conference centre & wedding venue, residing in the outstanding natural beauty of the Warwickshire countryside.The AA two rosettes restaurant provides a variety of menu options from a two course lu...
6. 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...
7. Raja Monkey
Indian restaurant in Hall Green
1355 Stratford Road - B28
The original of what is now a duo of modern Indian venues (run by the Lasan Group) which now has a Harborne sibling – this attractive modern operation offers an affordable menu rooted in street-food dishes.
8. Sabai Sabai
Thai restaurant in Birmingham
25 Woodbridge Road - B13
Torquil and Juree Chidwick’s Moseley Village fixture is celebrating its twentieth year (est. 2003) and continues to inspire solid feedback for its ‘true taste of Thailand’. Over the last twelve months, they expanded further with a new Solihull outpost, complete with outside seating.
9. Black & Green
British, Modern restaurant in Barnt Green
49 Hewell Road - B45
“A very small restaurant in the small, attractive, well-heeled north Worcestershire village of Barnt Green with tables and a counter at which some diners are sat in very close proximity of the culinary action”. With just 18 seats, it’s owned by chef Andrew Sheridan, and although he recently left Brum for his native Liverpool, he continues to show an interest locally with the August 2023 acquisition of nearby coffee and brunch venue, The Garrity. At Black & Green, his team “delivers a well-balanced six-course tasting menu, often with original ingredients. Many of the dishes are brought to table by the chefs themselves”.
10. The Opposition
British, Modern restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
13 Sheep Street - CV37
“Another good restaurant close to the RSC, so good for pre-theatre eating” – “they get you served in quite a bustling environment but without drama” at this bistro “in an atmospheric building in the centre of town”. Fans (all who report) say it has a “good menu selection” which “if not always terribly exciting is ever-reliable”.
11. The Crabmill
Mediterranean restaurant in Preston Bagot
2021 Review: “Much improved by a change of owners” (the all-conquering Brunning & Price), this seventeenth century pub in “beautiful surroundings” – a hamlet “out in Warwickshire’s lush countryside” – wins applause for “upmarket pub food at a reasonable price point”, and which comes “allied to lovely service” to boot.
12. The Boot
British, Modern restaurant in Lapworth
Old Warwick Rd - B94
2022 Review: “A real gem in our local area” – this branch in the stylish, seven-strong Warwickshire-based 'Lovely Pubs' group has a lot to recommend it: “service is on the right side of friendly and very attentive”, they serve “great pub food, but restaurant quality” (including “fantastic seafood platters”), and if you stick to the main bar downstairs, there's plenty of atmosphere too.
13. The Bridge
British, Modern restaurant in Bidford On Avon
55 High Street - B50
2022 Review: On the banks of the Avon, this riverside eaterie boasts an excellent terrace overlooking a scenic Saxon bridge. It serves a modern bistro menu, with char-grilled steaks the prime attraction.
14. Cheal’s
British, Modern restaurant in Knowle
1630 High Street - B93
Stop Press – in February 2023, ex-Simpson’s head chef Matt Cheal closed down his popular Henley-in-Arden venture, which was too small for his planned expansion, and upped sticks eight miles down the road to Knowle High Street, where he now co-runs things with the manager of the Jacques fine dining restaurant which previously stood in the new location. According to early reports, “the exceptional quality of Cheal’s food, not up till now as appreciated as it ought to be, has not deteriorated in its relocation”, while the new space – a former bank with a posh cocktail bar – is “comfortable” (if “a little too glitzy” for some tastes).
15. Jyoti's Vegetarian
Indian restaurant in Birmingham
1045 Stratford Road - B28
2022 Review: With its “good home-style Indian vegetarian cuisine”, the Joshi family’s canteen and sweet centre has developed into a Hall Green institution over almost five decades. Specialising in Gujarati and south Indian cooking, it lists no fewer than 72 main dishes… none of them is priced at over £5.95.
16. Damascena
Greek restaurant in Birmingham
133 Alcester Road - B13
2022 Review: One of a quartet of Syrian cafés, serving up “authentic” Middle Eastern titbits and more – including ‘fuul’ fava beans, pastries and flatbreads – from breakfast until late. This is the first branch, opened in Moseley.
17. Chakana
Peruvian restaurant in Birmingham
140 Alcester Road - B13
“The best Peruvian restaurant in Birmingham!” – chef Robert Ortiz produces “seriously interesting food”, according to fans of this converted bank building in Moseley, where the “delicious tasting menu is very affordable”. Formerly of the Lima group in London, he has opened an offshoot in Hackney’s Broadway Market.
18. Harborne Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
175-179 High St - B17
This “busy” high performer on the Brummie dining scene “goes from strength to strength” under head chef Tom Wells, maintaining its rating after the departure of founder Jamie Desogus. Guests can sit at tables or at a counter overlooking the open kitchen, and the tasting menu “offers excellent cooking using seasonal, high-quality ingredients” – “a mixture of old favourite signature dishes and dishes new to repeat diners”. A ‘5 for £55’ set meal on weeknights and a ‘Chosen’ reduced tasting menu are also available.
19. Brockencote Hall
French restaurant in Chaddesley Corbett
2023 Review: This grand Victorian manor house hotel on a 70-acre estate offers both tasting menus and a conventional 3-course format in its elegant Chaddesley Restaurant – “have eaten there several times in the past few months and the food never disappoints”.
20. Plough
British, Modern restaurant in Birmingham
21 High Street - B17
2021 Review: Yummy brunches, fine coffee and stone-baked pizza are the top attractions at this funkily decorated pub, on the high street (which has a good garden for the summer months).
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