The Walnut Club - Review

[Astraeus]

Date reviewed: 17 April 2010

 

WE came to The Walnut Club on Ecclesall Road with high hopes. It had been booked for a party of twelve as a means of sending off one of the group as she moved abroad. I’d heard good things about the restaurant in Hathersage and the only criticism I’d heard directed towards the Ecclesall Road restaurant concerned its rather ‘stuffy’ atmosphere.

 

The first indications were positive. After being walked upstairs, we were seated in an almost private booth to the right of the entrance. The room is spacious and has a very modern feel to it with colour-changing lights and very clean lines throughout. This was early Saturday evening, at about 7pm, and the venue was already hosting a good crowd of fashionistas and suited-up gentlemen.

 

Upon closer inspection, the tables at which we were seated seemed tacky. The ice tray in the centre of the table wobbled and the tables appeared little more than acrylic tops with some badly-sanded edges on them. It isn’t a major gripe, but possibly undermines The Walnut Club’s status as one of the city’s most ‘scene’ eateries – it could do with a little more glamour.

 

When it came to ordering food, the group was split across two tables and so I can only pass comment on what the thoughts of six of the group were towards the meal. There wasn’t much variety selected by the group with three people opting for the beef salad and three opting, on my recommendation having read positive things about it, the Tandoori seabass.

 

Just before the starters arrived, the lights were dimmed and changed colour to a bluey/purple hue. The decrease in brightness was noticeable and wasn’t particularly conducive to a restaurant – far more suited to a bar atmosphere.

 

The starters arrived and looked well-presented. The seabass was quite boney, as was to be expected, and we had all dealt with similar dishes before. However, taking the bones out of the fish was made nigh on impossible because the lighting was so dim and such a peculiar colour. All three of us ended up chewing a dozen bones and ending up with a decapitated fish on the plate as a result of desperately trying to salvage whatever flesh we could. Whilstever the restaurant is still serving food, the lighting should be far more appropriate for eating. This wasn’t the case.

 

The dish itself is something of a misdirection. Yes, there is Tandoori spice on the skin of the fish but, beyond eating the skin, there is no discernable flavour to the fish. It was well-cooked but it was ultimately very, very bland indeed and should not be sold as a Tandoori seabass. As a big fan of seabass, I was partial to the taste. Others, expecting something spicier, were very disappointed.

 

Those who opted for the beef salad were unhappy. Their main criticism was that the beef wasn’t very apparent on their plate and what was there was chewy and not cooked particularly well. Once the waitress arrived to collect the plates, those which had on them the beef salad remained half-eaten.

 

The main course did not arrive until sometime after. Approximately 50 minutes had passed since finishing our starters before the dishes were in front of us. On the table of six there were two fish and chip dishes, three beef burgers and one belly pork. The latter was the only customer on the table who went away without a complaint, but she too refused to rave about the meal – especially in light of the hefty £14.50 price tag attributed to the belly pork.

 

Both of us who ate the fish and chips passed the same comment – nice but nothing you couldn’t buy at Abbey Friar; for £10 less and for a far more substantial piece of fish than the placemat-sized piece on offer here. The fish tasted absolutely the same as it would from a standard ‘chippy’ and by no means warranted the £10 charged for it.

 

Similar criticism met the beef burger. Word such as ‘homemade’ seem to add a prestige to these foods which just aren’t deserved. It tasted exactly the same as that which was available for, once again, a fraction of the price at pubs up and down the land and there was nothing there to merit paying the extra price. All in all, no-one came away singing the praises of The Walnut Club and, of the twelve diners, many were actively unimpressed with the food they had received.

 

When you’re paying upwards of £20 a head for two courses, you are entitled to expect something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for The Walnut Club, they proved here that they were unable to deliver anything of the sort. Plain, unflavoured seabass marketed as ‘Tandoori’, uninspired and small servings of battered fish, badly-cooked beef and pub-standard beef burgers were all the order of the day.

 

The fact that on a Saturday night this is predominantly a bar was brought home to us when the live band started. They were so loud as to render conversation impossible – we were shouting at each other across the table whilst eating our food. Again, The Walnut Club needs to decide if it is a bar or a restaurant – in trying to deliver both, it certainly fails at achieving the latter. Not only was the musical accompaniment overly loud, it was also interrupted on two occasions by a boozed-up punter taking to the microphone and shouting at the punters. Why this particular individual was permitted to do this twice – and still remain in the venue – is quite beyond me.

 

The serving staff cannot be faulted. The young girl who attended to our table was polite, humorous and chirpy. However, fault must lie with some staff for permitting the aforementioned punter the time he so craved on the stage. If they are to take this place seriously as a detraction from the standard boozy Saturday night on offer in Sheffield, these are the sorts of people who must be dealt with. They weren’t.

 

The Walnut Club ended up coming across as a stuffy venue for what one of the party quite accurately referred to as “50 pence millionaires”. Yes, it’s a place to be seen. Yes, it’s a place to flash your cash. But no, it’s not a place to eat. Save yourself the ridiculous uplift on prices and grab some decent pub-grub before heading to The Walnut Club for drinks if you feel the need to sample this lesson in pretentiousness.

 

At around £22 per head excluding drinks, there are far less expensive, far more memorable dining experiences to be had in Sheffield and even on Ecclesall Road.

 

Food: (2/5)

Service: (3/5)

Value: (2/5)

OVERALL: (2/5)

[Jonny5]

The fact that on a Saturday night this is predominantly a bar was brought home to us when the live band started.

That on its own would be enough to merit a 1 star review from me.

[itboy]

I can only echo your excellent review. I too was dissapointed with the walnut club. And the term '50 pence millionaires' hit the nail on the head. Mind you isnt most of ecclesall road pretentious?!

[DiamondLil8]

I have to disagree with you about the service - I ordered a bottle of champagne as a treat for myself and my two friends. The waitress had no idea of how to open it and ended up spraying about a third of the bottle all over herself. She had absolutely no clue how to serve it, and offered no refund. The food is nothing special either. Nice decor though!

[ab6262]

ten bob millionaires just about sums the place up!

[tailgunner]

Date reviewed: 17 April 2010

 

WE came to The Walnut Club on Ecclesall Road with high hopes. It had been booked for a party of twelve as a means of sending off one of the group as she moved abroad. I’d heard good things about the restaurant in Hathersage and the only criticism I’d heard directed towards the Ecclesall Road restaurant concerned its rather ‘stuffy’ atmosphere.

 

The first indications were positive. After being walked upstairs, we were seated in an almost private booth to the right of the entrance. The room is spacious and has a very modern feel to it with colour-changing lights and very clean lines throughout. This was early Saturday evening, at about 7pm, and the venue was already hosting a good crowd of fashionistas and suited-up gentlemen.

 

Upon closer inspection, the tables at which we were seated seemed tacky. The ice tray in the centre of the table wobbled and the tables appeared little more than acrylic tops with some badly-sanded edges on them. It isn’t a major gripe, but possibly undermines The Walnut Club’s status as one of the city’s most ‘scene’ eateries – it could do with a little more glamour.

 

When it came to ordering food, the group was split across two tables and so I can only pass comment on what the thoughts of six of the group were towards the meal. There wasn’t much variety selected by the group with three people opting for the beef salad and three opting, on my recommendation having read positive things about it, the Tandoori seabass.

 

Just before the starters arrived, the lights were dimmed and changed colour to a bluey/purple hue. The decrease in brightness was noticeable and wasn’t particularly conducive to a restaurant – far more suited to a bar atmosphere.

 

The starters arrived and looked well-presented. The seabass was quite boney, as was to be expected, and we had all dealt with similar dishes before. However, taking the bones out of the fish was made nigh on impossible because the lighting was so dim and such a peculiar colour. All three of us ended up chewing a dozen bones and ending up with a decapitated fish on the plate as a result of desperately trying to salvage whatever flesh we could. Whilstever the restaurant is still serving food, the lighting should be far more appropriate for eating. This wasn’t the case.

 

The dish itself is something of a misdirection. Yes, there is Tandoori spice on the skin of the fish but, beyond eating the skin, there is no discernable flavour to the fish. It was well-cooked but it was ultimately very, very bland indeed and should not be sold as a Tandoori seabass. As a big fan of seabass, I was partial to the taste. Others, expecting something spicier, were very disappointed.

 

Those who opted for the beef salad were unhappy. Their main criticism was that the beef wasn’t very apparent on their plate and what was there was chewy and not cooked particularly well. Once the waitress arrived to collect the plates, those which had on them the beef salad remained half-eaten.

 

The main course did not arrive until sometime after. Approximately 50 minutes had passed since finishing our starters before the dishes were in front of us. On the table of six there were two fish and chip dishes, three beef burgers and one belly pork. The latter was the only customer on the table who went away without a complaint, but she too refused to rave about the meal – especially in light of the hefty £14.50 price tag attributed to the belly pork.

 

Both of us who ate the fish and chips passed the same comment – nice but nothing you couldn’t buy at Abbey Friar; for £10 less and for a far more substantial piece of fish than the placemat-sized piece on offer here. The fish tasted absolutely the same as it would from a standard ‘chippy’ and by no means warranted the £10 charged for it.

 

Similar criticism met the beef burger. Word such as ‘homemade’ seem to add a prestige to these foods which just aren’t deserved. It tasted exactly the same as that which was available for, once again, a fraction of the price at pubs up and down the land and there was nothing there to merit paying the extra price. All in all, no-one came away singing the praises of The Walnut Club and, of the twelve diners, many were actively unimpressed with the food they had received.

 

When you’re paying upwards of £20 a head for two courses, you are entitled to expect something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for The Walnut Club, they proved here that they were unable to deliver anything of the sort. Plain, unflavoured seabass marketed as ‘Tandoori’, uninspired and small servings of battered fish, badly-cooked beef and pub-standard beef burgers were all the order of the day.

 

The fact that on a Saturday night this is predominantly a bar was brought home to us when the live band started. They were so loud as to render conversation impossible – we were shouting at each other across the table whilst eating our food. Again, The Walnut Club needs to decide if it is a bar or a restaurant – in trying to deliver both, it certainly fails at achieving the latter. Not only was the musical accompaniment overly loud, it was also interrupted on two occasions by a boozed-up punter taking to the microphone and shouting at the punters. Why this particular individual was permitted to do this twice – and still remain in the venue – is quite beyond me.

 

The serving staff cannot be faulted. The young girl who attended to our table was polite, humorous and chirpy. However, fault must lie with some staff for permitting the aforementioned punter the time he so craved on the stage. If they are to take this place seriously as a detraction from the standard boozy Saturday night on offer in Sheffield, these are the sorts of people who must be dealt with. They weren’t.

 

The Walnut Club ended up coming across as a stuffy venue for what one of the party quite accurately referred to as “50 pence millionaires”. Yes, it’s a place to be seen. Yes, it’s a place to flash your cash. But no, it’s not a place to eat. Save yourself the ridiculous uplift on prices and grab some decent pub-grub before heading to The Walnut Club for drinks if you feel the need to sample this lesson in pretentiousness.

 

At around £22 per head excluding drinks, there are far less expensive, far more memorable dining experiences to be had in Sheffield and even on Ecclesall Road.

 

Food: (2/5)

Service: (3/5)

Value: (2/5)

OVERALL: (2/5)

 

if you were all unhappy with the food why did you not say so at the time.

everybody seem to jump on the band waggon with this place.

its a small kitchen and every body in the world wants to eat all at 8/8.30and sometimes you have to wait for food.

 

the seabass is whole and if you wanted it filleted or head off etc then we would have done so, the beef is CRISPY beef salad, again matter of prefrance.

 

i think most people in sheffield would be happy to see this place close.

[Claret]

Date reviewed: 17 April 2010

 

WE came to The Walnut Club on Ecclesall Road with high hopes. It had been booked for a party of twelve as a means of sending off one of the group as she moved abroad. I’d heard good things about the restaurant in Hathersage and the only criticism I’d heard directed towards the Ecclesall Road restaurant concerned its rather ‘stuffy’ atmosphere.

 

The first indications were positive. After being walked upstairs, we were seated in an almost private booth to the right of the entrance. The room is spacious and has a very modern feel to it with colour-changing lights and very clean lines throughout. This was early Saturday evening, at about 7pm, and the venue was already hosting a good crowd of fashionistas and suited-up gentlemen.

 

Upon closer inspection, the tables at which we were seated seemed tacky. The ice tray in the centre of the table wobbled and the tables appeared little more than acrylic tops with some badly-sanded edges on them. It isn’t a major gripe, but possibly undermines The Walnut Club’s status as one of the city’s most ‘scene’ eateries – it could do with a little more glamour.

 

When it came to ordering food, the group was split across two tables and so I can only pass comment on what the thoughts of six of the group were towards the meal. There wasn’t much variety selected by the group with three people opting for the beef salad and three opting, on my recommendation having read positive things about it, the Tandoori seabass.

 

Just before the starters arrived, the lights were dimmed and changed colour to a bluey/purple hue. The decrease in brightness was noticeable and wasn’t particularly conducive to a restaurant – far more suited to a bar atmosphere.

 

The starters arrived and looked well-presented. The seabass was quite boney, as was to be expected, and we had all dealt with similar dishes before. However, taking the bones out of the fish was made nigh on impossible because the lighting was so dim and such a peculiar colour. All three of us ended up chewing a dozen bones and ending up with a decapitated fish on the plate as a result of desperately trying to salvage whatever flesh we could. Whilstever the restaurant is still serving food, the lighting should be far more appropriate for eating. This wasn’t the case.

 

The dish itself is something of a misdirection. Yes, there is Tandoori spice on the skin of the fish but, beyond eating the skin, there is no discernable flavour to the fish. It was well-cooked but it was ultimately very, very bland indeed and should not be sold as a Tandoori seabass. As a big fan of seabass, I was partial to the taste. Others, expecting something spicier, were very disappointed.

 

Those who opted for the beef salad were unhappy. Their main criticism was that the beef wasn’t very apparent on their plate and what was there was chewy and not cooked particularly well. Once the waitress arrived to collect the plates, those which had on them the beef salad remained half-eaten.

 

The main course did not arrive until sometime after. Approximately 50 minutes had passed since finishing our starters before the dishes were in front of us. On the table of six there were two fish and chip dishes, three beef burgers and one belly pork. The latter was the only customer on the table who went away without a complaint, but she too refused to rave about the meal – especially in light of the hefty £14.50 price tag attributed to the belly pork.

 

Both of us who ate the fish and chips passed the same comment – nice but nothing you couldn’t buy at Abbey Friar; for £10 less and for a far more substantial piece of fish than the placemat-sized piece on offer here. The fish tasted absolutely the same as it would from a standard ‘chippy’ and by no means warranted the £10 charged for it.

 

Similar criticism met the beef burger. Word such as ‘homemade’ seem to add a prestige to these foods which just aren’t deserved. It tasted exactly the same as that which was available for, once again, a fraction of the price at pubs up and down the land and there was nothing there to merit paying the extra price. All in all, no-one came away singing the praises of The Walnut Club and, of the twelve diners, many were actively unimpressed with the food they had received.

 

When you’re paying upwards of £20 a head for two courses, you are entitled to expect something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for The Walnut Club, they proved here that they were unable to deliver anything of the sort. Plain, unflavoured seabass marketed as ‘Tandoori’, uninspired and small servings of battered fish, badly-cooked beef and pub-standard beef burgers were all the order of the day.

 

The fact that on a Saturday night this is predominantly a bar was brought home to us when the live band started. They were so loud as to render conversation impossible – we were shouting at each other across the table whilst eating our food. Again, The Walnut Club needs to decide if it is a bar or a restaurant – in trying to deliver both, it certainly fails at achieving the latter. Not only was the musical accompaniment overly loud, it was also interrupted on two occasions by a boozed-up punter taking to the microphone and shouting at the punters. Why this particular individual was permitted to do this twice – and still remain in the venue – is quite beyond me.

 

The serving staff cannot be faulted. The young girl who attended to our table was polite, humorous and chirpy. However, fault must lie with some staff for permitting the aforementioned punter the time he so craved on the stage. If they are to take this place seriously as a detraction from the standard boozy Saturday night on offer in Sheffield, these are the sorts of people who must be dealt with. They weren’t.

 

The Walnut Club ended up coming across as a stuffy venue for what one of the party quite accurately referred to as “50 pence millionaires”. Yes, it’s a place to be seen. Yes, it’s a place to flash your cash. But no, it’s not a place to eat. Save yourself the ridiculous uplift on prices and grab some decent pub-grub before heading to The Walnut Club for drinks if you feel the need to sample this lesson in pretentiousness.

 

At around £22 per head excluding drinks, there are far less expensive, far more memorable dining experiences to be had in Sheffield and even on Ecclesall Road.

 

Food: (2/5)

Service: (3/5)

Value: (2/5)

OVERALL: (2/5)

 

Very similar comments to those given earlier by me and Peejam.

 

After all the comments about the Tandoori seabass you'd have thought that the dish would have improved. For Gawd's sake, we're quite capable of handling a little spice! If you're describing a dish as tandoori then the dish needs to live up to that description. Not hard is it?

 

Disappointing that the same mistakes are still being made - the seabass and the loud bands playing whilst people are eating. If this place isn't prepared to take on helpful constructive criticism then you do wonder if they do deserve your business!

[old bloke]

i love these reviews it show how everyone is a pro. the bass was met with alot of praise last weekend so it has improved as far as a burger not blowing you away ha ha whaT DO YOU WANT ITS A ****ING BURGER. And if abbey frier are now seating people in a nice warm enviroment with fish on clean plates with table service then i will be going there for dinner. yet again people reviewing and not thinking of what to compaire to thats like buying a bloody fiesta and saying its not as good as my roller.

[Claret]

i love these reviews it show how everyone is a pro. the bass was met with alot of praise last weekend so it has improved as far as a burger not blowing you away ha ha whaT DO YOU WANT ITS A ****ING BURGER. And if abbey frier are now seating people in a nice warm enviroment with fish on clean plates with table service then i will be going there for dinner. yet again people reviewing and not thinking of what to compaire to thats like buying a bloody fiesta and saying its not as good as my roller.

 

Oh my lord! Nice one Old Bloke - think you'll have won a few customers with that post!!!!

[Astraeus]

i love these reviews it show how everyone is a pro. the bass was met with alot of praise last weekend so it has improved as far as a burger not blowing you away ha ha whaT DO YOU WANT ITS A ****ING BURGER. And if abbey frier are now seating people in a nice warm enviroment with fish on clean plates with table service then i will be going there for dinner. yet again people reviewing and not thinking of what to compaire to thats like buying a bloody fiesta and saying its not as good as my roller.

 

If it's "just a ****ing burger", why charge £10 for it?

 

As for not knowing what to compare it to, I think I made a very fair comparison with what to expect when you're paying £20 for a two-course meal. As was, it wasn't up-to-scratch for its price bracket. In future, should I want a fish meal, I'll get the takeaway and sit in my nice, warm house which, incidentally, doesn't have garish lighting in the dining room, nor does it have a stuffy atmosphere.

 

You mention the positive reviews the seabass received this past weekend. Why are you so happy to take on board these reviews whilst, at the same time damning my review with your "everyone's a pro" comment. You ought to be able to take the rough with the smooth and, rather than rubbishing people's opinion of your restaurant, work on improving it to fend off further criticism.

 

if you were all unhappy with the food why did you not say so at the time.

everybody seem to jump on the band waggon with this place.

its a small kitchen and every body in the world wants to eat all at 8/8.30and sometimes you have to wait for food.

 

the seabass is whole and if you wanted it filleted or head off etc then we would have done so, the beef is CRISPY beef salad, again matter of prefrance.

 

i think most people in sheffield would be happy to see this place close.

 

Firstly, I wish the restaurant every success - as I would any independent eatery in the city. I am perfectly adept at filleting fish myself - my complaint was not that it didn't come filleted but rather that the lighting made doing so very difficult indeed. In hindsight, I would have done better to send it back to have the kitchen staff do it for me.

 

The excuse for the long wait is inadequate. A kitchen should be able to handle preparing meals for the maximum number of covers available in the restaurant. As was, there were not many groups eating and they still struggled to put the food out in under an hour between course. Furthermore, we were eating prior to 8/8.30. Inexcusable.

 

The crispy beef salad is, of course, a matter of preference. And it was that those who chose it did not like it. I am not preventing someone from posting a glowing review of it if they liked it.

 

I'm generally not one to follow-up defending my reviews but your responses were so petulant that I felt it necessary to do so. Take on board the criticisms, don't just defend them.