Last month, I introduced a new series to my blog called – Monthly Roundup of restaurants. I started this series to review restaurants I visit in the view of inspiration some of you to try these places, especially if you were stuck on where to go or if you wanted to try something new. I love trying new places and I understand some people just don’t want to take that risk, but I hope that by sharing my experience with you, you feel just a tad bit more comfortable with trying something new.
So last month I did all the reviews in a single post- I quickly realised this makes too long of a post plus I felt like I wasn’t doing the places justice as I was conscious of how long the post would be. I have now decided to review the places individually which will make for much better reading PLUS I can spill tea without been conscious of the word count lol( can’t be cutting stories short lol) and I don’t want one place to ‘out season’ the other (I need some food puns lol)
With that out of the way, let’s start with the first place I visited in October!
Cuisine- American
Overall- 4/5 Food- 3.5/5 Service-4/5 Ambience-5/5 Value-4/5
The month of October started with my friend and I visiting the Jazz Café for Soulful Sundays- a live set of soul, jazz music. It was amazing btw and the Atlantic Soul group (I think that’s their band name) did a good job. So with the Jazz Café, you can either get standing tickets or restaurant tickets. Restaurant tickets mean you get a table plus tickets to the show. You also have to put down a £20 deposit per person which comes off your food bill at the end. Restaurant tickets allow you to choose your seats and I think I chose the best table lol we were upstairs (the restaurant is found on the upper level) directly opposite the stage downstairs.
I really liked the ambience of the venue, it wasn’t too big, quite intimate. We were seated promptly and our waiter came to get our drink orders. Our drinks took a while (not too long) but to be fair I think he missed a few other tables as well because we could hear apologies lol. Anyway, he brought our drinks and apologised. For starters, we had the chilli squid and jerk chicken which we both loved! The chilli squid was good, a good portion and had some kick to it. Do you get squid that has too much coating? This one didn’t, it was the right amount. I liked the Jerk chicken more though; it was spicy without been drenched in jerk sauce (unlike Rum Kitchen lol read my read of them here). I think they could have added one more wing to it, we both thought the portion was on the smaller side seeing that it was £7.50. The dips with the starters were good too- mango mayo/salsa for the wings and sriracha mayo for my squid
For mains, I had the southern fried chicken with sweet potatoes fries and creamed spinach and Yazz had the beef brisket burger with bone marrow and fries. Both were ok. My chicken was well cooked but I feel lacked something. I found it slightly bland (compared to Joe Southern Kitchen’s fried chicken I had last month. Read the review here). I only had two pieces but I didn’t finish it. I finished 1 and ate a bit of the second. Yasmin said her burger was nice, but it wouldn’t be something she got again. I feel the same for my chicken too. I didn’t touch the creamed spinach, I never had creamed spinach so I’m not sure how it’s supposed to taste but I HATED it. No thanks!
We both wanted dessert but the dessert menu was extremely limited so we passed on that
Verdict- I have been waiting to go to a live music restaurant for a while and I am so happy I finally got to go to one! The Jazz Café for music is definitely a must and I hear nothing but good reviews regarding their music events- our tickets were £15 which weren’t bad. We had no issues with the bill too, £40 was taken off (£20 deposit each for restaurant tickets) and no extra charges. We paid service charged because although we had to ask for water a few times before we got it, the service was really good. We both thought the menu was really limited and would have liked to see more soul food or just more choice in general. They run out of the Ox cheek curry which my friend originally wanted. The dessert menu definitely needs more options too.
I think I would recommend this place more for the music events and drinks. Food is ok and nice just wish they had more options when it comes to mains and dessert.
Let me know if you have visited the Jazz Café, what did you think? They have a few good shows in the line-up over the next couple of months so it’s probably safe to say I will be back there. This time I would go for the standing tickets.
Watch out for more restaurant reviews! October was a busy month for me. I hope you found this review of the Jazz Café helpful and clears up any confusion you had of the place. I know I was confused as to whether you could just get tickets for a show without eating there! well, you can!
Speak soon
Sarah
Another place off my list! Btw, we saw this
sarah fynn 