The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands*

Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• For the best fish and chips in Sutton head to the Wylde Green chippy by the Yenton - sometimes they give away free lemonade too!
• Mother India Boldmere Road Sutton Coldfield
• The New Oscott Fish Bar. The best chip shop/pizza shop/take away/ delivery in the whole of Sutton! Try for yourself I can highly recommend.321 3412.
• Oriel in Mere Green has changed hands and is now called Pier 39. Crown has been revamped - boring chain pub now - no Tandoori any more
• some excellent currys hidden away the best of which is opposite the fire station but not the one on the main road its behind it the one on the main road is minging!
• One of the best restaurants in the area if your after a curry is definately The Bengal Garden,Gate Lane,Boldmere. Friendly and always open late. The jacket potato stand outside Beatties in the gracechurch- QUALITY!!!!!!
• Danny House is now The Dragon Garden and does an excellent all you can eat Buffet. Great for the kids too. Staff complained because we were only there an hour!
• ASK restaurant is situated over the road from Yates- the food is delicious but more importantly, the service is out of this world. The waitresses are friendly and efficient and the atmosphere is great any night of the week. They don't take bookings for tables of over 10 people so you may have to wait, but it won't be long and there's a nice waiting area that you can sit and have a drink in!!!!
• Mostly Indian takeaways, and very good they are too
• Sonargaw. I implore you to visit this fine establishment, where you will be welcomed by one "Abul"... an After Eight mint awaits your custom. Chicken Dupiaza and fried rice is a good bet!
• COME TO THE HORSE AND JOCKEY - HAIL EMBER!
• Oriel, Mere Green, the new face of Casa Tino's, Ok, but could improve the portions and ONE DIRE WARNING : don't even think of going there with a child - not even at lunchtime when the place is otherwise empty. Their policy is strictly adults only and no flexibility even if you have been there before (and to the other restaurants that the owners and managers have had in the past). RULES is RULES.
• Just on from Mere Green past the Highwayman is the Indian Restaraunt The Lodge, best curries I have every eaten. No drinks licence, but you can take your own that is when you can get a table because its so popular. They will deliver to your home.
• The smell of cheap burger fat in Sutton! Oooh I'm drooling at the prospect of purchasing a broiled offal burger from the newly established 'food' kiosk outside Boots. The smell's enough to make a cannibal wince!
• Sainsbury's, both in Mere Green and Sutton centre
• Noble House Cantonese Restaurant is amazing, especially the Crispy Duck. Not for the financially challenged.
• Angelo's in Wylde Green - best Italian
• Great Place to eat in Sutton Coldfield is La Reserve in Sutton Park, We ate there 5/98 wonderful food and plenty of it.
• Good restaurants - almost non existent. Try Casa Tinos - Mere Green or Boat House in the Park.
• The Crown Pub has a decent Tandori inside it (Bombay Potatoes is a recomended starter, the Chicken Vindaloo is good, as is the pilau rice. The balti is not so good) plus a south American restaurant and a steak house (yuk).
• Danny House Cantonese in Boldmere is excellent despite the modest exterior. If you like hot food, try their stuffed green chilli in black bean sauce - a rare delight.

Pubs

• The entry for the Three Tuns, Sutton Coldfield is very out of date! It hasn't been a Firkin pub since .... can't remember when, it's that long ago - at least seven years. It's now run by Thwaites, has been completely refurbished, and is run by a grand chap name of Rick. It's very popular all week, and opens until midnight (or 1am Fri and Sat nights); also does food but I haven't sampled it, so can't comment.
• The Station.....dont go the landlord is a prat.
• AVOID O'Neils. The bar staff are obnoxious and rude. Went to buy a bottle of WATER for my partner, she's twenty-four, and got refused, said she looked too young (she doesn't). Barman wouldn't even look me in the face as he was too busy watching the football!
• Contrary to the existing statement, The Crown Pub no longer has "a decent Tandori inside it ...plus a south American restaurant and a steak house." This is because it now (unfortunately?) belongs to that almighty chain known as Ember Inn!!
• The Duke is a cool pub if you like the old style pubs - no music and a snug in the back! The Wylde Green is good for a cheap meal and they are the only pub in Sutton owned by Hardys & Hansons, good for families too.
• Fox and dogs 0/10, its bar is crap, the pool table has gone, the TV has gone and its ever decreasing size due to the restaurant enlarging in, the best new year party was the millennium it was superb £5 in drinks were the same price huge buffet, dj, a fantastic night, the year after not even a Christmas decoration in site what a letdown, the food's nothing to shout about but who could complain for buy 1 get 1 free
• Bishop Vesey Boldmere Road Sutton Coldfield A Wetherspoons pub.
• There's HaHa!Bar, Bottle of Sack, and a few other pubs around the roundabout by Allders... If you don't get into one, there's always forty others to try! Seriously, too many places to get alcohol! Bottle of Sack has nice toilets though.
• Beggars Bush. Parson & Clark.Both v. good places for all! Offers galore at the Bush..
• I'm new to the area (I promise I don't wear Rockport/fake Burberry etc!, and I'm not a snob either), so haven't managed to visit everywhere yet, but I've been in The Lounge in Mere Green on a Friday (packed, seemed to be nice people in there), and had lunch in The Union on a Saturday (empty, but nice food & coffee).
• THE CUP is wicked, as is ROSIES on thursday nights!
• The Pint pot has changed hands at last! It no longer feels like your auntie's front room,but a real boozer. Only problem now is it doesn't have a pool team.
• bottle of sack for cheap beer, some snobs look at you as if your riffraff or think your a nazi because you have a shaved head(if there so posh why dont they go somewhere a bit more posh
• Pint pot-Thank god they got rid of that pretentious woman who owned it! The new people really seem to know what there doing.It's now like a pub, not snobby cows front room.
• Suggest you try and come back some time or review a little more often the station is an un-branded totallt un-themed pub a bit of a breath of fresh air really in the high street as most places are lost trying to carve out "an identity " for them selves been drinking there for the last four years . Great food fantastic atmosphere have never seen any trouble at all so your possible fights clearly dates back quite a few years .
• Bottle of Sack, it's cheap, nice atmosphere, nice staff. Good for getting merry then going to Rosie's!!
• O'Neills at the weekend is the best place to be - it has a buzzing crowd and is filled with a variety of people - this may not always be a good thing. The service seems slow (as mentioned above) but this is because the bar staff are so busy. They are all gorgeous so it doesn't matter too much.
• Bar Med in Mere Green is now Slug and Lettuce
• THE BIGGEST AND MOST BORING DUMP IN THE WHOLE WORLD has to be O'neills, Gracechurch centre. If you manage to get passed the neanderthals on the door (collective I.Q. nil) you are greeted by the customers (collective I.Q. NIL) and the staff (females all fat and ugly, males all nerds, first class with honours.) Dont buy a drink unless you know where to get a quick mortgage. Most importantly, be aware of where the exit is. 5 minutes in this godforsaken hole and you'll need it!
• Yates, O'neils and the station are the best places to go. For an older crowd, try the bitter end and the case is altered.
• The Crown in Four Oaks no longer has an Indian Restaurant.
• Best pub is the Reddicap. t still has that smell and feel about it, like it's your first time in a pub
• The Case is Altered, is useless most of the year, EXCEPT for the World cup, when a bloke and a girl who are mates turn up with drums and make the drunken atmosphere better than actually being at the game itself!!
• Hemingways in Mere Green. Great place to go because you are always bound to meet someone you know! It's a bit expensive but a good atmosphere in there!
• Tuns, nothing to worry about and plenty of sauce.
• the cup if your scutty, the station if you're REALLY bored, the horse and jockey if you're cool
• I would like to think that your column should be updated on a regular basis and as the deputy general manager of the fox and dogs i would like to think that the quality of service and food has changed dramatically for the better.Please feel free to try for yourselves and let us know your comments.thanks Mark Willis
• Three Tuns
• Well they are going for the record THE FOX AND DOGS have put their prices up yet again!!! 3 time in 12 months. The pubs complete rubbish, the food is dire.
• I was also an ex-pupil at Bishop Vesey's, so main drinking holes, the Three Tuns (why oh why is this now a Firkin? The Gate! such an excellent pub, gutted to see that gone when I returned a few years ago. Found most of the bullying at BVGS came from the teachers, a certain Mr. Gamble springs to mind, along with getting less than the monkey score in Barrel's music test and being to to spend the rest of the year at the back of the class and not touch anything, at least i didn't do the homework. And does anyone remember the marvel that was Mr Gilman? and those tweed jackets.
• Bar Med - the new place in Mere Green - has a certain ambiance that's refreshingly different to the other pubs/bars around. And on the subject of the Halfway House, the manager had a fight with my girlfriend for sitting down whilst she played on the fruit machine. I'd also avoid the place and I will write to the brewery now I come to see that other people have had problems with the guy concerned.
• Fox and Dogs Mere Green refurb update. Well they have put in a pool table at one end and there is a large screen at the other, so its lost much of that local feel. The now seperate restaruant, is still serving the same old 0/10 food. They have put the beer prices up, again, for the second time in a few months, first price rise was about 20%, this one is around 5%. Got to be one of the most expensive pubs in Four Oaks. There is also something at the front that looks like a sheep pen, but it is said to be a patio splitting the old car parks and forcing an exit on to a very sharp bend (accident waiting to happen here!). Bar Med has happy hour Fridays 5-7pm, when all draught and bottle beers are £1.50, but usually a long wait at the bar as staff seem thin on the ground during this period.
• The Royal, Sutton Park, O'neils
• New Bar Med in Mere Green. Hemingways do not have a live band Sunday afternoon. The Fox and Dogs Mere Green reopens after refurbishment 27th May 00, hope the food has improved 0/10 for the menu. Agree about the HALFWAY HOUSE, the manager asked a friend of mine to remove his hat (baseball cap worn the correct way as he is balding and a bit embarrassed by it)as it was not allowed!
• Pubs well, the all new Yates is in town, - replacement for the over priced and dull Cafe Rouge, it has been a good addition to the town pulling in even more people making the place livelier, its quite good all week, thursdays you'll be crushed, and be waiting for a pint for around an hour!, O'neils is a good hapening place on a thursday with the added bonus of being open till one, with a good mix of age and great atmosphere! All can say is what has happened to the Station, a remarkable pub, that has never been the same one that use to grab the crownds from miles around, it would be a pleasure to see it back in its old form!
• The Station - scene of many a youthful experience. Went back the other week and although changed, still a good atmosphere.
• The Station and The Tuns in the late eighties. But then we were all v.young then!!
• It looks as though the Station pub is about to take its last breath. This is a crying shame, because what once was one of the busiest pubs in Birmingham, is now going to become yet another soul-less theme pub catering for the lowest common denominator. This is all due to bad management over the last few years, but it still doesn't warrant a complete facelift, name change & loss of character.
• Park House hotel top entertainment on a Wednesday for the pub quiz and the beers always good
• AVOID THE HALFWAY HOUSE AT ALL COSTS. The manager has banned over 30 regulars in one year, for example, someone got banned for SINGING TO THE MUSIC TAPE. Boycott this place. And complain to the brewery as well.
• a few.. Station, horse and jockey, bishop vesey, sutton park, that one in the park, o'neils (irsh pub cool) rosies bar,
• Station now has a 'reputation', needs a face lift, rumours of fights
• I've been away for ten years and the Three Tuns turns into a Firkin!!! The Station remains pretty much the same, but now has the effect of making me feel very old!
• The HighwayMan Pub, located on the outskirts of the Sutton area. This pub has a pool table, T.V., restaurant and playground. It is also a popular spot for the Legendary Roy Wood. Joining in the Tuesday Curry and Quiz Night is a must, as the Quiz Master is a living gnome!
• The Crown, The Four Oaks, Pat O'Connels, Blake Barn (for nice lunches).
• For good pub grub try the White Lion on Hill Village Road in Mere Green. I was there a couple of weeks ago and had a smashing veg balti.
• Plough & Harrow - Slade Road (Mere Green)
• Firkin
• The Station is an excellent pub, with live music and great atmosphere.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Aarrgh Starbucks is taking over the world - otherwise, head to Beatties Coffee shop in the Gracechurch Centre.
• Starbucks has comfy chairs up top at back, and computers, cosy cubby holes. Sneak in some snacks from Gregg's though, in order to avoid paying £1.60 for one of their dry muffins.
• Tesco cafe at the Beggars Bush
• Starbucks- it's clean, good service but quite pricey. Costa's do a good hot chocolate but it's not the most hygenic of places!!!!!!
• that christian bus outside bhs will give you a free cup of tea if you draw them a picture of a clown and say you're cold.
• Hindley's bakers also has a little cafe attached. Sink your teeth into "Beans sur Toast" or a nic "Pie au Pork".
• starbucks - nice, however dont have sex in the toilets. i know a couple who where caught and cautioned by the police Costa - used to be v nice but now its gone down hill. smells of smoke and shit is often left in the bogs
• Druckers, Costas, Bhs
• All hail the spaceship that is Cafe Rouge! Has anyone else been abducted? (Anyone noticed the distinct similarity between said restaurant a Star Trek-esque mothership. Forget Roswell!)

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Last updated: 2007-11-11