The Victorian Restaurant

I have walked past this little café/​restaurant situated in the Great Western Arcade hundreds of times. That’s not even an exaggeration… I love this shopping arcade, and as such tend to pop in at least a couple of times a week to have a poke around the shops and see if anything new has popped up since my last visit. Having last visited the Victorian Restaurant many years ago for a works Christmas lunch, I thought it was about time to give it another go.
A lunch date with Simone R. (on a very rainy Friday) provided the perfect opportunity to grab a bite to eat and see if my initial judgements of this venue were correct. We met up at about 1pm, which is the prime lunch period in the City Centre. I was pleased to note that it wasn’t too busy (it’s a fairly large place) and me and Simone bagged a table upstairs (by the balcony) quickly and started to have a look at the menu.
The prices here are very reasonable. We both ended up opting for a steak baguette (served with crisps and salad) which was about £5 for a generous serving. We paired this up a couple of coffee’s and the final bill (for both of us) came to around £12. The steak was freshly cooked to order and seemed of a fair quality. The baguette was warm and the sides of salad and crisps weren’t huge — but were perfectly portioned to go with the sandwich.
The coffee was a little sub par, but this was mainly due to the fact that they used UHT (rather than fresh) milk. I actually have no problem with UHT at home (at a push), it just has no place in a café/​coffee shop/​restaurant. Saying that, this place has a «greasy spoon» charm and cheekily seems to get away with it and still manage a decent 3* rating.
The service was friendly and the staff were welcoming from the get go. It’s all table service and we found that we got served fairly swiftly and didn’t wait too long for our food to arrive.
The interior is terribly twee with pictures of Queen Victoria on the wall and collectable plates everywhere, but it’s a novel experience. If you’re looking for a very reasonable sit down meal experience for a lunch or an early dinner, you can’t go far wrong with a visit to the Victorian Restaurant.

had an excellent meal there today, it is an oasis of calm in the city centre. food was tasty and staff excellent

Well, I visited the Victorian Restaurant for the first time recently, on a late Saturday afternoon. I must say I was pleasantly surprised the restaurant is quite cosy and very traditional. I thought I would try it as I’m sick to the back teeth with the likes of Starbucks and Costa, with their grossly overpriced, pre-​packed (and tasteless) sandwiches and mugs of hot milk with a hint of burned coffee beans. I ordered a tuna sandwich and a coffee, both of which were lovely. The sandwiches were made with thick doughy bread and came with a small salad garnish and crisps. The coffee was nicely filtered and came with cream. Yes, the restaurant is a ‘bit dated’ but do you know what? I loved it. No pretension or gimmicks; no trendy chairs that you have to uncomfortably perch on; surroundings where you can hear yourself think without the constant din of background noise ricocheting off featureless walls; and no BBC/​media/​Milly Molly Mandy types to get on your nerves. No, what you get is ordinary good food, china, tablecloths, and friendly, old-​fashioned waitress service. The waitress who served me was probably one of the nicest I have ever met a good old friendly Brummie welcome. They do breakfast from 7am so I will give that a go next time.

My mother and me went in here for lunch on a shopping day out. We had the set 3 course lunch with wine for £9.95 and it was lovely. The service was efficient and friendly, the food hot fresh and delicious and the surroundings very pleasant. We are intending to visit Birmingham again partly because we are assured of somewhere for a really good meal.
This restaurant is one of those lovely comfortable traditional places that one very rarely sees any more. I always loved them as a child and now I find I still do.

The Victorian Restaurant is a fairly unique dining experience in the centre of town, albeit one tucked away inside the Great Western Arcade. With a sandwich bar on the ground floor and a sit-​down dining experience upstairs, the restaurant caters for everything from quick lunches to relaxing, indulgent afternoon teas.
If you visit the Viccy restaurant during normal lunch hours, you should be prepared to wait for a while for your food. I like to go there for an occasional long lunch with my girlfriend, and while on a good day our food will arrive a half hour after we ordered it, there have been occasions when we’ve simply had to walk out because almost an hour had past and we still hadn’t had our knives and forks, let alone our drinks!
Erratic service aside, the actual quality of the food is quite good, and there’s a decent selection of hot and cold meals on offer. As you might expect, the options are fairly standard British fare, with pies, grills, sandwiches and salads. Vegetarians are well provided for, and the prices are pretty agreeable. The overall experience is quite pleasant, and it’s worth seeking out if you’re in need of a break away from a busy day of city centre shopping.