Smiths Restaurant

Last night I enjoyed a meal at Smiths to celebrate my cousin’s birthday. I had read about the restaurant and was surprised that there was a decent looking restaurant in downtown Eccles. After walking past one or two seedy pubs, I arrived at Smiths and was warmly welcomed by the staff.
The menu selection is good with an interesting range of dishes to choose from. Lots caught my eye and the waitress was kind enough to help me with my final decision of a mushroom and spinach cobbler for my main meal. It was simple and wholesome with great flavours and not too big a portion. We were given potatoes, sautéed cabbage and mashed carrots to share for the table and the food was generally well prepared and tasty.
While everyone else chose to have an entrée, my sweet tooth led me to have the Eccles cake (when in Eccles) which was served warm with a large scoop of butter scotch ice cream. It was satisfying and comforting as all good british desserts should be.
The wine selection was surprisingly good too with a wide range to choose from and well priced. We were the last table to leave and didn’t feel like we were being forced out the door as the staff were very hospitable and welcoming.

A-​OK. It’s self explanatory from the 3 star rating.
I’ve been going here for the past 15 years bi-​yearly for birthdays/​anniversaries/​family get togethers and I’ve never had any complaints.
The service is always fantastic, you can’t rate against it. When your plates or glasses are empty, there is always someone nearby, walking around the restaurant, to take them away /​get you a refill. If you need something extra (such as a surprise birthday cake bringing out) they’re very efficient and will even provide you with candles!
The only reason I don’t rate it 4*‘s is probably because I always go there. The food isn’t anything special per se but it’s always been nice to eat but nothing overly special. The ingredients are never cheap and the ice cream is the NICE stuff but I can’t really say anything other than… nice.

Let me first say I have never come here by my own choice it has always been someone else’s for either birthdays, anniversaries etc. So excuse me if this a little biased, Gota say the food choice is pretty limited with about 4 or 5 set meals on the menu and 3 of them featuring seafood which I’m not a fan of. The service is prompt and courteous although they don’t seem to have a uniform so its hard spot a waiter when you want one. There is no dress code enforced obvious by the tracksuit wearing morons that I see frequently in there. The food itself is ok nothing to write home about but Ive had a few meals there and all were underwhelming to average. Frankly I think my girlfriends cooking is stars above here. I hope this is the last time I have to visit this place but I have a feeling it won’t be. If you want average food but friendly nice people and your stuck in Eccles with no way of getting to manchester then yea come here. Its not like the Trafford Centre is close by is it?

This is a great place, tucked away in the depths of Eccles town centre. Although it’s not terribly well known, I think it has a bit of a cult following. The food is fantastic (they do fabulous casseroles) and very reasonably priced, particularly if you go for lunch (Thursdays and Fridays 12 — 2pm, starter and main course £9.75) or early evening (every evening until 6.30pm: starter and main course from the fixed price menu or main and pudding £11.50). The fixed price menu always has lots of choice and is very varied. Meals come with choice of potatoes and vegetable, although if you like your veg, I’d advise you to order extra as you don’t get many.
Desserts are always excellent, although I’m yet to try their speciality of Eccles cakes and custard.
One point of warning though — check on the website that you won’t get disrupted by live jazz during your meal — they are quite prone to it of an evening.