Death Row Dive n Diner

Once you have found the eatery which is neatly tucked in a nook of Hope street, you are greeted with friendly staff in a neon red underground room. The general feel of the joint is a prison inspired mess hall, with stylised art on the walls.
I had the beef brisket starter which was everything you could want from beef brisket, tender, tasty and in bite sized chunks. Definitely the best brisket in town.
The burgers were all of the same calibre but I had the pulled pork version. The patties were cooked quite well and the beef was high quality, better than most places. The pulled pork was tender and flavoursome. It was served on a brioche bun, which is a standard now and some salad accompaniments. The burger was great, not too heavy on sauce which is a downfall of other burger places in Liverpool.
As a side I had the chicken gravy chips, these were skin on fries with proper chicken gravy your mother would make. Perfection.
Overall it was a great experience, thoroughly enjoyed it, the serving staff seemed a tad disinterested but the food more than made up for it. They also serve a good selection of craft ales and other nice drinks.
Definitely go there if you can, you’ll spend approx £20 for your meal if you get a drink too. Don’t get put off by other reviews going on about last meals, they don’t do that any more.

Lovers of both Yardbird and Motel — and generally huge fans of everything meat — we knew we had to book in to Death Row Diner on our recent anniversary weekend in Liverpool. Booked in for 8pm on a Saturday night, we headed down the incense scented steps and descended into the darkness of the restaurant.
The front of house desk is a slot machine, and we were pointed in the direction of the bar to wait until our table was ready. The drinks menu includes cocktails, hard shakes and floats, beer, wine, and cider. Not wanting to start down the road of a white wine hangover the next day, I opted for a cider. Not having any names I recognised, I went for a Jeramiah Weed — tasting not unlike JD & coke, it was unusually delicious!
Our table took about ¹⁵⁄₂₀ minutes to be ready, for which the front of house were eternally apologetic and resulted in a free round of drinks, but this just meant we had some time to take in our surroundings. We’re talking neon, bricks, bars, wire, photos of criminals, doors marked with incoherent numbers, and boxes marked in the same way to represent convict’s belongings.
The menu contains everything you could wish for; wings, ribs, fried lasagne bites (yes please), burgers, fries, and steak. Unfortunately for us, they didn’t have the lasagne bites, mac & cheese, or bacon wrapped maple onion rings — but we sure made up for it…
Our table contained a whole butter basted poussin, bbq brisket, chorizo fried waffles, wings with both tequila lime & frank’s buffalo hot sauces, padron peppers, two portions of fries, and two portions of slaw. Served up in the same aluminium trays as Yardbird, it’s a down and dirty style of eating (though knives and forks are obviously provided!)
Top items had to be the poussin, with a perfectly crispy skin, and the chorizo fried waffles, with little pieces of chorizo and a spicy chipotle sauce. Padron peppers, which are currently a personal obsession, provided a vegetable on the table, and the slaw was vinegar based rather than mayonnaise, meaning extra greenery that I could get involved with.
Wings had a nice spice, though I’ve come to the conclusion I prefer the sauce based kind, rather than the breaded ones served up. Although the brisket had the perfect texture, there was a bit too much bbq sauce for my personal taste.
Desserts included fried oreos, ice cream ‘sliders’ with brioche, and pecan pie — that’s if you have enough room…
A great meal with friendly service; hopefully next time we can have room for something sweet!

I’m quite surprised to be the first person to be reviewing this place. It’s by the same guy as Yardbird and reviews elsewhere are 5*.
I went here for a friend’s birthday on my first visit to Liverpool. I’d heard great things about their other restaurants and so had high expectations. I was dubious about a Death Row themed restaurant — I’m not sure the theme sits well with me and I do feel it’s in poor taste. However if you have the nerve to go for such an out-​there concept then I figure you’ve got to be good at what you do.
DECOR — I wanted MORE from them. There’s a photo and document for an inmate for the 80s on one wall, and illustrations of other creepy looking guys on another. We were sat in booths, and there was some wire fence to break up the space. Neon signs adorned the walls along with a few old-​style prison phones. But I felt like they should have pushed it further. If you’re going to call yourself Death Row Diner I want to be seated in a cell or have some metal bars in the room.
COCKTAILS — I ordered the ‘No Vaseline’ — a Chambord, blueberry and lemon cocktail. It was wonderful. Sadly I spilt most of it, but was enjoying it so much I ordered a new one. The second one was a bit stronger than the other so must have been mixed by somebody nice, but was still good. The £7.50 price seemed reasonable by my London standards.
FOOD — They have a good range of options. Whether you want to play it safe with a classic cheeseburger or half chicken, or try something a bit different like brisket or beef burger with shrimp. It also means there should be a price to satisfy everyone. The starters/​sides are possibly the most inventive options. I tried the bacon wrapped onion rings (still prefer batter) and the deep fried lasagne bites (amazing). For my main I ordered the chilli burger. Really tasty but I only managed half with all the other bits I’d eaten. The food was served in metal trays. I’m not sure this really worked and seemed at odds with the plastic tray they used on the branding of their menus.
Ultimately I was underwhelmed by it all. Had they not chosen this name I probably would’ve been more impressed by it all. But if you go with a theme you have to take it all the way.
Would I go again? Yes. Would I try somewhere else first? Certainly.