Laras Grill Charcoal Restaurant

We came here as a family on the recommendation of some friends. Parking is pretty difficult, and spaces are very limited.
As you walk into Lara Grill, the cooking area and sign/​menu is very impressive, as for the restaurant? Well, it kind of feels that it’s primarily a take away shop, and that they strategically placed some tables and chairs in there too. The light fixtures are amazing!
It’s quite uncomfortable sitting at a table trying to eat your food while all the take away customers are leaning against the counter staring at you! The floor planning needs addressing.
The staff are polite, but lack personality and warmth. It all feels rather automated and robotic. You almost feel guilty asking the waitress for an extra drink.
If you enjoy fine wine and good beer with your food, forget it. They don’t serve alcoholic beverages of ANY description. I was not offered a reason for this by my waitress, I can only assume they are waiting for their licence, or they were declined… There was a fine selection of fizzy canned drinks and bottled water at £1.20 each though!
The food was excellent, there is no taking that away from them. As soon as you sit down, you are immediately given 4 dips and some freshly baked bread. Extra bread while waiting for your food is free too. The portion size of the food is OK-​ish but I would rather see larger portions and no ‘free dips and bread’ but then again I’m a big eater.
All in all it was ok, a family of four with (fizzy) drinks cost £42 not a bank breaker, but not the Ritz either!
We will be using this place again, but probably more so as a take away than a ‘restaurant’ and who knows, next time you’re in there eating, I may be the one who ogles at you with every mouthful of food you take:)

Food was really nice but the chef was really rude when I complained about the size of my lamb chops. You get four per portion but two were tiny. I mentioned it quietly to the waitress but the chef lost it and was really rude to me. I’ll never eat there again because of that. I didn’t make a scene but I felt very upset at my treatment