No12 Houndsgate - Nottingham

Puzzled by all the 5 star reviews which led us here in the first place. We went to No. 12 to celebrate my son's GCSES. We are all vegan and had looked forward to this event as the special occasion that it was, knowing that it would be around £80 a head and thinking that the tasting menu had so many courses, we would be nicely full by the end. The food WAS delicious and beautifully presented, or if it wasn't delicious because of the play with citric acid in the dessert courses, it was at least interesting and inventive. We arrived at 5pm and it took 3 hours to get through the courses and our 16 year old was getting frustrated due to hunger. He had arrived hungry anticipating a nice meal out and likened it to water torture very small drops of food spaced out very slowly. Each course was a mouthful (or two if lucky). We had to ask for a bread basket and stale, greasy foccacia arrived. The waiting staff were efficient yet cold. No mention of our special occasion was made even though I had explained in an email, when booking. The table and seating were small and fairly uncomfortable after 3 hours. No effort was made with table linen or candles. The toilets were in a damp smelling cellar and no hand towels or flannels to wipe hands on. These are little details that I would have expected when spending upwards of £200. We left hungry and went straight to Sainsburys to get something as equally delicious to fill us up. VERY disappointing to say the least. I expect its ok if you have a very small stomach, have money to burn and enjoy being bored between courses.

Booked by our daughter for a friends and family post wedding celebratory meal. We had space to ourselves behind the bar which perfectly accommodated our party including 2 young children one of whom needed a high chair which was provided. The food was excellent and a big thank you to the kitchen staff who even made something special for my step mum who has dementia so that it looked like her regular choice when she is taken out for a meal (requested in advance. Friendly and appropriately attentive staff were great. Highly recommended!

Had a lovely meal here really tasty, well presented and with good service. We both usually eat meat and dairy so this was quite different for us, but would definitely recommend it!

Very good food, nicely presented and very tasty, restaurant nice inside, staff and service very good, toilets could be improved, would visit again

First time here and more than pleased with the variety and flavours of the tasting plates offered and the standard of ingredients and choice. Clearly a knowledgeable chef as it's not often I enjoy all vegan presented to me. The staff were very friendly and good humoured and seemingly interested in the food they were serving. I would recommend and, although it was my birthday treat and they didnt offer birthday greetings, that was of no consequence to me as I enjoyed everything about the place